Cost Center to Value Driver: How Physical Security Is Transforming

"Many leaders in the physical security space have felt the need to prove security's value to an organization. Since it can be a challenge to quantify the value of these measures, many leaders have had to repeatedly justify current security investments while persuading executives for greater budget room to improve programs. However, according to a new report, this status quo could be on its way to changing."

"On the subject of physical security, the 2026 State of Physical Security Report from the Genetec Research Team asserts, "What was once a cost center is becoming a proactive value driver." The report states that physical security's contributions to organizational objectives have increased, and with it, so has the expectation for increased value from security systems. Physical security is collaborating with more departments across the organization, with end users indicating collaborating with other departments for the purpose of:"

"According to surveyed end users, the most crucial partners include leadership, finance and IT. Additionally, IT is showing an increased presence in physical security. As physical security operations become more sophisticated, intersecting with other departments and developing business-essential data, IT has played a greater role in purchasing choices for physical security. This collaboration improves organizational resilience by bringing physical security and cybersecurity, streamlining processes and placing physical security as a business enabler."

Physical security is transitioning from a cost center to a proactive value driver, with its contributions to organizational objectives expanding and expectations for greater value rising. Physical security increasingly collaborates with other departments, supporting occupancy management (10%), industrial IoT (11%), visitor management (14%), and other business outcomes (24%). Leadership, finance, and IT are the most crucial partners for physical security initiatives. IT is becoming more involved in physical security, influencing purchasing decisions as operations grow more sophisticated and generate business-essential data. Greater collaboration between physical security and IT/cybersecurity streamlines processes, strengthens organizational resilience, and positions physical security as a business enabler.

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