Facilities Management
Managed video as an alternative
For distributed enterprises, facilities security as a service can improve critical oversight of locations.
by Matt Steinfort
MVaaS is often used to address the challenges of managing distributed video systems across multiple locations.
As companies’ perspectives
on the potential applications of video have
evolved, some are realizing the full value
video can provide. The concept is simple: If
an organization can easily understand what
is going on in all of its remote locations,
it can use that information to improve how
it operates, increase profitability and
enhance the customer experience.
For example, one company
recently conducted 10 unannounced,
undetected time-shifted store visits in 30
minutes. Unannounced and undetected means
that the operator gets an unfiltered view of
what is happening at the location when he is
not there. Time-shifted means the operator
can view what happened at critical times
during the day, even if it happened
yesterday or last month.
Ten store visits in 30
minutes means that a single operator can
cover more locations than by visiting the
stores in person. Remote video does not
replace the need to spend time at each
location in person, but it can magnify a
manager’s ability to understand and impact a
large number of locations.
By integrating video with
business applications, such as point-of-sale
or access-control systems, companies can see
exactly what happened behind any event in
their business. Whether it is verifying that
an exception transaction is legitimate or
checking adherence to standard practices,
video provides the context and eliminates
the guesswork.
In another example,
marketing organizations historically have
been limited to in-store sampling or
low-response customer surveys to gain
insight into customer behavior. With remote
video, however, marketers can examine every
transaction in a week involving a new
product across hundreds of locations.
Broadband has been common
in retail and SMB locations for several
years. Cameras and video have been in place
in many of these locations even longer. Many
companies, however, still have not embraced
video in a more extensive and meaningful
way. Part of the problem is that the system
has to be easy to use and manage; it cannot
crush the company’s broadband network; it
should not overwhelm the IT organization;
and it has to have a compelling ROI.
If any one of these is
not true, then a company likely will not
widely deploy video and take full advantage
of its capabilities. If video is not easy to
use with minimal training, it will only be
used by a few people in the company. Video’s
use will be limited to one or two
individuals in the IT or security groups.
If video is difficult to
manage, then IT will be forced to limit who
has access to video and what they can do
with it. If video consumes the broadband
connection regardless of the needs of other
mission-critical applications, IT will never
let it ride the company’s network. If video
requires more IT resources to manage than a
company can justify, it will never be rolled
out. If video does not have a compelling
return on investment, it will not make it
off the planning list.
Managed video as a
service (MVaaS) is a subset of the
software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. In the
case of MVaaS, video management software is
hosted as a service provided to customers
across the Internet. Like other SaaS
applications, MVaaS eliminates the need to
install and run software on the customer’s
own computers.
MVaaS is often used to
address the challenges of managing
distributed video systems across multiple
locations and to reduce the user’s burden of
software maintenance, ongoing operation and
support. Because MVaaS is hosted on the
Internet, it creates a lower cost value
proposition when scaled across multiple
locations. MVaaS applications are generally
priced on a per-user, per-camera or per-site
subscription basis, eliminating the upfront
expense typically required for video
software.
MVaaS solutions vary from
traditional video systems in a number of
ways:
- Plug-and-play
recorders eliminate much of the
networking complexity and IT
requirements at each remote location.
- Centralization
of user and recorder management provides
the ability to easily control access for
many users across a large number of
locations.
- A
Web-based interface provides easy and
widespread access to video in any
location from anywhere in the world.
- The
SaaS model eliminates software upgrades
and version control, and protects
customers against technology
obsolescence.
- Real-time
monitoring of all devices (recorders and
cameras) ensures customers’ systems are
fully operational.
- Strong
network security and adherence to
industry requirements, such as PCI
compliance, ensure customers are not
exposing themselves to new risks.
Before MVaaS, the
interaction between broadband providers and
video-using customers often was painful, as
manual setup was required and static IP
addresses were needed. MVaaS has changed
this dynamic, as the more innovative
services work automatically on most network
configurations and require no IT or network
intervention.
Streaming video requires
bandwidth. While some video systems will
work under a variety of network speeds
(e.g., satellite, ISDN, DSL, T-1) without
crashing the network, the more customers use
video, the higher quality video they will
want, thus more bandwidth will be required.
Matt Steinfort is the chief executive officer of
Envysion, Louisville, Colo.
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