I Want My MCCTV: Why Mobile Video Surveillance Is So In-Demand
Experts from around the security industry share why mobile video surveillance solutions are proving to be in high demand by everyone from pet owners to police officers.
Running a Business Intelligently
Mobile video can provide numerous benefits in the business sphere. First, there’s the obvious perk of being able to monitor video from anywhere in the world. Then there is the opportunity of integrating video surveillance with access control, further expanding the amount of solutions that integrators can offer. Genetec offers a single mobile app that ties together all of its solutions.
“If there is an incident, you have unification of video and access control,” explains Genetec Product Marketing Manager Laurent Villeneuve. “If there is a credential or door-forced open alarm you can essentially view that video in real-time, but also you can, in certain situations, unlock a certain door. So if something happens — there’s something wrong with the system, there’s a false alarm — you can go to the spot, check if everything is okay and then unlock that door with your phone. So there is bi-directional communication in that sense.”
Retail managers utilize mobile video at any time to go back and find misplaced items or figure out why money is missing from the cash register. It can also help alleviate worries of a vacationing business owner by providing virtual support.
“You could have an employee be on a jobsite that needs help, who can push a button that ties into a DVR that sends a push notification out to the cellphone app, that rings a supervisor or admin. He then looks down at it, he can see the person and the actions he is taking, he can respond verbally with him and see what he’s doing. It’s just a world of connectivity they’ve never had before,” says Erron Spalsbury, 3xLOGIC sales support manager.
Property managers can keep an eye on multiple locations without having to physically be there. Arcules’ Pettersson says utilizing the Cloud to go mobile in these types of situations has a major benefit for integrators as well.
“We have been fairly successful up to this point in property management. We have one customer where they can have weeks where they deploy 20 new locations. So it’s not only point of consumption, or seeing video from anywhere, its being able to deploy up to 20 locations a week,” explains Pettersson. “A few years ago when you did on-prem, that was unheard of because you needed to send out a crew for every location. But with our service today, you can more or less configure everything remotely. So it’s not only the surveillance footage, it’s the ability to sit anywhere in the world and configure a location.”
Beyond security applications, mobile video can also serve as a valuable sales tool. Hanwha has a partner using its cameras with their own mobile app to demonstrate how efficient it runs its operations.
“It’s like a demo in their pocket. There’s a logistics company that shows how well-run their warehouse is as part of their sales pitch,” says Ray Cooke, vice president, products, solutions and integrations at Hanwha Techwin America.
We no longer live in a world where end users want to sit in front of a wall of monitors all day. Mobile video can serve as a resourceful solution, or add-on, for both the integrator and customer. As the technology becomes more advanced with facial recognition and other video analytics, it will soon become impossible to neglect.
“What mobile really does for you today is help solidify the solution in the mind of the buyer. It shows the buyer immediately what the value of that video solution is,” says Hobbs.
Genetec offers a single mobile app that combines video surveillance, ALPR and access control information as a unified solution.
Eyeing That RMR
Mobile video has become an integral part of today’s security solutions. In fact, most customers expect it.“You think about in the world of CCTV today and where we gain access to be able to see and gain insight into anything, whether its security insight, business intelligence, commercial real estate, you name it. Any time you want to see a specific location, you need to be able to see it mobily [sic],” says Erron Spalsbury, 3xLOGIC sales support manager.
Luckily for security pros, mobile video can deliver several avenues of RMR. Integrators can offer their customers additional features such as expanded storage, as well as verified alarm response, which is especially appealing considering many municipalities will bump an intrusion alarm up the priority list if there is video verification involved.
“RMR should always benefit the end user. If the end user is tech savvy, he or she may be resistant to RMR opportunities provided by the integrator,” says Mark Espenschied, director of marketing at Digital Watchdog. “That said, redundancy of video, as well as both support and maintenance of a video surveillance system are insurance for both homeowners and business owners. Remote access to video, active monitoring of event notifications, monitoring of system and appliance health and backup of video files are some professional services integrators can offer.”
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About the Author
Steve Karantzoulidis, Web/Senior Editor
Steven A. Karantzoulidis is the Web Editor for Security Sales & Integration. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Communication and has a background in Film, A/V and Social Media.
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