The Opportunity in Video Analytics

The systems that security integration and monitoring companies are installing and supporting today are capable of doing much more than ever before. 

From automation to access control to remote video, these systems make a residence or business not only more secure, but more usable. In many commercial installations, they also provide the opportunity to make the business smarter.

One of the applications security integrators are finding success in is video analytics: quite simply, capturing video at a location and analyzing the events that occur in order to find smarter solutions for the client.

Rapid Security Solutions (RSS), LLC in Sarasota, FL is one integrator using video analytics in many of their installations. One of their biggest clients is Goodwill, as they service nearly 100 Goodwill retail stores and donation centers in the Sarasota, Tampa and central Florida markets.

RSS installed video surveillance systems at each Goodwill location and, in an opportunity unique to the retail market, tied them in with POS (point of sale) date. This allows Goodwill to search through their video archives based on the receipt generated at the register (for example, if a "no sale" or a refund was generated) and verify what actually happened.

"That's a big opportunity to tie in video surveillance at the register," says Steve Paley, president of RSS.

The technology also allows Goodwill to count their customers – an important piece of business data. That allowed them to ask, "How many customers are coming in my store everyday?" says Paley, and compare that with the transaction data. 

How many sales are closing? How many people are leaving? These are stats that video technology is allowing stores to analyze.

These are the types of opportunities security companies have to better serve their customers. It's not just about security anymore; in the commercial market, it's about business data.

"We're in the business of protecting business assets, people, and providing relevant data. We are moving in that direction," says Paley. "In the retail world, it's all about being a business partner and seeing how you can make them more productive."

In fact, video analytics was named one of the video surveillance trends for 2012 by IMS Research, which said that “as powerful processors at affordable price points become available to video surveillance manufacturers, they will increasingly add VCA [video content analysis] to their devices. Basic analytics will become standard features and more advanced 'paid for' analytics will be performed at the edge. ...

"Moreover, more powerful processors will enable multiple VCA algorithms to be performed at the same time, for example loitering and object tracking to improve the detection capabilities. Another possibility is cross camera tracking, where one camera hands-over to another to follow a person as they move through a building.”

This year at ESX, there will be a dedicated session on "Understanding Analytics to Enhance Customer Solutions." Scheduled for Thursday, June 20 at 3:45 pm, the session will provide an overview of the common exterior and interior video analytics, analytics useful for security and loss prevention purposes and those useful for business intelligence purposes, including accessing embedded analytics for cameras (edge technology) and software at the head end for central station or guard station applications.