For many business and educational leaders, the resumption of work and learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a challenge. Enforcing health and safety policies and detecting noncompliance can be difficult to accomplish, especially in high-traffic areas, but it’s crucial. Enhanced video surveillance can help. In recent months, many organizations have repurposed existing EVS systems, typically deployed for physical security, to support screening measures related to COVID-19, such as thermal imaging scans, occupancy management and contact tracing.

Layering face mask detection into video analytics, and potentially integrating it with access control systems, provides an additional layer of protection. As with occupancy management and contact tracing, many companies find that automated solutions are far more effective at mask monitoring than humans are.

Enhanced video surveillance (EVS) has been a game changer for physical security. Now, as businesses and organizations strive to resume operations while supporting public health, many are deploying these systems for new purposes: thermal screening, occupancy management and social distance monitoring.

The heart of EVS is video analytics, either built into cameras or integrated into the back-end video management system. Video analytics run continuously in the background to interpret video content and provide real-time alerts. This is a much more efficient way to make use of video capabilities than by assigning employees to constantly monitor a live video feed or conduct after-the-fact forensics in the wake of an incident. Real-time situational awareness lets organizations respond to threats faster and more effectively.

Now, EVS is proving its worth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare facilities, educational institutions, manufacturing and distribution centers, transportation providers and retailers are among those deploying these tools so they can continue to provide essential services. Here are three ways organizations can utilize EVS to operate more safely.

Video surveillance systems play an essential role in protecting the physical security of organizations across a wide variety of industries. Until recently, these systems ran on closed-circuit television technology and were the domain of physical security and facilities teams.

Modern systems, however, take a different approach and leverage digital networks to facilitate easy deployment of cameras and rapid analysis of camera data. The digitalization of this technology often shifts responsibility for camera systems away from facilities teams and moves it under the umbrella of the IT department.

I often work with CIOs and other IT leaders who find themselves responsible for the reliability and security of these systems. I’ve seen camera systems deployed in dozens of organizations and have learned some common lessons that can help any organization improve the security of its video surveillance deployment. Let’s look at six things organizations can do right now to protect the cybersecurity of these important assets.

State and local government agencies are making great strides in harnessing the power of data and applying it to problems in law enforcement, homeland security, emergency management, counterterrorism and cybersecurity. Realizing that data serves as a force multiplier, agencies are investing heavily in the design and implementation of next-generation work centers (NGWCs) that rapidly ingest and analyze massive quantities of information from social media, the Internet of Things, legacy data and other sources to provide decision-makers with valuable real-time intelligence. Here are six foundational technologies that NGWCs share.

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.

Video surveillance technology is now in the middle of the same transformation that revolutionized business telephones 15 years ago. Organizations are moving from old, inflexible analog camera systems to modern and agile IP-based digital video surveillance technology. At the same time, they’re shifting responsibility for these systems from facilities teams to IT groups who are more familiar with providing reliable and consistent digital services to other business units.