CCTVNEWS
SPONSORED BY ADVANCED KEYS
Making Video Surveillance
Accessible to Small Retailers
Christian Morin of VSaaS thinks cloud-based technology is allowing retailers
and small franchises to deploy cost-effectively enterprise-grade security.
For retailers big and small, preventing
loss is a vital strategy to daily operations
and business continuity.
Although surveillance is a necessity in
almost any retail environment such as
a giant department store, a food service
franchise, or an independent boutique,
it is especially common to find small
business owners hanging on to older
proprietary DVRs and analogue cameras.
But greater democracy, in terms of
access and affordability to cutting-edge
video surveillance technology, is now
being spread through the retail industry
thanks to advancements in cloud
computing. Coupled with the availability
of faster and more affordable internet
connectivity and a noticeable expansion
of state-of-the-art global datacenters,
cloud-based video-surveillance-as-aservice (VSaaS) is becoming a more viable
and cost-effective solution for smaller
retail businesses looking to upgrade their
security technology.
Cloud-based VSaaS is essentially
lowering the barriers of purchasing an IP
system by reducing the upfront costs and
complexity for the budget-sensitive, less
tech-savvy retail customer.
Understanding the reality
of small retailers
The giants of retail not only recognise the
value in upgrading their loss prevention
technology; they also typically have
the budgets and IT resources to make a
comfortable move to modern IP security
solutions.
For small business owners, this might
not always be the case. Even though
an independent store or restaurant
may struggle with the unreliability of
older hardware, poor video quality, and
limited capabilities, justifying costs and
considering technical abilities could
dissuade even the most forward-thinking
decision maker.
After all, when their focus is on their
core business or the services or products
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‘They would still
greatly benefit from the
innate flexibility’
they are selling, they do not necessarily
have the time or IT expertise available
to manage and maintain an enterprisecalibre IP video surveillance system.
But they would still greatly benefit from
the innate flexibility, superior video
quality, and time-saving capabilities of
a more modern system. Their smaller
installation often requires less than
10 cameras, and mostly the owners or
managers need only a simple, accessible
interface to review video in case of
incidents, or pull up cameras from home
or elsewhere to make sure operations are
running smoothly.
Cloud-vased VSaaS benefits
driving the change
More independent shops, boutiques,
and franchises are being enticed to
upgrade their security solutions to IP
video surveillance in the cloud. Here are a
few of the key advantages of cloud-based
VSaaS that are driving greater adoption:
• Lower up-front costs: The fact that
video recordings are securely hosted in
the cloud, and no servers or hardware
components are required on site is a
huge initial saving. Small retailers can
also select their own budget-compliant
cameras when considering an open
architecture cloud solution, or even
preserve analogue devices by simply
adding IP encoders. Finally, turnkey
packages offered by integrators at an
affordable fixed monthly rate also help
end users spread upgrade costs over
time.
• High-quality video from anywhere,
anytime: Moving to a more modern IPbased video surveillance solution allows
smaller retailers to choose from the latest
HD cameras. These cameras can provide
drastically-improved video quality
compared to their analogue system. And
since all that is required to access video
is internet connectivity, cloud-based
video systems offer business owners and
retail managers the freedom to access
critical video and data from any device,
in any location around the world.
• Ease of use means no IT resources
required: Some of the most effective
cloud-based video platforms offer very
simple, yet powerful functionality.
The objective is to provide only the
necessary capabilities so the user can
get the information they need fast.
Simple login, bookmarking, video
playback, scrollbars, time stamps, search
functions, and easy export are amongst
the features that assist small retailers
in their day-to-day activities. And since
minimal maintenance is provided by
the integrator or vendor, retailers get a
hassle-free installation with all the right
tools.
VSaaS solutions have come of age and
are on track to help small retailers and
franchisees achieve greater cost efficiency,
while benefiting from the latest IP security
technology. Exploring the benefits of a
simple, cloud-based video monitoring
solution can help smaller stores and
restaurants strengthen loss prevention
with minimal upfront investment.
MAR/APR 2014
35