Security professionals reveal their thoughts on the security, monitoring and smart home markets.

If there is one word that could describe 2020, both in life and for the top 100 security dealers, it is unpredictable. Following several years of growth — and a very strong 2019 — SDM 100 companies found themselves on slippery ground beginning in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s amazing how much can change in a year. Last year’s state of the market report on access control was released at the beginning of April, just as the coronavirus started to spread throughout the U.S., and much of the research that went into the report was done before COVID-19 was a real concern.

While 2020 affected the confidence of some in the video market, professionals remain optimistic going into 2021, with the increased adoption of new, more advanced technologies, and a potential end to the coronavirus pandemic in sight.

To say 2020 was a bit of a roller coaster ride is perhaps an understatement. At this time last year, most security integrators anticipated a strong 2020, only to be thrown into turmoil late in the first quarter by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What do termites, diamonds and security have in common? All three are components of the history of this year’s SDM Dealer of the Year. Sonitrol began when Al Cronk, a police officer, was interested in verifying alarms using audio; Bob Baxter invented microphones to detect termites in trees.

As the technology of video monitoring grows in capabilities and use cases, another concern begins raising its head: privacy. Recently, some countries have looked to use this capability to help with the coronavirus outbreak and enforcing stay-at-home and social distancing mandates.

Recently everyone has learned to live in what seems to be a new world, and in many ways, we have all succumbed to change in one way or another.

Evaluating the state of any market is a tricky thing during a pandemic — things are changing daily; new technologies are being explored; the future is unknown; and it’s difficult to look back at the past clearly.

A continuing strong economy, end user desires to do more with their access control systems and increasing interest in new technologies, integrations and models all led to a positive outlook in 2019 and a general feeling of optimism for 2020, with a few notes of caution.