Analog CCTV to Hybrid Cloud: A journey through the years
It was 1989 and I was in between tech jobs working as an assistant manager at a Sears Paint and Hardware store. We had your basic 4 camera wired system with only real-time viewing. I would sit in the back of the store monitoring the employees just to let them know if it was time to stop sitting on the front counters of the store. We had a couple of instances of employees leaving the registers open and looking the other way while criminals would grab the cash and run. Of course, in the days of no recordings we really didn’t have anything useful to make amends — just an annoyed management staff and an embarrassed employee. No trail left behind for the police to help.
Fast forward 25 years and things don’t look much different. We had a similar 2 camera system for a small office that stored about 24 hours worth of video. If you were lucky, you’d figure out there was an event before the video overwrote itself.
Not long after that, we installed an 8 camera NVR system with a user interface that left much to be desired. In the case of an event, our call center managers would quickly show up at my door insisting we needed footage as quickly as possible. Anyone who’s used the antiquated system knows there’s no such thing as a quick video search when using an NVR. Not to mention we had to be sitting in the office in order to do the search, or use a VPN to get a secure connection to the recorder in order to track the data. In the days of 10Mbps, this was beyond an arduous task.
In an effort to improve searching and remote access, we went for the latest technology meant for home security. The new Nest Cam (a.k.a. the Drop Cam). At $250 each and $20/month, this was a bargain. We installed about 18 of them around our office and it was beautiful. Remote access, cloud storage and downloadable video with the click of about 5 buttons.
Fast forward to present day — enormous gains have been made in technology. No longer is the NVR a solid option, it exposes about as much risk to an organization as it does reward. Nest Cams provide minimal value to businesses as they don’t provide any analytics and their flaunted capabilities are shaky at best. These dated solutions can no longer provide the basic features necessary to secure businesses in the ever-evolving modern world.
Modern problems call for modern solutions. By leveraging AI technology such as facial recognition, backpack identification, color matching and enhanced searching capabilities, virtually anyone can become a successful investigator. Current (modern!) security solutions provide proactive monitoring, environmental sensors, access control systems and alarms — all through a single pane of glass. No longer will there be days where tracking down an event takes hours or minutes. With these solutions, we’re talking about isolating events in a matter of seconds.
When discussing these solutions with security directors, asset loss prevention and other decision makers, I’m frequently met with the same question: why is this solution better than what we have, and how can a small to mid-sized business justify the expense? It’s an easy answer! How can you not justify the expense? I’ve seen single camera installations that resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in loss prevention. I’ve seen dual camera installations result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss prevention.
So, why would you make an investment that could have an ROI in the tens of thousands, or hundred of thousands of dollars? The better question is why wouldn’t you make that investment? Why take the minimalistic approach? That would be like giving out the first 3 digits of your ATM PIN number and hoping for the best.
