CCTV Archives - Page 5 of 25

CCTV the big Squeeze!

CCTV installers have found it tough over the last couple of years. The
reason of course has been the recession and the lack of spending on new
equipment as a result. But is this the full storey? Careful analysis is
beginning to show that the security industry is being squeezed from
several directions and the question has to be asked is how can this be
addressed and how can the security industry as a whole fight back to
profitability .

CCTV sales on the internet

The first issue we all have in business is the Internet.
Gone are the days that prices were kept between the manufacturer the
distributor and the supplier. Look anywhere on line and you can find
comparative prices. Even if an end user has no idea where to look for
kit he can always find what he is looking for on EBAY and unfortunately
as with any auction site, the prices never really reflect the true cost
of actually installing CCTV. This is forcing prices and margins down. If you are a
CCTV salesman you will have heard more times than you care to remember how
cheaply your prospective customer can purchase exactly what you are
trying to sell him online for a fraction of the cost. We currently have a
culture in this country now for cheap cheap cheap and everyone has forgotten
the importance of quality ..most frustrating. The Internet also provides
heaps of information and this has led to the second problem facing the
sales within the security industry.

The second problem.

Electricians are no longer scared of CCTV. In the past their workload would have seen them happy to pass this sort of business onto the professionals, not anymore…….Any electrician worth his salt can install a simple analogue CCTV system and now they are doing so. CCTV However their lives have been made easier because insurance companies , themselves struggling for clients have loosened some of the strict criteria they used to apply to CCTV installations. No longer do they insist that a NACOSS gold installer is responsible for installing and servicing CCTV equipment. BS8148 the British standard for monitored CCTV has fallen flat on its face and insurer’s have been unable to enforce their customers to take up this option, an option that would exclude anyone outside the security industry carrying out the installation.

CCTV monitoring at home

In addition to this, customers seem happy to monitor CCTV systems themselves bypassing the
need for affiliated central stations, add to this the fact that we have seen a
huge shift to self insuring, some people seem to have worked out that
their losses incurred during a break-in are less than the combined cost
of CCTV cameras and insurance.

IP CCTV.

All this is bad , but it gets worse. The security industry manufacturers have made a seismic shift into the world of IP CCTV. In theory a fantastic opportunity to upgrade customers from
analogue to IP and at the same time dramatically increase quality,
functionality and ease the grunt of the installation. This move has
however opened up the market place to a whole new breed of camera
installer. Telecoms and IT integrators have suddenly seen the light. A
discipline that held no interest for them previously has suddenly become
easy, in addition they are always on the spot to include security at the
new build point and offer this service when upgrading telephone exchanges or
installing a new cat 5 infrastructure. Building firms are now even
starting their own divisions dedicated to CCTV and security. Integrated
security is also now common and the whole job of installation is now eased by IP Access control that can fit seamlessly together on the network so no security company is required.

The big fight back!

So how can the security industry fight back? Well they need to look
towards their existing clientele for starters. Treat them like gold dust
and keep them informed of new developments involving IP, HD and
megapixel camera solutions. We need to up the level of service that we
provide. The one thing that cannot be offered by a sparky and even many of
the big IT integrators is the sort of response required when a CCTV
security system goes wrong . This is the trump card and should be used
time and time again.

Cost of a break in?

In order to address the insurance issues we talked
about earlier, prospective customers need to be told what the real cost
of a break-in can mean. Disruption of business, lost clients
embarrassment and cash flow issues. The most important point though is
that we from the security industry know about security, far more than
any builder , electrician, IT integrator or end user and we must get this
point across. As long as we train our engineers properly, inform our
sales staff and price to compete then there is plenty of scope for
expansion in the future….once of course this recession is finally over
!!!

ESI and Honeywell have teamed up in order to offer HRDP dvr users a
centrally monitored CCTV solution.

The integration between the two companies uses the Fusion HRDP DVR and
ESI’s (European System Integration) front end monitoring software
platform.

This is a route to market that has been used by others in the past but this partnership is unique. It
enables Honeywell’s customers to re-enforce their allegiance to the
Fusion product and stop other suppliers stepping in with a monitoring
solution.

The partnership works both ways and allows the central stations to
approach customers who have not considered remote monitoring in the past
but have just used their Fusion DVR for stand alone purposes only.

With the introduction of more and more broadband into business and with the
phasing out of ISDN many end users have been looking for ways to reduce
phone bills and enhance the way that their CCTV can be responded to.

Remote CCTV monitoring is an excellent way of reducing costs associated
with on site manned guarding and can be just as effective. The ability
to generate a verbal warning on site and coordinate an effective
response to an alarm means effective savings and less crime.

The Fusion IV is Honeywell’s leading recording and monitoring solution
and has been deployed across many sites in the UK plenty of opportunity
for installers and central station alike to revisit sites and upgrade to
ensure extra revenue streams.

It seems to me that the good old Security Guard gets a raw deal…….often depicted as typically old(er), maybe semi-retired…….. even more of a raw deal is that he (or she!) is normally suspected of putting their feet up, watching a crackly old portable TV, sipping a cuppa, in fact, anything other than keeping an eye on the site they are meant to be watching!

Now, before we get complaints from hard working effective Security Guards, that is not our opinion!!!

But…..nonetheless, the Security Guard can be perhaps a second option to today’s advanced technological security systems…..

monitored CCTV solution — monitored CCTV

let’s take CCTV…….. with modern DVR’s, connecting alarm devices is easy……. and once connected and armed, they can used to trigger a connection to a 24/7 monitoring centre, anywhere on the planet, equipped with dedicated viewing staff that will ascertain the problem and alert the required person/authority……

The Security Guard can also do the same thing, but are they potentially in personal danger if they approached the intruder? Are they simply going to do the same as the Monitoring Centre and call the nearest person/authority? If so, perhaps it is safer, quicker and cheaper to employ the services of a dedicated Monitoring Centre instead?

And, as more and more end user sites become automated with barriers/gates etc, clever modern DVR’s also have the ability to trigger relay outputs so as to remotely allow speech, gates/barriers etc to be controlled…..

We are not advocating the end of Security Guards – this country has enough unemployed as it is – but we DO advocate safety and efficiency using the technology that is available to us……

So have a think, could your system be better utilised with a Monitored Centre?

More and more, software is becoming the heart of the CCTV System……..

In days of old, a system would have one control point, and if additional control points were required, the system practically needed replicating in order to provide additional controls to another point.

Come the age of the computer and now adding another control point is as easy as loading software onto a network enabled PC……..

Most DVRs these days come with free software that provides accessibility to stored images, live cameras and PTZ controls..

But an interesting surge in the market appears to be coming from the software only control systems – BMS style software that controls the full range of Security disciplines, including Fire, Intruder, Access Control and CCTV etc….

Honeywell are big leaders in this arena, but new products from the likes of ESSA and CNL offer interesting control angles on the control system

Milestone and IndigoVision are also big players in this industry area too………Milestone particularly have set their business model on the ‘licence per camera’ basis, allowing flexibility to expand the system without too much expense or inconvenience…….it’s an interesting idea – we are all used to paying subscriptions for software such as anti-virus programs, so to pay a fee on annual basis seems like a good way to ensure maintenance agreements are kept by linking the camera licences to subscriptions…….

Of course, some end users see the extra current premiums that IP allegedly imposes over SD (Standard Definition) CCTV as enough to pay let alone additional subscriptions for software………..but, as prices fall, then we think subscriptive CCTV is an interesting idea – potentially locking end users back into reliable installers via the maintenance/subscription model

Time will tell, but certainly there are massive advantages to the control systems being PC software based………

How much are councils spending on CCTV in the UK? Well a recent report has shown that over 300 million in the last 3 years. The article suggests that this is a huge waste of tax payers money and says that CCTV does not prevent crime? An interesting point of view of course but with all such sweeping statements it is always difficult to prove how much crime CCTV does prevent. It seems that in many serious criminal cases, CCTV is the very first port of call for police looking for clues. Inevitably many crimes are solved because of CCTV as for the argument does it prevent crime? We think that the minute people know that they are not being watched, crime will rise

Integrated CCTV

News, reviews and noise on security related issues.

Tag Archives: CCTV

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