In sharp focus: cameras come of age

Deep Dive 9: According to market research firm IHS Markit, the Oceania market for video-surveillance equipment is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 4.8 per cent from 2018-2021.

As part of our 2019 Deep Dive series, we explore the evolution of CCTV. Stay tuned in the lead-up to Security 2019 for the trends affecting the different sectors.

Across the different security markets, smart CCTV cameras are being implemented as a more intelligent and responsive answer to conventional CCTV cameras. These technologies are being used as “surveillance solutions” by security personnel: more than merely surveillance cameras to be monitored, they provide much greater functionality and data analytics.

Security personnel in the retail and event-management sectors are benefiting from much sharper image and video quality, enabling better surveillance and detection of thieves and violent offenders, while banks and financial institutions are using these cameras to detect fraudulent activities at branches.

These sophisticated cameras can be multidirectional, have a long reach, and their internet connectivity means they can be centrally monitored. But of most benefit to security personnel is the data analytics these cameras provide. Internet-protocol CCTV cameras allow the embedding of analytics software that can be tailored to the needs of individual businesses.

Popular functionality across the different markets includes: incorporation of facial-recognition software as a powerful tool in identification; queue management and crowd control to detect customer build-up; managing staff registers; and analytics to help identify abandoned objects.

Apart from the security benefits smart CCTV cameras offer, they also enhance customer experience. “Many organisations have been early adopters of technologies like surveillance cameras and that hasn’t changed,” Lewkovitz says. “The major change is the cost of the technology and image quality as well as non-security benefits that cameras can provide, like people counting, queue management and the use of analytics in customer management.”

Smart CCTV technologies are also being incorporated into mobile security technologies. Drones and robotic surveillance systems are being used at live events. Expect to see more of these technologies in coming years.

How video surveillance systems (such as smart CCTV) are used is a hot topic in the industry right now, with uncertainty about how upcoming changes to CCTV standards will impact the planning, tendering, installation and supply of systems. Business leaders and security personnel are considering how best to operate within the framework of the new standards to achieve their strategic security goals.

The need to balance video surveillance with customer privacy will be on the minds of visitors to the Security Exhibition & Conference, with security personnel expected to explore how video surveillance can go beyond just security to become a new professional service offering for customers.

Read the previous Deep Dive: Body of evidence: biometrics scales up

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