Communicating the Value of IP Video Surveillance

• By Kevin Saldanha
• Aug 15, 2016

Video surveillance is a valuable tool leveraged by organizations worldwide to mitigate risk, enhance security and streamline operations. The value that IP video surveillance provides is well documented, but it’s hard to define the exact financial return. Often, security leaders try to determine the financial impact of a security event, the chances this event can occur and its effect over time.

Proving value of any security deployment is essential – especially as security efforts are top-of-mind to senior executives. Determining ways in which surveillance infrastructure provides value to the business demonstrates a security team’s commitment to ensuring organizational success. But how can organizations best measure the impact that IP video surveillance has on their businesses – today and into the future?

Protection of Critical Business Assets

Video surveillance is a critical force multiplier to help organizations protect property, employees and customers. A single security event can quickly bring to mind the potential for loss – in disruption of business, exposure to litigation, loss of property or worse. But what other assets can benefit from video data? Consider the positive implications of using video to ensure cyber security, data protection, intellectual property and brand reputation. By helping businesses protect these vital corporate assets, security managers can build a cohesive approach to risk management.

Evolving Use Cases

Once used solely to enhance security and safety plans, video surveillance is now a fundamental business tool. Video data is used to maximize employee productivity, measure marketing campaign success and make sure remote site operations are on target. An organization’s surveillance system can be leveraged to capture security data that is valuable to a broad number of stakeholders and therefore, budgeting for the system can be allocated across multiple departments.

Demonstrate ROI

Analyze your surveillance system’s total cost of ownership. Create a business case that shows how investigating liability claims with video results in a reduction of false slip-and-fall claims. Video can augment and dynamically enhance access control data, and operators can review video to determine whether an access alarm was valid or not, which can save manpower on false alarms. Without video evidence, these processes would not be possible.

In some instances, for a Safe City environment, the cost savings associated with crimes averted through camera systems in Chicago, for example, saved the city more than $4 for every dollar spent on the technology, according to the Urban Institute. In the same vein, the more robust a security program, the better it is at preventing and solving crimes – and the programs are most effective when the systems are monitored by trained staff, have enough cameras to detect crimes in progress and integrate the technology into all manner of law enforcement activities. A truly robust security program will be able to do all of these things, thereby demonstrating true ROI to security management teams or the C-suite.

Operational Excellence

Modern video surveillance systems can be accessed from remote locations through tablets, smartphones and thin clients. This feature reduces the need for security managers or guards to physically visit a site when an issue arises or alarm sounds. By tapping into video feeds, officers can determine what is happening and quickly determine the appropriate response. 

When summed together, determining ROI, utilizing video data for multiple uses and helping optimize business operations brings the investment in video surveillance technology to the forefront of discussions at the C-suite level. By implementing a robust IP video program that achieves all of these valuable goals, more and more businesses and organizations can have the opportunity to spend wisely on comprehensive solutions.