Your business operation will ideally grow and evolve as your company develops. Further, even if you maintain the status quo, your operation is bound to change as technology evolves and your industry advances.
It can be difficult to scale your physical security to meet changing needs. Expansion can mean installing more cameras and monitoring equipment in new buildings. This step is necessary to protect your employees, assets, and property. However, it also gives rise to new problems, including the inability to integrate all your systems and the cost of installing video systems at each location.
Solutions like cloud-connected cameras and AI-enhanced video monitoring tools can streamline your surveillance operation and give you the tools you need to overcome the hurdles of expanding your security.
Challenges of Scaling Security Measures
Scaling physical security and surveillance is challenging for businesses as they expand or change their processes. As you grow, you may face financial strain as you invest in new cameras and servers for your surveillance infrastructure.
You may find problems when integrating new systems with existing ones, leading to a bloated surveillance infrastructure with different video management platforms that need to be monitored separately.
As if that wasn't enough, you also need to consider the legal aspect of private surveillance. Your company has to comply with all regulations related to the type of cameras used and data collected.
Here's a closer look at these potential pitfalls of expanding your company's security and surveillance operation.
Limited Budgets
Many businesses, especially small and mid-sized ones, can face budget constraints when expanding their security operation. Traditional security systems rely on on-site hard disk drives (HHDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs) to manage footage and video management systems (VMSs) or Network Video Recorders (NVRs) to watch and store streams from the onsite cameras.Each expansion to a new location means adding new drives and cameras, as well as setting up an entirely new system to monitor them. And though this investment is important, it can also be costly. A new disk drive can cost $5,000 on the high end. Many are cheaper than that, but you're going to spend hundreds of dollars if you want more than a terabyte of space.Even if you're expanding your current setup on the same property, you can run into higher costs if your hard drives or VMS don't have the capacity to handle the increase in video streams.
Integration Difficulties
You might decide to streamline your setup by getting a new surveillance system with cloud-based storage. However, it can be tricky to integrate your just-acquired tools with your existing security setup.
The solution to this problem is to either invest in an upgrade for your entire business – which could be prohibitively expensive, depending on your budget – or simply operate your new and legacy systems separately. The latter solution may be more cost-effective, but it adds complexity to your security operation. Also, it may require more employee hours and lead to a greater chance of errors in the future. In other words, it could cost you more in the long run.
Compliance and Regulatory Hurdles
Another potential wrinkle in your expansion plans is the regulatory requirements associated with security equipment and practices. For instance, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) restricts the use of certain surveillance hardware produced overseas deemed insecure.You also need to avoid placing cameras in ways that violate privacy rules (such as restrooms or locker rooms). Even inadvertent violations can lead to fines, legal action and repetitional damage for your company.
Solutions for Overcoming Scalability Obstacles
The good news is that advances in cameras, technology, and security and surveillance tools can make your security operations easier and more scalable.
Here are three especially useful new technologies in combating scalability problems when your organization expands.
AI Technology and Video Analytics
AI and video analytics greatly improve real-time monitoring. You don't have to rely on security personnel to watch video feeds 24/7. AI-powered surveillance software can detect activities and potential threats and alert personnel to investigate further. For instance, some programs can use computer vision to classify objects and detect when someone or something crosses a specific line or zone.With AI to help detect and categorize potential threats more accurately, you can free up security personnel to handle higher-level monitoring or investigate incidents. Even if you have a team watching surveillance feeds, AI can serve as a redundancy, picking up activities human workers may have missed.AI can also help with practical aspects of video storage and streaming. AI-based compression tech can reduce bandwidth usage while still producing high-quality images. This allows you to use less memory when storing video, potentially reducing hard drive or cloud storage costs.
Multi-sensor Camera Technology
Multi-sensor cameras can enhance scalability. With some models having up to five independent sensors, these devices can cover the same areas as several traditional cameras.
Using a single cable and IP address, you can get a multi-sensor camera with AI analytics up and running in a few minutes. Not only does this cut costs during installation and initial setup, but it also streamlines maintenance and upkeep. Business Intelligence Technology Business intelligence (BI) tools allow your security system to help streamline business
operations, giving you insights to help increase efficiency or cut costs.
Many AI and traditional cameras offer business analytics that have uses outside of security and surveillance. AI-powered analytics can count the number of people in a line, helping with queue management and reducing wait times for guests. Other data can offer a variety of insights, from heat maps that show how common accidents or incidents are in each area to counting the number of people in each room or building, with all data being presented in a convenient analytics dashboard.
Application of Scalable Security Solutions in Different Industries
These scalable high-tech solutions are flexible. This quality makes them ideal for use in a diverse range of industries. Here are four examples of scalable surveillance and security solutions in action in different sectors.
Cannabis
Video surveillance is vital in the cannabis industry because of the many regulations companies need to consider. Regulations vary from state to state, but cannabis companies typically must retain surveillance video footage for at least 30 days. For example, in New Jersey, businesses must maintain a 30-day archive and cameras must run 24/7. In California, the video archive requirement is a minimum of 90 days. Cameras and AI security analysis software help businesses in this industry meet the archival requirements, get real-time monitoring, and record details of all activities on the premises.Not only do these all-encompassing setups detect unusual behavior, theft, or damage to plants or equipment, but they also record videos that companies can use to prove compliance with relevant laws and standards.Cannabis companies are always expanding in a fast-paced and growing industry. With 48 states now allowing recreational or medicinal cannabis use, companies need a cloud-based surveillance system if they wish to open new locations. Since each location will need video surveillance and each state requires companies to keep an ongoing archive, cannabis companies need a scalable solution that will quickly accommodate a lot of footage and ensure security.
Retail
Product loss – known as shrinkage in the retail industry – is a $112 billion problem. Advanced tools like AI-enhanced video analytics can help spot suspicious behavior that human monitors might miss.
Serverless surveillance solutions provide a compact option for small to medium-sizedlocations. Combined with smart cameras that can alert you of suspicious behavior, you can react quickly to theft and other issues that compromise your security or threaten your guests and employees.
Education
Schools and universities need scalable surveillance solutions to ensure the safety of students and faculty. In addition to video monitoring, school security systems rely heavily on access controls and emergency response features.
Security threats can be dynamic in school environments, so you might need advanced video management systems to detect activities that might not be deemed threatening in other settings. For instance, you might need AI analytics tools that detect someone
loitering outside a building or cameras that can detect movement in a hallway and zoom in to identify the person moving. These systems can allow campus security staff to detect potential problems and investigate them before they become dangerous.
Transportation and Logistics
In transportation and logistics, monitoring and video analytics go beyond general security. They can record incidents, trigger emergency responses, and provide evidence for accident investigation.Intelligent transportation systems can show images for surveillance, as well as turn the pictures into data, allowing companies to analyze performance and safety practices. With edge analytics, fleet managers and security personnel can get alerts quickly. They can then make adjustments or take action to mitigate risks.With a cloud-based system, it's possible to add devices to each vehicle in your fleet, scaling up and down as needed.With good planning and a reliance on new technology, like cloud surveillance and AI, you can scale your company's security easily. These tools can also increase integration capabilities and ensure you can grow in the future without encountering the same compatibility problems and costs.
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