The advent of cloud computing and mobile devices has changed the security landscape forever, allowing individuals to gain remote access to surveillance cameras and other solutions. A new report by IMS Research confirmed this trend, noting that the market for remote monitoring services generated more than $29 billion in revenue for 2011.

The report noted that 54 million customer locations were provided with alarm, surveillance and physical access control system monitoring in 2011. The United States represented the majority of this market, accounting for 45 percent of global revenues, while other regions, such as the U.K., Spain and Japan, also represented significant portions.

"The penetration of remote monitoring services varies significantly between different countries and regions," said Niall Jenkins, report author and analyst at IMS Research. "For example, the U.S. residential alarm monitoring market has a penetration of between 20 and 25 percent of all residential buildings, while the residential market in Germany was estimated to be less than 200,000 accounts."

The research firm noted that there are many reasons for such drastic differences between countries, including economic constraints and the overall perception of crime. Service provider pricing variations and building locations also drive executive decisions whether to implement remote monitoring technologies.

"In less developed countries, the lower cost of manned guarding can also act to limit uptake," Jenkins said. "In extreme examples, a lack of trust in the police force can drive customers to include manned guard response in their service agreement, hence increasing the RMR generated on the account."

A separate report by Memoori Research revealed that the market for physical security solutions is on the rise, as it generated more than $19 billion in revenue in 2011 and is expected to continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 3.7 percent during the next five years. Despite the ongoing economic crisis, decision-makers across sectors see the benefit of implementing integrated security systems that protect assets from malicious individuals.

The prospect of theft and destruction of property continues to drive spending in the security market, while IP and mobile solutions allow for more advanced capabilities, like remote monitoring. As decision-makers around the world embrace strategies to counteract potential security issues, the ability to remotely monitor surveillance cameras and other technologies will become increasingly important.