In this business era, when companies are focusing on getting the best return on their investment, a sizable number are looking towards extending their use of IP camera surveillance systems beyond security and into overseeing business operations.
According to a recent issue of Security Watch Info, a survey in which IT and video surveillance professionals were asked what their business plans were for video surveillance revealed that 68% of respondents plan to use their IP camera systems for improving operations while 32% planned to restrict their usage to security.
Many retail businesses with more than one outlet, perhaps because they are already familiar with how IP cameras systems and video management software deliver remote real-time multi-screen viewing of several locations, have already made the move.
Managers feel that using the cameras will improve their ability to:
- manage multiple locations
- monitor everyday business activities
- track employees over the course of a day
- keep a watchful eye on inventory and sensitive customer and business data
They are particularly fond of VMS’s ability to record and store video and easily access it for future viewing and plant to use it for:
- ensuring employees are following safety protocol
- gaining insight into employee-customer interaction
- keeping an eye on their assets
- providing evidence in disability and accident incident investigations
Video analytics scores big too, as small business owners have come to appreciate how event-triggered notifications allow them to stay in touch with their home base from anywhere in the world via smartphones, tablets, or other internet-connected devices, and plan to help them manage from afar.
Lest the respondents appear to be too homogeneous, there were a few outlier replies. One of the most interesting came from a manager who oversees 1,600 stores. He has 32 surveillance cameras at each location. His biggest problem is neither managing employees, keeping track of inventory, nor preventing theft. It’s evaluating the value of items brought in for sale.
Since it’s impossible to have an expert at every location, he’s looking into using video to enable experts to do remote evaluations.
We hope this spurs you on to think about how IP camera systems can help you manage your business operations. Give Kintronics a call at 914-944-3425, or fill out an information request form. Our sales engineers would love to help you transform your ideas into day-to-day reality.