If you were to ask security stakeholders across industries such as commercial real estate (CRE), education and healthcare if they need AI-powered security on their campuses and in their buildings, you’ll probably hear “no” more than “yes”. However, what you will hear is a litany of needs including:
- Faster response times to incidents
- Quicker and easier access to security data
- Ability to prevent incidents or stop them from escalating
The problem is that legacy “camera and guard” systems (the predominant approach) won’t solve any of these issues and could make them worse. Traditional security postures rely on reactive and forensic measures to keep students, staff, visitors and tenants safe. And, unfortunately, industry statistics don’t support the supposed effectiveness of these measures:
- In 2023, OSHA reported 740 fatalities due to workplace violence
- In the 2024-2025 school year, there were 254 school shooting incidents
- In a 2024 survey, 91% of emergency physicians said they or a colleague were threatened or attacked within the prior year.
The stats speak for themselves. However, when faced with this type of data, many security stakeholders first look to “double down” on existing approaches in the hopes that will solve their challenges. Their thinking might look like this:
- “I’ll add more cameras”: more cameras = more visibility, right? And more visibility is good, right? On the surface these statements are true. More visibility is better than less. The challenge is that most security teams are already understaffed and adding more cameras is not only expensive but also requires the same staff to be responsible for monitoring even more cameras than before, stretching the team even further.
- “I’ll add more guards”: more guards = more security, right? And more security is good, right? Again, true statements. However, this is a non-starter for most organizations due to cost. If the average security guard runs $100k/yr, simply adding more guards is not usually financially feasible.
The good news is that there is proven, market-validated, easy to use and deploy AI security technology that acts as a “force multiplier” at a fraction of the cost of traditional security approaches. AI security, through the right security partner, delivers an “always on, always monitoring, always alerting” posture that is proactive as opposed to reactive.
Earlier, we touched upon some sobering statistics regarding the rapid increase in violence across multiple industries. It is due to these increases (across almost all industries) that drive the need to connect with an AI security partner today. The fact of the matter is that to continue to go down the same old security road time and time again and expect better results and more safety is wishful thinking at best and dangerous at worst. Your AI security partner will become a trusted advisor on how best to safeguard your most precious assets and will deliver the technology needed to turn that plan into reality. In our next post, we’ll discuss how best to evaluate AI security vendors to make the best decision for your organization.
