Video surveillance systems are critical components to enhance security at any location, be it your own small business, a major production facility, or government and educational buildings. But such systems also produce massive amounts of video that, due to a lack of time or resources, never gets reviewed. However, the benefits of video analytics ensure that security events are not missed and suspicious behavior is detected in time to prevent incidents.
Video analytics is a technology that leverages existing video surveillance networks and equipment to discover actionable intelligence from either live or recorded video content. It can be used to distinguish between different objects and can recognize behaviors or activities that require a response or alarm. The main purpose of video analytics is to alert security personnel of unwanted activities captured on camera or provide the evidence needed to remediate incidents after the fact.
Mining video content, either in real-time or recorded, can give businesses and other organizations actionable insight into how to improve processes or their security. This tool can be used to detect an individual moving oddly (or trying to appear undetected), document a bad customer experience in a retail store, identify vehicles not following traffic laws, or even smoke or flames that may indicate fire — and there are many more potential uses. To put it simply, video analytics helps you better use and understand all the data your video surveillance systems are collecting.
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Types of Video Analytics
Video analytics relies on three primary methods to help owners search through video footage or monitor events.
Fixed Algorithm Analytics — The method works by performing a dedicated task and looking for a specific behavior. For example, someone moving in the wrong direction in a passageway, leaving an object or picking up an object, loitering and straying outside of a specific space.
AI Learning Algorithms — Conversely, AI methods learn ‘on the job’ by being connected to a camera for several weeks. During this period the camera learns what is ‘normal’ and issues alerts when something happens outside of that experience. Weeks and months of data provide a baseline; when an anomaly appears, it stands out and is highlighted.
Facial Recognition — These systems can be used to control access points and identify potential threats or persons of interest. Facial recognition works by matching points on a face with a sample stored in a database. If there’s no match, the system tries to create a new record using the best available image of the subject. Subsequent versions of facial recognition can use 3D mapping in real-time, with recourse to a much larger database.
The goal of all video analytics tools is to give you increased control of what your video surveillance system sees, what it notes, and valuable avenues to use that data in meaningful ways.
Today, we’re examining five key benefits of video analytics from a security perspective and how they can help protect your commercial property.
Five Key Benefits of Video Analytics
Deeper Analysis
Advanced video analytics network camera software can analyze video streams to a depth that is impossible for human eyes to achieve. The software examines an image pixel by pixel, rather than looking at it as a whole. Additionally, AI-based video analysis can detect, track, and classify objects in a scene. This level of detail can be crucial in identifying security threats and suspicious behavior.
Object Recognition and Motion Detection
Video analytics is a cutting-edge technology that can perform a variety of important tasks. Motion detection is one of them, and it may be adjusted to various levels of sensitivity. Aside from this, object identification is available too in several versions of detection. It can be configured to differentiate one object from another or to detect a single specific object.
Notifications and Alerts
In the event that something is detected by video analytics, the software can be configured to send out alerts and notifications. This allows security professionals to take immediate action to address the threat. The alerts can be sent to a variety of people, such as security personnel, first responders, or business leaders. Notifications can be sent automatically to the owner, security staff, and others as well, giving up-to-minute visibility.
Automated, Real-time Assistance
A manual recording system may only capture footage after an incident has occurred. This can lead to hours, days, or even weeks of lost footage. But automated systems are constantly recording, which allows for a more complete view of what took place. Video analytics and implementing a VMS provide options for skimming through all the footage to find what is relevant to your situation or incident.
Ease of Installation
Video analytics typically don’t require much in the way of additional hardware or equipment setup. Your network cameras may arrive with such software already installed. If not, or if you wish to upgrade your existing software, you can buy third-party video analytics software. After that, it’s just a matter of connecting it to your system and you’re ready to go with your new, high-powered video analytics-based intelligent video surveillance system.
Enjoy the Benefits of Video Analytics with ProTech Security
At ProTech Security, we’ve built a strong reputation for stellar customer service backed by more than 40 years of experience and innovation in Northeast and Central Ohio. Our commitment to providing cost-effective protection for residential homes and commercial businesses, educational institutions, and government facilities is built on our own history and story.
We always provide the customized service and consulting needed for you to find the ideal security solution. Whether it’s cloud-based security cameras, access control management, or a host of other commercial security services and products, our strong partnerships mean you always have access to cutting-edge technology and capabilities — including the latest in video analytics.
To learn more about how ProTech Security can unlock the benefits of video analytics, or for a free consultation or quote, reach out to our team today.
