White Paper

Survey Highlights Needs for Intelligent Video Surveillance Solutions

Pelco by Schneider Electric recently surveyed 489 end-users within the surveillance industry about their surveillance needs and where they see the industry headed. The survey analyzed how end-users view their current surveillance systems and the expectations they have for emerging technologies.

pelco

Key findings

The study revealed significant and valuable insights into the current state of the video surveillance market, and how users rate their existing systems and market offerings in terms of meeting their business needs. Here are five of the top findings of the study:

  • One-third of end-users believe that integration between disparate systems is their most significant security challenge today.
  • Forty-four percent of end-users believe their current surveillance technology isn’t sufficient for 2020.
  • One in every three end-users thinks artificial intelligence will make the most significant impact on the surveillance industry by 2020.
  • Sixty-four percent of end-users plan to prioritize predictive analytics in the next few years.
  • Over half of those surveyed say they use their surveillance system to meet current business challenges, but haven’t seen it reach its full potential.

Many surveillance systems aren’t meeting current needs

While parts of the security market may develop over a more extended period, the technology of video surveillance has been rapidly changing for at least the last ten years and shows no indication of slowing down. These technical advances mean that new capabilities are regularly introduced into the market to improve

overall system performance and/or to provide specific solutions to current surveillance challenges. For this discussion, we will consider systems that have been installed within the last five years using the avaliable technology at the time of installation to be ‘current,’ while knowing that even within the most recent two years many new features and functionalities have become available. Systems installed more than five years ago may continue to function and meet some business purposes, but due to this rapid rate of enhancements, they can no longer be considered current.

Half of surveillance systems are out of date

By this measure, the survey reveals that half (49%) of existing surveillance system installations are functionally out of date because they were installed more than five years ago. A significant portion of these (19% of the total) were installed more than ten years ago – a lifetime in terms of available camera technology.

The quick pace of technology systems is evident in security managers concerns. Of the respondents, 33% reported that their biggest technology challenge is their equipment becoming outdated. The fraction was higher for users with older systems, installed 10 or more years ago, at 44%. The next biggest technology challenge was integrating surveillance cameras with the rest of the security systems, reported by 29% of respondents (slightly higher for respondents with newer systems – 33%). Other technical challenges lagged behind these two.

Integration remains a broad challenge

Respondents gave a clear message when they were asked to identify their biggest security challenge – the top answer at 34% was ‘integration between disparate systems,’ and this concern was consistent across all end-user categories.

This answer is interesting because the concept of integrating security systems is somewhat new. In the past, an organization’s video surveillance system stood apart from the access control system, parking lot gates, time and attendance system, and others. As these systems have undergone technology improvements, and the data and intelligence of these systems become more available for integration using internal networks as well as cloud-based services, the potential for integration has emerged and increased. The high recognition of this potential and its characterization as a challenge indicates a high market readiness for improved integration techniques, products and services.

Surveillance trends for 2020

While it is always a challenge to predict the future, budget cycles and organizational planning do encourage security managers to think about how to prepare for the future. Part of that process is evaluating current and emerging technologies to determine which are most likely to address future challenges. Given the high change rate of technology mentioned earlier, it is not surprising that more than two-thirds of the study respondents (68%) are not convinced that their current security technology will be sufficient to address their needs in 2020, which is barely two years away.

Users want predictive analytics

One thing the end-user respondents are sure about the future is that predictive analytics will be a priority. A full 64% reported they would be prioritizing these technologies going forward, and 35% said it would be a high priority.

During the last year, panoramic cameras and predictive analytics were the top two security trend topics that caught the attention of end-user respondents – with 50% and 38% respectively. Other topics caught the attention of 29% or fewer respondents.

IoT and AI moving mainstream

Study respondents also think that some emerging technologies that were not explicitly designed for security will nonetheless become relevant to the security market shortly.

In particular, 54% of the end-users believe that the Internet of Things, or IoT, will be mainstream surveillance technology by 2020, and one third (33%) say that Artificial Intelligence, or AI, will make the most significant impact on the surveillance industry by 2020. Close behind, 32% say automation will make the most significant impact. Together, these results again indicate a willingness on the part of end-user respondents to accept and incorporate emerging technologies into their security programs, and they are optimistic about the development, testing and deployment timetables.

Surveillance: More than security

Security end-users have heard and understood stories about companies using video surveillance footage for additional business purposes. For example, it’s known that national retailers use video cameras in their stores not only to combat theft and fraud but also to gauge the effectiveness of marketing programs and in-store product displays. Respondents in this study appear to have incorporated these ideas into their security system expectations, even if the results haven’t come as of yet.

Security end-users have heard and understood stories about companies using video surveillance footage for additional business purposes. For example, it’s known that national retailers use video cameras in their stores not only to combat theft and fraud but also to gauge the effectiveness of marketing programs and in-store product displays. Respondents in this study appear to have incorporated these ideas into their security system expectations, even if the results haven’t come as of yet.

data closer to useful intelligence, which should further increase adoption and use. In a related question, 54% reported already using video surveillance for operational purposes, and another 12% planning to introduce that initiative soon. Of the 54% that have already implemented some operational uses, most report that the full potential is yet to be realized, while 19% say that they have seen ‘proven results.’

These responses further support the evidence that end-users are confident that the new technologies will provide benefits and are trying out, or at least will experiment with, operational scenarios. As specific solutions prove successful, we expect them to spread within market verticals and trigger additional sales opportunities.

Recommendations

Based on interpreting the responses collected in this study, and the associated findings, there are several recommendations for video surveillance integrators and providers going forward.

  • Prioritize offering an easy-to-use system for smaller users, to make it easier to implement and scale, particularly if the upgrade path is clear.
  • Implementing even basic automation/ analytics reduces the need for dedicated security monitoring and staff. Alerts can be set to trigger attention when needed, while the video is available for review if an incident occurs.
  • Make sure to consider the non-security benefits including liability reduction, marketing information etc., that may offset costs of a security system and bring additional business value.
  • A full solution provider, with confirmed testing and compatibility of system elements, is the lowest risk and most effective approach.

 


Contributed By PELCO


 

To top