Live video monitoring services offer live surveillance so you can keep a constant eye on key areas within or around your business. If you’re looking for a more efficient way to observe, evaluate, and understand what’s happening at your facility, a well-placed surveillance system can offer just what you’re after. The benefits of live video monitoring systems are vast. Security coverage is only one aspect. Installing the right system will give you a valuable set of eyes on your most important areas, as well as a key way to evaluate activity for everything from marketing to supply chain logistics.
Deterred Criminal Activity
One of the most obvious reasons to set up live video surveillance at your place of business is to deal with criminal activity. While cameras can help in myriad ways during or after an incident, the mere presence of such a system may prevent issues from occurring in the first place. When interviewed about their criminal activity, inmates at the Oregon Department of Corrections generally agreed that security cameras were a deterrent, and most said they would leave immediately if an alarm went off.
Seeing security cameras can change one’s perception of a facility. Not only will criminals view it differently, but shoppers may as well. Customers often feel safer in a location where they know activities are monitored.
Improved Criminal Identification
While security cameras may deter some criminals, there’s no denying that there are still instances where crime occurs right under the camera’s eye. This is where Live Video Monitoring can shine, offering a wide variety of benefits. When crime is caught on camera by a live agent, you have a higher chance of identifying and apprehending the criminal. Reviewing the footage will also help you identify ways to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
If you can see that employees are responsible for some loss of product because they’re not reporting snacks and beverages they take from the store, you can change your policies appropriately to not only punish those who are guilty but also let others know that this is unacceptable behavior that will come with serious consequences.
Faster Response to Critical Situations
Video monitoring services provide a keen eye on your business activity at all times. Unlike standard cameras, which record video for later review, a monitored camera service offers a real-time review of everything going on. Using intelligent automated alerts, surveillance companies can combine technology with human observation to provide the best possible protection for your business.
Automated alerts look for motion or unusual activity in a particular area and sound an alert to call the live agent’s attention to the right place at the right time. Agents provide the essential human element that’s necessary to catch subtle behaviors that are cause for alarm. This combination of services ensures that you will get a timely notice of anything that’s amiss. Live monitoring facilitates a faster response time.
Video monitoring benefits include the ability to spot crime while it’s still happening, alerting the authorities immediately so that they may arrive on the scene while the crime is still in process and catch the criminals on your premises before a major loss has occurred. In instances of violent crime, a faster response time could be a life-saving feature for victims.
An Affordable Alternative to Live Guards
Live guards are often seen as the gold standard for commercial security, but it’s not always possible to maintain a large staff of security professionals on-site. Video monitoring services allow you to employ many of the same skills as a live guard while cutting your costs. You will still have the critical element of human observation, but you can stretch your budget further and cover a larger area when you rely on monitored cameras.
Security cameras are also helpful in that they offer indisputable evidence of what occurred. In cases where you combine live on-site security professionals with monitored cameras, your guards can respond promptly when alerted to suspicious activity. They can rely on a clear video of the activity to back-up their actions and support any later review of what occurred.
Enhanced Security Scalability
Scalability is key for any successful business. You must have the capacity to grow quickly and efficiently along with demand. If your warehouse is growing, your security needs will grow as well. One of the fastest ways to expand your security system is through live video monitoring services. This way, you don’t have to hire and train new security guards or start from scratch with a new system.
If you’re updating from an unmonitored analog camera system to digital video monitoring, you’ll find that your new installation requires less infrastructure. You’ll have fewer wires to install with a digital system. Digital cameras also offer a wider viewing angle, so you can observe your facility with fewer digital cameras than you might need for analog video surveillance. These factors all improve your scalability, making it easier to upgrade and expand your coverage as your business expands.
Added Value in Multifamily Areas
If you’re operating a multifamily facility, installing monitored video surveillance will likely increase the value of your units. An apartment that offers video monitoring is preferable to one where activity is unmonitored. You’ll find that it’s easier to establish your location as an upscale community and attract good tenants. In a hospital or hospice facility, one of the benefits of live video monitoring is that your patients will feel more confident about their security. The extra protection provided by monitored security cameras will make your rooms and services more desirable.
If you’re looking for a way to increase your area’s value so you can command a higher rent, installing this type of security system is a smart place to start. You’ll also find that you can better resolve issues in your community with established security. You can review tapes to determine which residents are at fault should disputes arise over parking, pets, or other issues.
Valuable Insights for Business Efficiency
Though security is the primary concern with most surveillance systems, you shouldn’t overlook the benefits that this video can offer in other areas. If you’re struggling to boost productivity, installing cameras throughout the facility may help you do just that. Simply knowing that business operations are monitored might encourage some employees to avoid time-wasters like taking extended breaks or loitering on the production floor. A watchful eye can do a lot to change the behavior of your workers.
Reviewing your camera footage can also help you pinpoint parts of the production line that are slowing activity even when they’re operating as they should. You might discover a bottleneck that you weren’t able to identify before. Reviewing footage can help upper management get a better understanding of what happens in each facility, even if they’re not present on-site every day.
Monitoring your warehouse, production facility, or retail facility is a smart way to gain a more comprehensive understanding of what’s happening. Video footage allows you to keep an eye on several places at once. These continuous recordings are available to view at your leisure. While a supervisor is limited to what he or she can monitor and take in at any given time, a set of well-placed cameras can oversee all of it.
Detailed Data to Increase Sales
Understanding consumer behavior is a critical part of increasing sales. A study on shopping behavior based on surveillance systems noted that valuable information could be gleaned from factors like “the relation with the shopping area, the orientation of the head, speed of walking and direction, pauses which are supposed to be related to the interest of the shopper,” and so on. By reviewing the footage from a video monitoring system, you can evaluate how your customers behave in each part of the store.
Using this information, you might learn that a particular aisle gets more attention than other parts of the store. You may see which type of end cap slows your shoppers the most and which displays they walk past without a glance. Video surveillance shows what path customers typically take when they enter the store. With a comprehensive system of video coverage throughout the building, you can track behavior from entrance to exit and use this information to guide your future marketing choices.
Evidence to Help Resolve Disputes
Whether you’re facing a dispute between employees or irate accusations from a dissatisfied customer, you can glean valuable information from a video surveillance system. Reviewing the tapes from your video monitoring system will help you determine who is in the right. This will help you better mediate arguments and offer the most appropriate response to customer complaints.
Even the most observant store manager can’t be in all places at once. Thanks to video monitoring systems, your management doesn’t have to see and know it all. You can turn back to your footage any time you need to get the essential details of important incidents. Video monitoring services offer a valuable way for you to monitor all types of activity within your facility. Whether you want to improve sales or minimize losses, you can do it all with the right installation.
