Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) innovator, Ava Security, found that 82% of IT, Operations, Facilities Management, and Security systems decision-makers employed by medium and large-sized businesses, see a potential role for their workplaces’ video monitoring systems in supporting corporate plans for “a safe return to the workplace post-lockdown.”
This is perhaps the most significant finding of the video security industry’s first multi-national study of COVID-19 video monitoring system usage and upgrade impacts.
Role of video monitoring systems
The survey was conducted in March 2021 when many decision-makers were making final arrangements for the safe return of staff to organisations’ offices and work premises later this summer.
In the US, 90% of respondents saw a role for video monitoring systems in supporting a safe return to the office, whilst that percentage fell to 72% in the UK and went up to an average of 94% across Norway and Sweden.
IT cloud adoption also accelerated
Ava Security’s research uncovered an acceleration in cloud migration of IT services which impacts VSaaS adoption
Ava Security’s research also uncovered an acceleration in cloud migration of IT services which looks set to positively impact VSaaS adoption. Nearly four out of every five US firms (79%) have already accelerated their cloud migration plans. More than half of those have already secured an increased IT budget in the financial year 2020/21 for moving additional services into the cloud.
In the UK, over half (51%) have accelerated cloud migration of services over the last year, again with over half of those already benefiting from increased budgets to complete cloud migration projects. Sweden and Norway together reached an average of 84%, seeing an acceleration of services moving to the cloud with over two-thirds of this region confirming an increased budget already assigned to this activity.
VSaaS demand led by the US
Over three-quarters, (76%) of US firms with video monitoring systems regarded VSaaS migration as a "net high priority" (marking it as either "high priority" or "somewhat of a priority").
That percentage was even higher across Norway and Sweden’s respondents at 90%. However, in the UK, VSaaS adoption was favored by just over half (51%) of security system decision-makers.
Transition to cloud services
"Our new study shows that many companies both in the US and Europe are getting used to remote work and monitoring and accelerating their transition to cloud services. Both to leverage new smart analytics to support the safe reopening of workplaces and to increase efficiency."
"Managers running video monitoring systems are looking for greater functionality like people counting, crowd density, and room capacity analytics to meet the new requirements with COVID-19. They want more timely access to that data from wherever they are to help drive faster and smarter decision-making. And linked to this, tighter cyber security of video data is seen as increasingly important," said Vegard Aas, Head of Online Business, Ava Security
Ava launches Cloud Connector
Cloud Connector eliminates the need to rip and replace existing video security devices and equipment
Ava Security launched its Cloud Connector offering to enable video security system owners easy and cost-effective transition video security solutions to the cloud. This brings Ava’s advanced real-time analytics and proactive security to existing surveillance cameras by integrating with the open Aware Cloud platform.
Ava’s Cloud Connector eliminates the need to rip and replace existing video security devices and equipment, to directly reap the cost and operational efficiencies of a true cloud service.
Remote monitoring of assets, operations, and people
Ava Security also revealed that four out of every five businesses captured in its multi-national study, predict an increase in remote monitoring of assets, processes, and people on their work premises over the next 12 months.
There is no doubt that the spike in demand for remote management of systems and premises (because so many have to work from home) is set to continue apace: 78% of firms predicted that they would likely increase their remote management capability over the next 12 months. That figure was slightly higher in the US at 83% and only slightly lower in the UK at 72%.
Cybersecurity
Ava’s study also uncovered the fact that 79% of firms declared it likely that their organisation would accelerate the migration of IT applications into the cloud over the next 12 months.
The study also found that 80% of firms predicted an increased focus on cybersecurity for all networked devices and applications over the next 12 months.
Video security integration with access control systems
The top priority for improving and optimising existing video monitoring systems on both sides of the Atlantic was to integrate them "better with other security-related systems, such as access control or alarm systems" nearly four of every five system owners (79%) considered this a high priority for improvement.
The next highest priority (jointly), for 77% of system owners, was improving their "system’s resilience and backup systems and procedures" and "GDPR compliance procedures" surrounding their video monitoring/CCTV systems.
People counting leading video analytics adoption
Across all four countries captured by the study, the average deployment of people counting stood at 43% of video systems
People counting (including room capacity monitoring) is the most heavily deployed smart analytics tool right on both sides of the Atlantic, the Ava study found. Across all four countries captured by the study, the average deployment of people counting stood at 43% of video systems.
A further 32% of firms plan to deploy this video analytics capability in workplaces within the next 12 months. In the US, 54% of video system owners have already deployed people counting in their systems. In contrast, adoption is higher again in Norway and Sweden combined at 62%, although much lower in the UK at just 29%.
Crowd density analytics demand COVID-linked
People crowd density analytics runs a close second in terms of video analytics adoption, no doubt stimulated by COVID-19 safety requirements, 39% of organisations have already deployed this capability into their video surveillance systems.
The US leads in terms of crowd-density analytics usage, with 57% of firms they're using it, whereas a little less than half (44%) of Sweden and Norway-based video monitoring system owners have crowd-density analytics capability. Only a quarter (26%) of UK system owners have so far deployed it. However, the UK is set to see a more than doubling of crowd-density analytics deployments, 29% of system owners plan to deploy this in their video monitoring systems over the next 12 months.