Eagle Eye Networks outlines key trends in video surveillance market for 2021

Customers are asking for cloud, while advanced analytics will transform video surveillance systems into even more valuable business solutions. Compliance requirements are constantly evolving, IT departments are engaging with – and, in many cases, owning – video surveillance and customers are also now expecting systems to be open and connected.

“A number of factors are going to drive video surveillance trends in 2021,” explained Hans Kahler, vice-president of operations at Eagle Eye Networks. “Innovation is leading and meeting the demands of customers for their video surveillance systems to provide business insights in addition to security. Combine the promise of Artificial Intelligence and cloud video surveillance with the remote working environments experienced in 2020 and we now have a situation wherein people are looking for their video surveillance and security systems to deliver more business value than ever before.”

Kahler added: “The acceleration of cloud adoption and the use of analytics to provide improved security and drive business improvement will make 2021 a transformative year for the industry.”

The benefits offered by the cloud in the video surveillance space are powerful and undeniable, including major cost savings, heightened data security, remote access and maintenance, flexible storage and retention, scalability, increased stability and the potential for disaster recovery.

Business solutions

Analytics and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to turn security systems into business solutions. Video surveillance systems are not just for security. Now, they’re also a valuable tool for business intelligence. While Artificial Intelligence has been talked about for several years, its deployment has lagged. This year, and according to Eagle Eye Networks, we’ll see it move from the research laboratory towards practical adoption.

As stated, compliance requirements are constantly evolving. As video surveillance becomes a more widely adopted tool across industries and continents and more industries use video for compliance purposes, regulating its use is becoming more prevalent.

For their part, IT leaders have not only become involved with video management system, but they’re actually ‘owning’ them as well. As part of their IT strategy, corporations are leveraging video for business process improvement, while at the same time reducing unnecessary operational overhead.

When it comes to the demand for open and integrated systems, it’s fair to suggest that an open and connected ecosystem makes it possible for businesses and developers to integrate any number of applications on a single video management system platform. The platform handles all of the heavy lifting of interfacing with the cameras, recording video, securely transmitting and storing video to the cloud and making video available for use in integrated applications.

Certainly, the practice of vendors ‘locking’ users into their cameras or touting ‘hybrid’ systems (which require upgrades to vendor hardware in order to gain new features) will no longer be accepted.