EDIT Interview psijuly22_PSI_mar15 30/06/2022 19:20 Page 2
INTERVIEW
The proactive CCTV approach Video monitoring has now moved into the mainstream on the back of dramatic technology improvements. Here we look at the market and find out why audio is an essential addition to any CCTV installation he rise in the use of CCTV has led to an increase in take up of professional remote monitoring of video providing both verification and crime prevention. The technology on the market today including 4K cameras, analytics and IP streaming have helped improve performance and raised the bar in terms of what services can be provided to customers. Here, we talk to John MacMahon, MD at RE:SURE, about how the innovations in camera technology have made the adoption of video monitoring services mainstream and an essential part of the security process for both commercial and domestic installations that installers should be promoting to their customers.
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How have monitoring services changed over recent years? The main shift we are seeing is the move away from monitoring alarms and signals to video. Ultimately with the development and widespread use of Broadband we have the ability to transmit video and audio triggered by sensors which all means that the operator can see what is actually happening and thus match the response given to the notification to suit the event. Those in the monitoring station now have more information about what is going on at the customer's site so they can make a more informed choice as to the best form of response. With an alarm system the operator would call the customer and report that the alarm has been triggered in a certain zone and that is as much as they would know. With video the operator can explain what they are seeing, they can make a decision with the client and if audio is activated then they can challenge the intruder. Video monitoring, especially with audio, allows you to be proactive rather than reactive
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to an event. Essentially it is a much better service for the customer to receive a call to say that someone has just been warned off the site than phoning them to let them know that someone had broken in. I believe that there is a real shift away from services that just tell you that there is currently an intruder on site. Have customer expectations changed too? I don't think that they have changed that much, but what has happened is that the security technology is now allowing us to match their expectations of the systems. Up until recently I don't think the technology that was driving the alarm was good enough to avoid missing incidents, and trying to explain that to the customer was very challenging because they could review the video themselves and question why the monitoring station didn't see the intruder. And of course, on the flip side of no activations are too many activations! The only way we have to prevent too many alerts is to switch off the camera which takes away any opportunity of identifying the event or the person involved. For some time it was not always possible to deliver what the customer was expecting whether that was due to the detection technology not being good enough or another factor. Today however, we are much more able to deliver what our customers want and provide a better service that installers can confidently sell
John MacMahon of RE:SURE
“Those in the monitoring station now have more information about what is going on at the customer's site so they can make a more informed choice as to the best form of response”
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