Maureen Carlo, Global Partner Manager at Milestone outlines the trends that she believes will impact security in the next 12 months.

Software solutions

As 2025 begins, I am energized by the opportunities arising from the merger underway in my Arcules journey.

Effective from 1 January 2025, Arcules has reunited with Milestone Systems, where we were originally spun-out.

Preceding this, our sister company, BriefCam, also began merging with Milestone.

Together, we offer a portfolio of data-driven video technology software and advanced analytics solutions.

This merger gives end users greater flexibility, whether they need 100% on-prem solutions, VSaaS at the edge with camera-to-cloud architecture or a hybrid-cloud approach for multi-site and mixed complexity use cases.

Under one unified brand, these three product lines will enable teams to innovate collaboratively, support our partners in building business globally and deliver a great customer experience.

I am embracing Steve Van Till’s suggestion from the 2024 Securing New Ground Megatrends panel: not all vendor partners manufacture products.

By adopting terms like “security technology developer” rather than manufacturer – for companies developing SaaS – we can better represent our industry’s evolution this year.

Reflecting on my (V)SaaS journey and goals for the coming year, three topics from the Security Industry Association (SIA) 2025 Security Megatrends – The Annual Vision for the Security Industry report are especially relevant to me.

Megatrend 1: Evolution of the channel

Modern security integrators invest in their evolution and growth as trusted advisors by offering consultative services and leveraging data-driven solutions, smarter technology and strategies to optimize tools and reduce resource waste.

I expect 2025 will see new channel development with organizations that are not traditional security integrators or distributors.

IT resellers, for example, excel with the SaaS business model.

They understand subscription-based solutions and are skilled at engaging varied stakeholders to drive opportunities and outcomes beyond outdated safety and security use cases.

Megatrend 9: Shift of influence from hardware to software

Server rooms? On-site IT resources? Those don’t always exist and aren’t always necessary.

The migration from hardware to cloud delivered software solutions continues to evolve.

It is becoming easier to aggregate data between systems and to leverage video data and AI for proactive decision intelligence.

I encourage stakeholders to have cloud strategy discussions with both the security technology developer and integrator partner when considering if or how to migrate from legacy hardware to pure SaaS, edge or hybrid cloud solutions.

Build flexibility into your strategy to phase in SaaS for greenfield and brownfield applications.

Megatrend 10: SaaS, HaaS, IaaS and a managed services future

The future of HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) intrigues me.

I am curious to see how integrators embrace these models in 2025 to simplify business transactions and connections between devices and cloud-based solutions.

The flexibility to transact (V)SaaS as either OpEx or CapEx provides added value to fund projects and plan budgets.

Thank you, Security Journal Americas, for this honor of contributing.

I am proud to help influence and drive progress in 2025 as our industry collaborates, innovates and evolves!

Maureen Carlo

Maureen has been a driving force in the security industry for over 15 years, leveraging her diverse background, business acumen and strategic leadership to influence the ecosystem.

She empowers global partners to embrace cloud delivered technology and grow recurring revenue through a portfolio of data-driven video solutions for surveillance and business intelligence.

Beginning her security industry career as an integrator, Maureen shifted to international manufacturing and then security technology development (SaaS), building complex alliances, developing programs and driving revenue and business development initiatives.

A founding member of the SIA Women in Security Forum, she is a three-time SIA WISF Power 100 honoree and the 2019 recipient of the SIA WISF Progress Award.

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