Page 43 - Security Today, January/February 2019

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video surveillance to on-prem, they must manually monitor hard- ware in addition to upgrading and replacing it as needed. While this approach works in the traditional sense, providing location-specific video recordings to be reviewed live and at later dates, it prevents organizations from seeing their business as one enterprise. Because video data is siloed from site to site, mid-market businesses are unable to correlate their data and lose out on actionable insights.
Scalability and security of cloud. In contrast to on-prem video sur- veillance, a cloud-based approach is built to scale up securely and without incurring additional technology and hardware costs. When mid-market organizations migrate video to the cloud, they put them- selves in a flexible environment where their surveillance capabilities can seamlessly keep pace with business growth. Software mainte- nance is streamlined with automatic updates pushed out through the cloud. Mid-market businesses migrating to cloud benefit from having their software always up-to-date.
Machine learning and predictive analytics. By moving video to the cloud, businesses can turn untapped surveillance data into a power- ful intelligence tool. The advancement of IoT and machine learning enables companies to glean actionable insights from their previously static video data. Combining video surveillance data with IoT sensor data (such as access control and building management) within the cloud allows businesses to identify patterns, investigate anomalies, and optimize for efficiency.
With these benefits in mind, how can mid-market organizations set themselves up for success by migrating video surveillance to the cloud?
Key Components for Successful Migration
Mid-market businesses pursuing cloud-based video surveillance solutions must be careful to devise a strategy that is both realistic for the business today and sustainable for the business in the future. Certainly there are many factors to consider when evaluating cloud-
based surveillance providers, but three key components are critical for successful migration to the cloud.
Identifying needs of today. There is no shortage of vendors pro- viding cloud-based surveillance solutions. When considering all the various offerings, the evaluation process can be overwhelming. That’s why it is critical to identify what your business needs today but still keeping in mind what you may need in the future. For some, the needs of today may simply be basic video data management. Consider this: if a solution is unable to meet the needs of business today, how will that solution cater to needs of the future?
One size does not fit all when it comes to cloud. Often, businesses view cloud migration as a massive deployment that includes bulldoz- ing previous systems and processes. The beauty of cloud is that it works with you. There is no right way to adopting cloud and the key is understanding what makes sense for your business. For some or- ganizations, it means having a hybrid of both on-premise and cloud- based solutions. For others, it means deploying cloud selectively at certain sites or areas on a trial basis before having a comprehensive migration plan.
Find a solution that add true value. There are many claims to what cloud-based solutions can—or, more importantly, cannot—do when it comes to video surveillance. As mid-market organizations consider so- lution providers relative to the needs of their businesses today, it is im- portant to evaluate what vendors offer outside of the basics: security, data redundancy, ease of scalability, and analytics.
Mid-market businesses have much to gain from adopting cloud-based video surveillance, and the beauty of cloud is that these organizations can implement solutions as it best suits their business needs.
Andreas Pettersson is the CEO of Arcules. WWW.SECURITYTODAY.COM 23