Cloud-based Video Surveillance

Cloud-based video surveillance is in demand by both private individuals and businesses. The video surveillance tasks differ for these two categories, and the necessary equipment also varies depending on the tasks.

Table of contents

1. Video surveillance for home
2. Video surveillance for business
3. Video Surveillance in Telecom Industry
4. Additional Devices

Video surveillance for home

For individuals, it is important to install cameras in secondary houses in order to monitor the safety of the property. Modern times have been a rather alarming period when many people lose their jobs, which leads to an increase in crime and the number of thefts. Video surveillance of children is also relevant - a parent can safely leave the child to play in the backyard or in another room, if there is a camera there, and they can always connect to it and see what is happening with their child. Also, video surveillance of elderly relatives is in demand (of course, with their consent). The main thing for the subscriber here is that they can, at any time and from anywhere, connect to the cameras and receive relevant information about the condition of their property, children, or elderly relatives.

The key device for these kinds of customers is a smartphone and an application installed on it. Among other things, you can configure event notifications - for example, the application sends push messages if the camera detects motion. In case this is not enough, the customer can refer to the web interface. It offers additional possibilities - managing access rights of other users (for example, you can give family members access to view cameras), mosaic to simultaneously see the image from all cameras at once (this functionality will appear in the mobile application in the near future). There’s also an opportunity to fully configure and administer the system so that you can quickly and conveniently configure cameras.

Individuals most often choose WI-FI cameras that do not require wires and can be easily moved from place to place. Today, most cameras have a built-in rotary mechanism that allows them to rotate, tilt the camera, and increase and decrease the frame’s zoom by connecting to the camera remotely. Thus, the user can get a more complete picture of what is happening in their home in their absence.

Video surveillance for business

Video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) is a technology for hosting video surveillance hardware and software in the cloud, allowing users to access IP cameras and conveniently view video from any device anytime, anywhere. Because there is no hassle of installing servers and configuring systems on site, VSaaS is an ideal choice for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It is more cost-effective than traditional video surveillance solutions because users can spread their payments over the term of the contract and pay exactly for the services they use.

There are many use cases of video surveillance in business. Nowadays, business owners are increasingly resorting to monitoring staff activities. Large companies conducted a study and found that the lack of revenue occurs because the staff disrupts business processes.

For example, an experiment was conducted in a large beauty salon: when a supervisor would come to the salon, the daily revenue would rise approximately 60%, thanks to the fact that the employees did not steal money from the cash register and simply followed all job descriptions. Of course, sending a supervisor to the salon every day would be very expensive. It is cheaper and more efficient to conduct video surveillance of employees, which will lead to the same results. Business owners can simply install cameras and connect them to the cloud, and then they get full control over the processes in their organization.

Another scenario for using video surveillance in business is for security purposes, which now have also become especially relevant for empty cafes, restaurants, and shops. Being at home in self-isolation, you can connect to the video surveillance cameras and see if everything is in order with your property.

Most often, dome cameras or bullet cameras are purchased for business, and both can be placed indoors or outdoors. Dome cameras are ideal for placement on the ceiling, for example, in stores. If we are talking about personnel control, the business makes a choice in favor of fewer cameras with more image quality. If theft or other violation has occurred, it is always important to have a clear and high-quality picture of what happened.

This is also important for those who use video surveillance for analytics. There are also many scenarios in different industries. For example, in retail, video analytics tools can be used to identify customer preferences - where they go first in the store, which shelves are of most interest to them, where they stay longer, and which places they usually miss. For these tasks, it is important that the goods and the faces of customers are clearly visible, therefore, wide-angle cameras are mainly used.

Mobility and the ability to connect to cameras from anywhere are important to business customers. Employees working with a video surveillance system often have access to video surveillance cameras only from their workplace (this refers to 24/7 security video surveillance), which makes it convenient for employees to be able to connect to cameras from anywhere. Therefore, the web interface for watching the video becomes primary for them. It gives them the ability to expand the mosaic and monitor the processes constantly, in real-time.

Video Surveillance in Telecom Industry

Now, more and more often, telecom operators turn to us for integration with TV set-top boxes and applications for Smart TV. It can be used both in business and by private subscribers.

Here is a simple example for business: in a hotel at a ski resort, instead of one TV channel, guests can connect to a camera installed on a slope and see if there is a line for the lift. As for private individuals, we have already mentioned how parents can use video surveillance to keep an eye on their children playing in the yard or in another room. The parent can simply turn on the desired channel on the TV, and instead of the normal TV transmissions, they can see the image from the surveillance camera. This is much more convenient than looking at the screen of a mobile phone, especially when your hands are busy with household chores.

Additional Devices

We’ve talked about cameras and where it might be better to watch the video, depending on the purpose of video surveillance. There are also additional devices, but their use is optional.

If it is important to control the camera remotely and constantly change the viewing angle, doing this with a standard computer mouse can be quite inconvenient. Special joysticks may come in handy here.

DVRs are also often used, especially in business. Instead of exclusively cloud-based video surveillance, many people choose a hybrid system when the video is recorded on a DVR, and only the most important fragments of it appear in the cloud (for example, segments on which movement was detected). DVRs have their advantages and disadvantages, but this topic is for a more detailed story later.