Physical security firm Genetec has warned that many cloud adoption strategies in physical security fail to account for the governance, risk, and operational realities facing large enterprises, creating a growing disconnect between vendor messaging and real-world deployment needs.
The company argues that while cloud-first narratives often position migration as a straightforward shift, enterprise environments are far more complex. Large organisations typically operate across hundreds of sites, face stringent regulatory and cyber security requirements, and rely on infrastructure designed to remain operational for years.
As a result, simplified cloud models can limit flexibility and undermine long-term resilience.
The findings are supported by Genetec’s 2026 State of Physical Security Survey, which gathered responses from more than 7,300 industry professionals. The data shows that hybrid-cloud adoption is being driven by deliberate architectural decisions rather than transitional necessity, with 39 per cent of enterprises citing scalability as a key factor and 38 per cent pointing to redundancy and continuity.
“Enterprise physical security seldom operates within a single deployment model, and cloud strategies must reflect that reality,” Francis Lachance, senior director of product at Genetec, said in a statement.
“Organisations run cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments in parallel, and their systems must work seamlessly across all of them.”
According to Genetec, this reinforces the idea that enterprises are not pursuing cloud for simplicity, but as part of a broader operating model designed to maintain control and resilience over time.
“For enterprises, cloud is an operating model that must withstand ongoing operational, regulatory, and threat pressures,” Lachance said.
“The goal is not to become cloud-only, but to adopt cloud in ways that preserve governance and continuity over time.”
The company is urging organisations to rethink how they approach cloud adoption in physical security, placing governance and accountability at the centre of decision making rather than treating cloud as a default destination. It also emphasises the need to design for hybrid environments, where cloud, on-premises and edge systems coexist for extended periods.
According to Genetec, long-term resilience should be the defining principle, with architectures capable of maintaining operations throughout outages, disruptions, and evolving risk conditions. In this model, cloud capabilities are integrated into existing environments to enhance visibility and control, rather than replace them outright.
You can read Genetec’s full 2026 State of Physical Security Report here.
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David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.