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.