Top 7 highlights from ASIS Europe 2024

Timon Padberg

Global Clients Manager

Believe it or not, this year’s ASIS Europe event was sold out—though you’ll rarely hear that term used for security events.

No doubt, the hosting city and venue in Vienna’s Messe Wien Exhibition Congress Center might have had something to it. But we believe that the full attendance sent a clear signal. Organisations are giving both physical and cyber security a “bigger” seat at the proverbial table so that real change can happen.

Our very own Daniël Nijkamp, spoke on this (and the challenges that many security professionals face today) at ASIS Europe this year, and he shared his personal thoughts on LinkedIn:

As security leaders, we must absolutely pay rightful homage to the long history of access management, while looking to the future, and what it holds for those ready to embrace innovative technology while “looking beyond buzzwords”….

As such, we’re thrilled to share with you our key highlights from ASIS Europe 2024:

1. Opening Keynote from General (ret.) Tom Middendorp

This session was particularly special because Tom Middendorp is the former Chief of Defense for The Netherlands (where Nedap is headquartered). As a member of the International Military Council on Climate and Security, Middendorp’s honesty was confronting yet refreshing at the same time.

He stressed that as the world changes, rapidly, we need to accept that more risk comes along with all these changes.

And as security professionals, we need to come together and think about how to deal with this growing uncertainty through leadership, preparedness, and organisational culture…to recognize what the game changers and instead of “reinventing the wheel” as individuals, we should learn from each other.

One of Middendorp’s core messages was this: “Open your systems and work together.”

2. The Security Leaders Networking Dinner

This was not the first time that Nedap powered this major networking event at ASIS Europe. However, there was a resounding consensus that the Palais Ferstel, where the dinner was held was, by far, most like a fairytale setting that took your breath away.

And we consider ourselves lucky to have hosted the evening, and to have welcomed each guest personally (with the lovely sound of harps)!

We were 450-strong that evening. And, as one of our esteemed guests (Eddie Sorrells, Secretary/Treasurer of the Global Board of Directors at ASIS International) stated:

“Networking lies at the heart of ASIS Europe, and this year was no exception. I had the honor of connecting with professionals from diverse backgrounds and industries, forging meaningful relationships that extend beyond the confines of the conference. These connections not only broaden my professional network but also foster collaboration and collective problem-solving—a testament to the spirit of community embedded within the security industry.”

We couldn’t agree more! We welcome you to go here for more pictures.

3. More thought leadership than ever on Artificial Intelligence

One of the main topics of conversation (and speaker presentations) this year was around Artificial Intelligence (AI). Just a few years ago, these sessions only attracted few people but this year the talks on AI proved to be very popular. Nobody can deny that AI will play a larger role in the domain of corporate security, especially in collecting and sharing information to the end user (almost instantly). But what does this actually mean?

Just as there was pushback with the adoption of the internet, there’s that same resistance to the use of AI as well. However, Hugh Farquhar of Dataminr, presented on the subject, and his message was this: AI can help us add context and provide additional information to assess cases and incidents, and we cannot ignore how valuable this is for our industry.

4. Airbus case study on data captures

It’s always a treat when we can sink our teeth into a real-life case study of digital transformation at work in security. And ASIS Europe did not disappoint with having Craig Morton and Vonda Greene of Airbus take the stage.

They shared invaluable insights and stories of their physical security digital transformation.

“At Airbus, security is a continuum and we’re all a part of it.” —Craig Morton, Head of Physical Security at Airbus

It was inspiring and validating to hear that such an organization had invested in a new system to integrate and capture data (e.g. digital, bodycams, video, but also written reports). This allowed Airbus to speed up response and report times, accurately, and consistently for benchmarking. Through digital transformation, they also updated incident management reporting.

Their key message: The future will be built on data.

Demonstration of compliance can be made easy and standardized, which is very important to Airbus (and countless more organisations). There is no question that the return on investment (ROI) is massive in the long term!

5. Morning Run and Walk & Talk

It would not be an ASIS Europe event without the rise-and-shine crew for the Morning Run and Walk & Talk! And we were thrilled to be able to host it once again, with Nedap running swag and all!

Hats off to all the fit and fun members of the organizing team, for leading the run and guiding the walk, and everyone who joined us for talks. This year, we had nearly 50 early birds in total. We’re thrilled to see the number grow each year!

6. Introduction of an interactive workshop

Kudos to the ASIS team for continuing to evolve and innovate. This year, we were honored to be a part of a new and exclusive interactive workshop, moderated by Letitia Emeana ASIS CPP, PSP and CISMP, Global Security Capability Manager at Unilever.

Our very own Jeroen Harmsen, spoke on “Unlocking Tomorrow: Predicting the Future with Digital Twins” while his fellow panel speakers touched on their own visions of the future when it comes to physical security.

There were small group discussions on rotation, for attendees to be able to deep dive with each subject matter expert.

7. NextGen, Women in Security, and more

We can only express our continued admiration for ASIS in their efforts to actively advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in our industry. From Women in Security, to the “NextGen” closing plenary session highlighting the next generation of security professionals, we all came away with much to be excited for as a forward-thinking community.

The closing session was full of lively discussions between a few hand-picked CSOs and up-and-coming generation of security leaders on how the future might look in terms of the skills, development, and employee expectations in the war for talent, etc.

It raised many provoking questions like:

How can we better use each other’s knowledge, insights, and expertise in teams?
What would be needed to maximize knowledge sharing, and to build the strongest and most knowledgeable teams?

These are questions that our own team from Nedap will also take back with us, as we strengthen our own knowledge base and ways of working together. Will you?