News CANASA Update Opinion
Planning for the future of the security industry

A promising future

As the world transitions back to “business as usual,” the Canadian Security Association is very excited about our ambitious plans for the future of our industry and our association.

Under the leadership of our new board President, Anita Brunet, we will be working to prioritize diversity and inclusion in all of our activities and to be transparently representative of Canadian society as a whole. Promoting engagement that is ethnically, gender and age appropriate will strengthen our industry and help us to attract new people to our committees and councils.

Our last pre-COVID event was our “Women in Security” panel, which was very well received and was our most attended regional event in four years. Regardless of which sector of the security industry you are in, we look forward to having you involved. Contact me at any time for a chat about how you can participate (pstraw@canasa.org).

Education successes

After an enormous amount of work from our education committee, led by Ron Jagmohan of Resideo, the finishing touches are being put on to the modernization of CANASA’s ATC (Alarm Technician Course), in partnership with Centennial College in Toronto. Centennial is currently uploading the content into their own system and we are expecting the finished product to be available for full review by the end of July/early August. The commitment by our committee members to complete this over the last two years has been incredible and an inspiration.

Conestoga College in Waterloo, Ont., is also getting close to the launch of their Security Technician Course. This will be a fully CANASA-endorsed program and we are confident it will be a valuable resource for companies to fill the many positions requiring people power.

Activities

Through to the end of 2021, we are expecting that our regional councils will be able to hold informal “get-together” events once the pandemic restrictions are clarified and lifted in most provinces. All of our regional councils are very excited about the chance to socialize and network face-to-face after almost two years. The Quebec Regional Council is in the process of organizing a member golf event for late September.

The future of security

While all of the traditional security sectors are very busy across Canada, there are a couple of growth areas that are going to significantly change the way companies invest for their protection.

In 2022, it is estimated that worldwide over $170 billion will be spent on cybersecurity.

This is a staggering amount, but it emphasizes the changing landscape and the perception of the biggest threats to corporations and institutions.

Successful security integrators are going to have to be able to accommodate this requirement in their own offerings. The result will be many creative partnerships between the traditional security industry and the IT world. This will then fuel the growth of managed security services. Remote management and monitoring of security functions is projected to grow to approximately $40 billion in 2022.

Membership in CANASA

I’m proud of our association’s success over the last year, particularly in providing more opportunities for meaningful engagement for our members and sponsors, introducing innovative programming formats and topics. Thanks to our collective efforts every week, we are welcoming new members to our association from quite a diversified portfolio of security functions.

If you are not a member of CANASA yet, we hope you will consider supporting our association and our industry in Canada. We are working for you and for our future.

Patrick Straw is the executive director of CANASA (www.canasa.org).