Verkada’s 2026 report finds that nearly half of organisations in the UK and Ireland are actively using AI in physical security, while cloud adoption, regulatory compliance and the need to demonstrate return on investment shape future technology decisions.
Verkada, a leader in AI-powered physical security and operations, released its 2026 State of Cloud Physical Security Report, uncovering that nearly half (49%) of organisations in the UK and Ireland are actively using AI in their physical security systems – the highest level among the five European countries surveyed.
An additional 27% of respondents report they are piloting or testing the technology, suggesting that AI has already moved beyond experimentation for many organisations in the UK and Ireland. Expectations for the technology are also high. Eighty-six percent of UK and Ireland respondents believe AI will move physical security from mainly reactive to proactive within the next three years.
Yet adoption is moving faster than some of the structures needed to manage it. Only 37% have a comprehensive AI governance policy covering physical security, while 40% have general AI guidelines that are not specific to physical security. A further 16% are still developing their governance framework.
The gap is similar when it comes to proving AI’s value. Just 34% have formal metrics and quantified ROI for AI in physical security, while 46% track some metrics informally. Fifteen percent have not attempted to measure ROI at all.
AI moves from experimentation to operations
Among UK and Ireland organisations already using or piloting AI, the most widely deployed capabilities include AI-verified alarm monitoring (52%), real-time motion, loitering or line-crossing alerts (47%), AI-generated incident reports (44%), facial recognition (43%) and AI-powered proactive deterrence (automated voice warnings) (43%).
Organisations are also looking to AI embedded within security infrastructure to deliver practical operational benefits. Fifty-eight percent say AI has delivered or is expected to deliver faster incident investigations, while 56% point to improved real-time threat detection. Other expected or experienced benefits include proactive crime prevention (40%), fewer false alarms (39%) and lower overall security operating costs (36%).
AI is also changing security roles rather than simply eliminating them. While 17% report no impact on staffing, 19% of respondents say headcount has remained the same, but roles have shifted towards more analysis and less manual review, and 22% say the same number of people have become more effective. Seventeen percent report increasing headcount to manage AI systems, compared with 19% that have reduced headcount through AI efficiencies.
Regulation is already shaping what organisations deploy
As organisations increase their use of AI, regulation has become a significant factor in technology decisions. Eighty-two percent of UK and Ireland respondents say government regulation around AI has a significant or moderate influence on physical security purchasing decisions.
Those concerns are already translating into decisions about individual AI capabilities. Some 42% have restricted or avoided facial recognition because of regulatory or legal concerns, 41% have done so for real-time biometric identification and 30% for automated decision-making without human review. Only 21% say regulation has not restricted their AI adoption.
Vendor transparency is consequently becoming an important purchasing criterion. Ninety-seven percent say transparency about how a physical security vendor’s AI models work is extremely or very important, with nearly half (49%) reporting that they treat it as a purchasing requirement.
Similarly, 94% say compliance with relevant international regulations and standards is extremely or very important when evaluating physical security vendors, with more than half (52%) describing it as a hard requirement.
Cloud transition continues as AI adoption accelerates
The research also points to cloud infrastructure becoming the foundation for the next phase of physical security. In the UK and Ireland, 22% of organisations now operate fully cloud-managed physical security infrastructure, while 70% use a mixture of cloud-managed and on-premises systems. Only 8% remain fully on-premises.
Among UK and Ireland organisations that are not yet fully cloud-managed, 92% are planning or already undertaking a partial or full transition to cloud-managed physical security.
Confidence in the direction of travel is high. Nine in ten (90%) UK and Ireland respondents agree that the future of physical security is cloud-based, while 94% say cloud makes it easier to manage security systems across multiple sites.
Investment is following. Seventy-seven percent expect their physical security budgets to increase over the next 12 months, including 23% expecting increases of at least 20%. When asked to choose their single top investment priority, cloud storage and infrastructure ranks first in the UK and Ireland at 32%, followed by cybersecurity at 30% and AI analytics and video intelligence at 22%.
Mark Coates, Vice President of EMEA at Verkada, said: “AI in physical security is no longer a future consideration for organisations in the UK and Ireland. Nearly half are already actively using it and businesses are seeing the potential to detect threats faster, accelerate investigations and make security teams more effective. What stands out in the data – and too, reflected in conversations with organisations across the UK and Ireland – is that AI embedded within security infrastructure is now also delivering practical operational benefits.”
