Memoori’s World Market 2020-2025 Report on the Physical Security business shows that all types of organizations across the world are investigating how they can leverage the cloud, as it is proving to be a very attractive proposition.

We estimate that in 2019 ACaaS investment was worth $620 million and of this approximately 40% was installed in North America. Demand is expected to rise to $1.6Bn by 2024.

As more IP Network access control systems are installed and the technology surrounding identity validation increases its penetration, the attraction of ACaaS and Managed Services has become more appealing to end users particularly those who are already used to Enterprise Cloud services.

With ACaaS, end users no longer need internal IT departments to build up and maintain the servers and infrastructure at the business facility, which incurs more upfront CAPEX. With cloud-based solutions, onsite servers and appliances are eliminated; this should reduce the total cost of ownership while not losing any functionality. In our opinion, migration to cloud services will also make the integration of Access Control with enterprise systems like Identity & Access Management (IAM) more likely, extending the usefulness of building systems and adding more value.

ACaaS has penetrated the small to medium building sector where tenants favour a regular monthly rental payment rather than a one-off payment, which includes service and maintenance of hardware and software. Existing owners of video surveillance and access control systems who need to upgrade their operations will increasingly investigate the "as a Service" option.

COVID-19 has over the last twelve months drained the financial resources of many of these customers making reduced up front costs even more attractive.

Access Control has traditionally been supplied through System Integrators and whilst they are gradually becoming persuaded that the growth of ACaaS is inevitable, this process of mainstream cloud adoption will take some time.