Social Housing, CCTV and Cloud Storage: Challenging the Myths About IP Video Surveillance

Traditionally, most debates around CCTV have tended to be fairly simplistic, pitting the merits of its very existence against accusations of overzealous ‘big brother’ intrusiveness.

But exponential growth and six million cameras nationwide later we’re accustomed to living our lives under a lens and the dialogue has shifted towards the specific technology behind it, namely digital versus analogue.

And fuelled by the explosion of cloud-based surveillance, the new breed of cameras are better equipped than ever to remedy some of the long-standing cost and efficiency issues that have blighted the performance of their analogue counterparts.

It’s an issue that has garnered further attention more recently in the wake of the high profile Hatton Garden raid. Here, the limitations of older CCTV systems were exposed, chiefly susceptibility to tampering and vandalism with thieves disabling the camera and removing the hard drives containing footage from an on-premises digital video recorder.

A cloud-based alternative with capabilities for remote monitoring would have rendered such a move impossible with real-time footage stored and secured in a remote data centre. Furthermore, the required imagery would have been available to the police within minutes rather than almost a week after the incident as happened in this case.

In theory it’s the kind of development that should render older style systems obsolete. Yet for those still firmly attached to their analogue counterparts there is some convincing to do.

Explode the myth

A notable example is the social housing sector where loyalty to the traditional systems has long prevailed, largely down to that mantra of ‘better the devil you know’.

It’s a mindset that James Wickes, founder and CEO of Cloudview, the world’s first corporate grade cloud-based surveillance solution, is still on a mission to address. Specifically he is determined to explode the myth that digital means complex as evidenced by his own solution.

Through a simple plug and play piece of hardware, a visual network adapter connects limitless number of cameras to Cloudview’s cloud-based image management system and ensures authorised users have fast and easy access to footage whenever they want.

And he has identified social housing as an area ripe for this largely untapped potential in terms of cost savings, accessibility and flexibility.

Having teamed up with the publisher of Housing Technology magazine, George Grant, the pair have launched the first industry report of its kind to explore the benefits that cloud-based surveillance can offer to this market, highlighting the capabilities of the cloud for this sector’s often challenging and complex security needs.

As well as the nuts and bolts of crime prevention and tackling antisocial behaviour, the report further considers the potential for a broader use of the technology such as monitoring physical assets from when bins need emptying to the general state of communal areas.

Informed by a wealth of industry expert commentary, the findings have gathered substantial intelligence to build a strong case for wider adoption of cloud-based security in this arena, citing the cheaper installation costs and capabilities to produce real time, high quality and crucially easily accessible footage.

Recurring themes

By contrast, the report argues that the costly installation and low quality recorded footage of the traditional analogue systems along with their tendency to be vandalised are simply no longer fit for purpose in an era of the internet of things, IP-enabled devices and the increasingly omnipresent smartphone and tablet.

“Among the issues affecting housing providers, antisocial behaviour, crime and security are recurring themes,” said Wickes.

“The ability to upgrade existing CCTV or install new systems or cameras that combine value for money with easy access to footage via the internet, means that housing providers can respond faster and more cost-effectively to any incidents.”

Indeed the potential is already being realised by the experience of national housing provider, Accent Group, which has recently begun to use Cloudview and has plans to roll out the system across all of its key sites.

Prior to switching to the cloud-based solution and in common with many of their peers, their deployed surveillance comprised little more than a jumbled assortment of incompatible cameras. Footage was recorded onto local hard drives which once downloaded was often too poor quality to use as hard evidence.

Furthermore, a contractor would have to be called out at around £100 a time to retrieve the footage which in turn incurs additional costs when every penny counts.

Using a single visual surveillance solution which is easier to install and manage across Accent’s multiple sites ensures authorised users have quick and easy access to high quality footage whenever they want.

Wickes added: “It’s been fascinating to work with a number of housing providers to deliver visual surveillance networks that they can use on a day-to-day basis for the good of their tenants and it’s all possible because of the advent of the internet and cloud computing that has enabled a step change in the industry.”