Proactive video monitoring

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

The 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.

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 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”

INTERVIEW

“In Ireland there will not be a single monitored CCTV system that goes in without audio whereas in the UK it will be the exception that does include audio”

Listen to the interview with John in the PSI Security Podcast

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and comfortably support. The commercial market has always been aware of the benefits of monitoring security systems, and I think the domestic sector is now beginning to take on the services, previously perhaps seen as an unnecessary expense, because they want to protect their property and their family better than the non-monitored option would provide. The improvements in the technology have helped here too.

So what has been the major technology game-changer? I would say that AI has had the most impact on the capabilities and performance of the security systems we have today. Some of the brands we work with including Camect and Ava are able to take the information gathered by high resolution cameras and recognise, for example, specific animals, vehicles or people. This allows us to provide extremely reliable notifications and do more with the information. I fully expect that AI developments will go right across the board in the future and feature even more in a widening video monitoring service provision.

What technological changes have you made to improve results? In order to deliver the reliable, preventative monitoring solution that everyone wants, we developed our own app specifically to deal with the controllability of alarms. RE:SURE I/O essentially removes the keypad for arming and disarming a CCTV monitoring system. The major challenge we wanted to address was that of recognising genuine intruders rather than people who are supposed to be there and we have done this through the app being more autonomous and controllable. The ability to arm or disarm the system includes multiple zone control so for large businesses, this means less chance of the property being compromised if staff are just on one part, while home owners can be in one part of the grounds and know that an intruder cannot break-in simultaneously in another part. Have you noticed any differences between Irish and UK security installations? We are based in Northern Ireland so we work in both markets. I would say the biggest difference between the two is that in Ireland there will not be a single monitored CCTV system that goes in without audio whereas in the UK it will be the exception that does include audio. We ask people to consider why they are carrying out the installation and having cameras without audio just makes you witness the crime, but with audio you have the ability to do something about it. Ireland has had a very competitive CCTV market in the last 20 years and the market is still growing very quickly while in the UK it is more mainstream, but without adding audio, installers and their customers are missing a trick.

Where does the installer fit in the provision of monitoring? It is the installers that have the relationship with the customer and have access to the market and they will be the ones who initially specify and sell the solution. There has been a sharp rise in the popularity of self-install systems recently but it is the professional installers, along with ourselves, that need to ask the customer what it is that they want the system to do because ultimately a self-installed and self-monitored system won't give them what they really want from a security system. I have had it said to me that our days as a monitoring station are numbered because of self-monitored technology, but I would say it is the complete opposite - people have a life and want to be able to go on holiday, they can't be monitoring their cameras all of the time.

Outsourcing an installation and the monitoring is the way people get the protection they want 24/7 without having to manage their own security. People do think they can selfdeliver but once they try it and experience the inconvenience of unwanted activations and installation problems they usually realise their mistake and contact a professional. The installer therefore has that initial relationship with the customer and can bring them to us so we can take care of the proactive monitoring provision.