SSN poll: Security firms focus on growth metrics, seek better benchmarking
By Cory Harris, Editor
Updated 10:05 AM CDT, Wed July 8, 2026
YARMOUTH, Maine—Security industry professionals are closely tracking revenue growth and recurring revenue as key indicators of business health, say 40% of respondents to a recent Security Systems News poll.
The Electronic Security Association (ESA) recently announced the launch of its ESA Industry Research Center at the Electronic Security Expo (ESX), marking it as a new initiative aimed at delivering economic and industry intelligence to the market.
The poll found that 40% of respondents evaluate the health of their businesses primarily through revenue growth and sales pipeline, while another 40% pointed to recurring monthly revenue (RMR) and contract base. Profitability and margins accounted for 20% of responses, while customer retention and service performance received none.
Respondents also identified workforce capacity and hiring challenges (40%), along with sales trends and market demand (40%), as the areas where better data or benchmarking would be most beneficial. Another 20% said profitability and cost structure would benefit the most.
When asked about the biggest obstacle to making more data-driven decisions, 40% of respondents said their internal systems are not set up for data analysis. Lack of access to reliable industry data, time and resource constraints, and uncertainty around which metrics matter most each received 20% of responses.
Related: New research center underscores growing importance of benchmarking
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