Jeffrey A Slotnick, President at Setracon ESRMS explores how to make faster decisions and mitigate risk.

The evolution of technology

As we enter 2025 and I consider what lies ahead for the security industry, it has occurred to me that technology has significantly impacted my life since I owned my first single-chip, single-function calculator in 1982.

That single chip saved me 20 pages of algebra calculations for bridging back then. Although technology has changed significantly since that point, it is no longer the exception.

It is now a part of every aspect of our lives and business.

Robotics, drones, vehicles, building automation systems, integrated physical security systems and devices, personal devices and cognitive information management systems are all now part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Couple these information streams with publicly available crime, risk, emergency management and historical data and merge them with AI and machine learning.

We have a powerful tool to be proactive about risk instead of reactive to risk by identifying and mitigating security risks before they occur.

The automation of risk intelligence

Proactively dealing with risks requires very imaginative, innovative thinking, mapping of desired results and a data lake.

A data lake is a repository into which all relevant risk-related data streams flow.

We must subject the data to an analysis process to get actionable risk data by distilling the data.

The first step of the data analysis process is identifying the risk question we are trying to answer.

What risk problem is the enterprise trying to solve? What do you need to measure and how will you measure it?

Then, we can analyze the data by inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modeling the data to find trends, correlations, outliers and variations that tell a story by filtering the data using various data analysis techniques and tools to collect, ingest, blend, transform, publish and distribute actionable risk information.

We can not only prevent risk, but reduce operational risks beyond security including life safety, natural disaster monitoring and regulatory compliance, making the enterprise security function a force multiplier and business partner in preventing and mitigating strategic risks.

What does this mean for the security department, strategic risk mitigation and business transformation in 2025?

With quicker, more efficient decision-making and information at our fingertips, we can potentially avoid risk entirely.

Superior forecasting accuracy will permit us to get people out of danger before the danger occurs.

Optimized variable selection processes contribute to achieving organizational resilience when confronted with global risks.

Real-time risk mitigation will minimize consequences by significantly reducing the impacts on life, equipment, finances and reputation.

The earlier these concepts are adopted, the more resilient the enterprise can become. I am really looking forward to 2025.

Jeffrey A. Slotnick

Jeffrey is an internationally known Enterprise Security Risk Consultant with over 28 years of experience.

He focuses on all Enterprise Security Risk Management facets, including quality management programs, risk, vulnerability, threat assessments, emergency response planning, business continuity planning and physical security system master planning, design and integration.

Jeffrey is a former member of the North American Board and is presently a Community Vice President for ASIS International and a Faculty Advisor for the University of Phoenix Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security and Security Management Degree Program.

This article was originally published in the special February Influencers Edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.