Surveillance cameras have been in use for decades, and organizations that employ them are able to collect a valuable record of what has happened in the area being watched by their cameras. But organizations that use smart cameras, video management software and data analytics can approach their surveillance video as data and gain far more value from it.

In the past, security teams have been in charge of surveillance, for obvious reasons, but by bringing IT professionals in to make use of the data that surveillance systems create, organizations open up a variety of use cases.

For example, the manufacturing industry has a wide variety of opportunities to apply enhanced video surveillance (EVS) technology to modernize operations, improve efficiency and enhance physical security.

To get started, a company should consider upgrading network connectivity throughout its facilities and connecting IP-based cameras to monitor business processes. By connecting these cameras to the data network and applying analytics software to the video data being collected, a company can unlock a number of valuable capabilities. Let’s take a look at some innovative ways that EVS technology can improve a company’s work.

As localities slowly begin to reopen, technology will be an essential part of the process. The digital infrastructures at the heart of many modern cities may prove critical to keeping the coronavirus at bay. There are many other potential coronavirus-related applications for video in digitally connected cities and the organizations within them. Some, such as using facial recognition for contact tracing, may be controversial, and there are certainly privacy and security issues that municipalities must address. But the fact that a device as simple as a mounted camera combined with powerful analytics software might be used to accomplish in just a few seconds what would otherwise be quite difficult — that’s something localities and other organizations must consider.

In a busy mall, someone drops a bag and walks away. How long will it be before security staff notice? And when they do, how long will it take police to identify the person who dropped the bag if it turns out to contain something dangerous, such as a bomb? With a video surveillance system,…