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Who says video surveillance cameras are only for crime prevention? Used the right way and stationed properly, they can be a very fearsome tool for marketing and advertising. Experts the whole world over are now utilizing video surveillance cameras to make better informed decisions about safety, check compliance to standards, rake in more sales, and improve customer service.
The following are some of the uses for video surveillance cameras in the business world.
1. Compliance monitoring
Compliance monitoring is useful in industries where standard operating procedures have to be strictly followed. Through video surveillance cameras, managers of restaurants or hotels can determine whether or not their staffs are following proper sanitation measures. They can also check if their chefs are observing proper food handling and preparation procedures. Video surveillance cameras are also very useful in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. They can monitor vital parts of the production process, such as processing and packing.
2. Construction progress monitoring
Video surveillance cameras mounted in construction areas allow project managers to show construction progress to clients, investors, and stakeholders. Because a construction site is hardly an environment conducive for surveillance, the cameras being used should be weatherproof. Additionally, it is recommended that you use video surveillance cameras that have infrared and lowlight capabilities, so that nighttime images can be captured clearly.
3. Performance monitoring
This is the most popular use for video surveillance cameras in the workplace. With the use of video surveillance cameras, companies can keep an eye on employee's on-the-job performance and their use of company time. In addition, video surveillance helps management identify customer patterns. This is particularly useful in restaurants, where managers have to identify peak hours during the day so as to maximize scheduling arrangements.
4. Traffic regulation and systems monitoring
Video surveillance technology in the form of photo enforcement, for example, helps officials recognize traffic flow and congestion areas. In some cities, camera images of streets and important routes are displayed on websites, to help drivers anticipate traffic problems.
5. Remote telepresence
This use of video surveillance cameras requires that the cameras be positioned in locations not accessible to humans. Examples of these locations include the ocean, the bottom of the sea, desert landscapes, or the insides of a human body. Data from this highly specialized use of video surveillance cameras are used in various practical applications, such as solving medical problems, investigating disputes over natural resources, saving endangered species, and studying the behavior of life forms thriving in their natural environments.
6. Improved customer relations
Video surveillance cameras clue management in on the type of attitude staff members are projecting towards customers. In department stores, for example. video surveillance cameras show how customers are greeted and how their questions are answered.
7. Marketing
Nothing beats the performance and dependability of video surveillance cameras at compiling demographic data of malls, resorts, amusement parks, and tourist attractions. Another usage for these cameras is identification of traffic pattern. For example, a department store could use video surveillance cameras to track foot traffic so that they can position their merchandise in key zones. These key zones are places at a clothing store, for instance, that receive the most human traffic.
It has been said that a weapon is only as deadly as its user. The same is true of video surveillance cameras. It exists as a modern marketing and advertising tool, but it will only be effective to the extent you allow it to be.
The video surveillance camera has become part of our everyday lives, but more so in certain regions of the world. For instance, some people refer to Britain as a “surveillance society.” Along with the surveillance of cell phones and credit cards, businesses and the government are using closed-circuit television (CCTV) to monitor citizens' behavior.
Cameras for everyone
Exactly how many CCTV cameras can one country install? In the UK alone, roughly 4.2 million security cameras are operational. In other words, that is about one camera for every 14 citizens! In fact, Britain has been labeled as the most monitored country, among all industrialized, Western nations. In one survey, it was one of the top five nations in the world, in terms of its video surveillance camera frequency.
Experts predict that surveillance in Britain will continue to increase. Within a decade, schools might use cards to allow parents to track how many burgers and sodas their children buy during the day. Also, machines could scan shoppers as they stroll into grocery and retail stores.
A balancing act
Some critics of England's surveillance society are less critical about the cameras themselves, and more concerned about its usage. These critics are not anti-technology. Instead, they are concerned about improper usage of data collection becoming a threat to a free society. This includes cases when the data collected is wrong, or when the wrong parties obtain it.
In other words, some groups want a balance between the sharing of data in a trustworthy way, while protecting the rights of the citizens. As technology continues to improve, these concerned groups want society to progress along with it.
Video surveillance in society should certainly be used in the correct proportion, and should be properly managed. Like any other tool, if the security cameras are used improperly, then they will become less effective and perhaps even have negative effects on society.
A bunch of benefits
Nevertheless, in this Information Age, people are daily exchanging more information. Thus, the importance of preventing various crimes has become more significant as well. Today, theft can involve not only the stealing of products, but also of information and even identifies. Here are some of the benefits that the video surveillance camera can provide to society:
• Controls the pricing of products. Lowering inventory shrinkage lowers product costs.
• Prevent shoplifting. This causes a third of inventory shrinkage.
• Lowers taxes and insurance premiums. Security cameras can be tax-deductible!
• Saves money. One security camera can be cheaper than one employee theft.
• Thwarts employee theft. This is the top cause for inventory shrinkage.
• Prevents harassment. Not all harassment is reported.
• Serves as a tool to train employees. Train employees about inventory-loss topics.
• Provides feedback about store traffic. Teaches why certain products sell well.
• Prevents vandalism. Many crimes can be discouraged.
When used with the right proportion and when its usage itself is monitored, the video surveillance camera can become a useful and practical tool in society. While it cannot create a perfect society, it can certainly make it a better one.