SIA New Member Profile: Veris

New Security Industry Association (SIA) member Veris works with businesses to create smart, secure and modern workplace experiences for their employees and guests. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, with additional core operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and operating across 22 countries.

SIA spoke with Utkarsh Jain, founder and CEO of Veris, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.

Tell us the story of your company.

Utkarsh Jain: The Veris story began with a simple frustration that felt ridiculously persistent. Four professionals hopping between 35+ countries around the globe, from Silicon Valley boardrooms to Mumbai office complexes, and encountering the same maddening experience everywhere. Security gates that needed three different badges to open. Visitor management systems straight out of 2003. Employees queuing for twenty minutes just to grab lunch from the cafeteria because nobody knew the real-time “anything.”

We kept asking ourselves: how is it that we can order a ride in seconds, stream any movie instantly and video call someone on Mars (well, almost), but walking into a modern workplace still feels like navigating bureaucratic quicksand?

That frustration crystallized into Veris in 2016. My co-founders and I had just wrapped up our second successful exit with Teramatrix, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform that got acquired by a Silicon Valley firm, Airlinq. We could have taken the comfortable path – maybe joined that firm full time, moved to California, kept building incremental improvements to existing systems. But the pull of this workplace experience problem was irresistible.

The security industry piece wasn’t planned – it emerged organically. When you start thinking deeply about workplace friction, you realize that security isn’t separate from experience – it’s the foundation that either enables seamless experiences or destroys them entirely. Traditional security creates barriers. We envisioned security that becomes invisible, elegant, almost magical.

Then 2020 happened. COVID disrupted workplaces and rewrote the entire playbook. Suddenly, every assumption about how people interact with physical spaces got tossed out the window. While other companies scrambled to adapt their products, we saw this as the moment workplace security would finally evolve from hardware-centric gatekeeping to intelligent, experience-driven platforms.

Our clients – global brands including many Fortune 500 companies – involved us in researching the “new normal,” believing that if anyone could architect technology for post-COVID workplaces, it would be Veris. That trust transformed us from a visitor management solution into a comprehensive workplace management cloud.

Today, we’re pioneering what we call the “Phygital” revolution—where artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and mobile technology create seamless bridges between physical and digital experiences. It’s security that thinks, adapts and delights.

What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings or your company unique?

UJ: Veris has architected what we believe is the world’s first truly integrated AI-driven security and experience platform. Think of it as the brain that transforms every physical space into an intelligent, responsive environment.

Our Workplace Experience Suite creates what we call “phygital agents” – AI-powered systems that blend physical security infrastructure with digital intelligence to deliver experiences that feel almost telepathic. Walk into a Veris-enabled building, and the system knows you’re expected, has already prepared your workspace and can tell you that your colleague Jemma is in the office today if you’d like to reserve a desk nearby.

A powerful example of our integrated approach is our master AI agent Eylo, which transforms traditional workplace operations into intelligent security nerve centers. Through Veris’s 5I framework – infrastructure, identity, information, intelligence and integration – we’ve created a seamless fusion where Eylo’s multilingual AI agents become security-enhanced touchpoints that anticipate, authenticate and adapt.

• Infrastructure forms the foundation where Veris maps physical realities while Eylo’s AI agents operate as intelligent security checkpoints.
• Identity goes beyond recognition – our unified system understands occupant patterns, visitor intentions and potential security anomalies before they escalate.
• Information connects all systems of record, allowing Eylo agents to access real-time security clearances, watchlist data and authorization levels instantly.
• Intelligence analyzes and predicts through our AI-powered visual analysis combined with Eylo’s conversational intelligence, creating a security ecosystem that learns from every interaction.
• Integration ensures that when an Eylo agent facilitates any workplace interaction – from employee space requests to emergency protocols – the data flows seamlessly through deployed workplace systems, security protocols, and compliance frameworks. Whether someone needs a meeting room, reports a security concern or requests facility assistance, the AI agent becomes a security-aware workplace concierge that maintains protection while enhancing productivity.

Every interaction, movement, and moment generates data that transforms into actionable insights. Communication becomes personalized and intelligent – pulse surveys, notifications, bookings and alerts that actually help people thrive.

The magic happens in the integration. While others focus on individual components, Veris creates unified experiences where access control, threat detection, workplace optimization and employee engagement operate as a single, intelligent system.

What is something we might not know about your company – or something new you are doing in security?

UJ: Here’s something that might surprise you: Veris is pioneering security through intelligent workplace robotics. We engage users, be it employees or visitors or admin staff, with contextual, human-like conversations while performing necessary screenings and adhering to required policies and processes.

Our master agent Eylo amplifies this through specialized AI subagents providing always-available personal workplace assistance. For instance, the Admin Assist handles facility requests while cross-referencing protocols. The Onboarding and Credentialing agent manages new user setup with automatic security provisioning. The Front Desk agent provides 24/7 support through natural conversations, seamlessly integrating watchlist screening and visitor authentication.

We’re developing predictive experiences using AI to analyze workplace interaction patterns. If someone deviates from normal behavior – accessing restricted areas at unusual times, or in a an emergency situation – an Eylo subagent gets the situational awareness via video analytics to understand abnormal behaviors and activate other subagents to reach out to the required personnel through natural conversation to understand the legitimate business need while ensuring proper protocols.

The future we’re building integrates physical robots, conversational AI agents and human experiences so seamlessly that security becomes invisible – delivered through genuinely helpful workplace assistance that enhances productivity.

What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership with SIA?

UJ: SIA’s forward-thinking approach aligns well with our mission to make security more experience focused.

• The AI Advisory Board matches our focus on responsible AI development. We’re interested in contributing to ethical implementation discussions while learning from collective expertise on risk management frameworks.
• The Data Privacy Advisory Board addresses an area where we can both contribute and learn. Having worked with GDPR, CCPA, and regulations across 22 countries, we’d value exchanging insights with members on international compliance approaches.
• The Security Megatrends research provides valuable industry intelligence. We’d appreciate learning from these insights while sharing perspectives on how security technology adoption varies across different markets.
• The Cybersecurity Advisory Board fits our unified security platform work. As physical and digital security boundaries blur, we’d welcome opportunities to discuss integrated approaches and learn from other members’ experiences.

We’re excited about connecting with security professionals working on innovative solutions. With the world increasingly looking toward growth opportunities in India and the Middle East – regions where we have deep operational experience – we’d contribute to expanding SIA’s influence in these markets while learning from the association’s established expertise.

We’re particularly interested in workplace security discussions for hybrid environments and scaling insights across diverse international contexts.

What do you think are the biggest opportunities in the security industry right now?

UJ: AI transformation represents the biggest opportunity since the shift from analog to digital systems. We’re witnessing the emergence of truly intelligent security infrastructure that can learn, adapt, and predict rather than just monitor and react. The companies that master AI-driven threat detection, behavioral analysis and predictive security will define the next decade.

Mobile and video convergence is reshaping everything. Users now expect to interact with security systems through their mobile devices – booking spaces, reporting incidents, requesting access – while video intelligence captures behavioral patterns and spatial usage data. This convergence creates unprecedented opportunities for businesses to understand how people actually move through and use physical spaces, transforming security from reactive monitoring into predictive space optimization and user experience enhancement.

Data intelligence platforms represent massive value creation potential. Organizations are drowning in security data from dozens of separate tools – access logs, video feeds, incident reports, compliance records. The companies that create unified platforms enabling seamless data correlation, real-time analytics, and actionable insights will capture significant market share.

International scalability remains underexplored. As businesses become increasingly global, security solutions must work seamlessly across different regulatory environments, cultural contexts and technological infrastructures. Companies that master this complexity will have sustainable competitive advantages.

The shift toward outcome-based security creates opportunities for solution providers who can demonstrate measurable business impact – reduced incidents, improved employee satisfaction, streamlined compliance and operational efficiency gains.

What do you enjoy most about being at your company – and in the security industry?

UJ: The industry is experiencing its most exciting transformation period ever. We’re witnessing the convergence of mobile technology, video intelligence and AI to create security experiences that understand and enhance every step of someone’s day. From the moment they drive into the parking lot to when they leave, the building becomes an intelligent partner in their daily routine.

What energizes me most is seeing how security and user experience can amplify each other. When someone can book a meeting room, request maintenance, order coffee and report a security concern all through the same seamless agentic experience, security becomes part of the service fabric rather than a barrier to productivity.

This evolution from gatekeeper to experience enabler is incredibly exciting to be part of.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.