If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what video footage can tell you about what’s happening within your organization. Video monitoring and recording give you an in-depth look at what customers, guests, and employees are doing at any given time. It can flag inefficiencies, theft, and fraud so you can make necessary changes and refine your operations.
This inside view is crucial when it comes to audits and investigations. With video, you can see both the finer details and the bigger picture of activity on your premises so you can make more informed decisions about incident responses, staffing, and regulatory compliance. When used correctly, video surveillance systems can increase your organization’s accountability and security.
Understanding Video Surveillance
A video surveillance system is a central part of a company’s overall security strategy. To install this type of system, you’ll place cameras around different areas of your property. They’ll capture footage of the surrounding area and transmit it so you can monitor indoor and outdoor spaces in real-time.
Commercial video surveillance systems often use closed-circuit television (CCTV) technology, which sends video signals to dedicated monitors. In some cases, you can also send the data to cloud storage, where you can view and save it remotely using an online dashboard or mobile app.
In addition to live monitoring, video surveillance systems can also record footage 24 hours a day. If you need to go back and review events at a later date, all you have to do is access and watch the recording from the needed date and time. Some systems also have advanced analytics capabilities, which can detect suspicious activity and detect patterns in your footage.
Enhancing Audit Trails
Whether they’re concerned about compliance, safety, or efficiency, most organizations rely on audit trails to pinpoint and correct issues. Video surveillance helps you audit your business operations to reveal problems with theft, fraud, and employee performance. When paired with data from access control and other systems, you can confirm logged events, such as unauthorized entries.
By using CCTV footage for audits, you can also ensure employees are complying with your policies and procedures. This type of technology makes it easy to confirm whether employees are acting appropriately and following company protocols. This may mean evaluating their attendance or determining whether they’re stealing from the company.
These seemingly small steps can make a significant difference. Some organizations lose as much as $1.3 million a year to operational inefficiencies. With an estimated 67% of employees having committed theft of some form at their current jobs, the ability to verify employee actions is equally essential.
Improving Security Investigations
Theft and other security incidents, such as property damage and vandalism, can cause serious damage to your organization’s reputation, not to mention your bottom line. In 2022, large global businesses lost $1 trillion in revenue due to physical security incidents.
Theft is an especially common concern, with around 90% of small business retailers saying they’ve experienced theft at their stores. Pennsylvania businesses are among the hardest hit, recording the highest total value of stolen goods in the country. On average, small retailers in the state lose $430 per resident compared to the national average of $173 per resident.
Stopping those events before they happen is the best-case scenario—and the presence of video cameras can reduce the risk of criminal activity—but organizations should also prepare for the worst. Video footage is one of the most beneficial sources of information if an incident does occur.
One reason it’s such a powerful piece of evidence is that it’s an objective account of what happened. While eyewitnesses can misremember or misrepresent events, a video is a neutral, unbiased representation of what occurred. It can easily confirm or disprove statements from witnesses and people involved in the incident.
A video is also highly detailed, documenting who was involved, what they did, and where and when they did it. You can use video footage to reconstruct the exact sequence of events without any question about the reliability of the information.
Optimizing Video Surveillance for Your Property
A 2023 survey found more than half of small and medium-sized businesses had installed security cameras over the past year, but putting up cameras isn’t a guaranteed solution. Strategically implementing your system makes a significant difference in how well the footage you collect supports your audits and investigations.
Camera Quality
A grainy or blurry video isn’t the kind of evidence most organizations want to see when they’re reviewing a security incident or providing information to the police. Choosing high-quality cameras can help prevent that scenario. When you’re considering your options, look at the camera’s resolution and features. For example, a system that captures color footage will give you a clearer view of events than one that only records in black and white. To get maximum visibility at all hours of the day, you may also want a camera with night vision capabilities.
Placement
Camera placement is another top concern if you want to get the most from your system. Look for high-risk areas, such as:
- Entrances
- Exits
- Storage rooms
- Parking lots
- Stairwells
- Elevators
Your cameras should focus on these spots, along with any others where valuable items are present. Once you’ve decided where you want your cameras, look for any obstructions that could block your view and make footage less useful. If you’re placing cameras outside, plan to shelter them from weather conditions, such as rain or snow, which could affect the quality of your video.
Strengthen Audits and Incident Investigations With CCTV
2 Krew Security and Surveillance understands the unique needs of organizations in the Pittsburgh and tri-state area. We recognize that criminal activity poses a real threat to your organization in terms of employee safety and financial stability. That’s why we specialize in business video surveillance system installation in PA.
We’ll carefully evaluate your organization’s specific vulnerabilities and tailor a system to address them. Whether you want to learn more about how video footage can upgrade your audit trails and security investigations or are ready to install a commercial video surveillance system, our team is ready to help. Contact us to schedule a consultation today.
