Over the last several years, companies in our industry have seen a sharp increase in camera installations. Decreasing product costs, combined with an increase in cameras’ availability and effectiveness, have helped drive this spike in popularity. As cameras have gotten more advanced, we’ve had the opportunity to offer our customers new features. Among the most exciting of these features lies the ability to receive real-time alerts as your cameras detect activity. This capacity has added security and peace of mind while also saving our customers time by cutting down on hours spent reviewing footage to find details on activity on their property! In this post, we share some security-boosting camera notification options that we offer.
First, we’ll explain the overall security benefits of installing cameras. These devices often provide security in ways that customers may not excpect. From there, we’ll shift our focus to camera notification options that originate from the recorder of a hardwired sureillance system. Then, we’ll share similar notification options that stem from smart cameras themselves in the case of a wifi-based series of cameras. Finally, we’ll also detail notifications that come from cameras integrated into access control systems. This valuable integration allows you to easily keep track of those entering your property. Now, let’s dive in with a look at the security benefits of installing cameras!
The Security Benefits of Installing Cameras
Adding cameras to any property adds multiple layers of important security. For starters, cameras keep “eyes” on your home or business at all times. While other security measures may help deter criminals, and even alert you and the authorities to their presence, cameras can actually help you solve a crime. This feature represents a unique benefit in the security landscape.
Installing cameras can help both solve and deter crime wherever we install them.
Furthermore, the mere presence of cameras can help deter crime. After all, thieves seeing a visible surveillance presence on your property may well choose another target for their illicit activity. In the end, this actually signifies the most desirable result. Finally, cameras can also provide you with real-time alerts when they sense activity. Of course, we want to focus on this very security offering in this post. In the sections that follow, we’ll review a few important camera notification options. Let’s start this part of our discussion with a look at recorder-based camera alerts for hardwired surveillance systems.
Recorder-Based Camera Alerts
When we install cameras, we create the ability to review both recorded and live video footage. Generally, we prefer to connect your cameras to a recorder that captures recorded video 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This process involves running wiring from each camera location back to your recorder. We can also provide you with as much recording storage capacity as you desire for future viewing! Furthermore, we have the option to connect this recorder to your property’s network. This gives you the ability to log in to your cameras’ footage in real time using any internet-connected device. Therefore, you can check in on your property at any time for added security and peace of mind.
Additionally, and most relevant to this post, you can also create live alerts when your cameras detect motion on specific areas of your property! For example, if you wanted an alert when someone approaches a room with a safe, you can receive a recently-recorded video clip if and when this happens. The same goes for receiving alerts as cars or passersby approach at unexpected times of the day or night. These alerts generate from the recorder onsite and often come in the form of an email. However, some recorders also allow for text-based alerts as well.
Smart Camera Instant Alerts
As we mentioned above, traditional camera systems require wiring cameras to a central location. Additionally, a network connection often requires a hardwired connection between the recorder and the network as well. Since customers generally wish to view their cameras remotely, we provide this connection whenever possible. However, the work involved in wiring cameras back to a recorder, and then running a wire from the recorder to the property’s main internet device, is often difficult. This is where wifi-enabled cameras come in handy.
Wifi cameras connect to a home’s network wirelessly, just like any wireless home network appliance. This allows us to install cameras that customers can view remotely without creating a hardwired network connection. We simply plug these cameras into a power source and install them around the property. From there, wifi connectivity allows them to store motion-based clips in the cloud. Furthermore, it also lets you look in on your cameras’ live view at any time. Unfortunately, wifi cameras go down when your property’s wifi fails. For this reason, we consider these cameras a much “lighter” form of security than their hardwired counterparts.
Unlike the recorder-based video alerts mentioned above, smart cameras themslves create the notifications. In addition to providing an alert, these notifications can also send the live video itself directly to your phone. Since smart cameras are designed with instant alert capabilities in mind, the process for creating and viewing these alerts often proves more user-friendly than with recorder-based alerts. Next up, let’s check out the integration possibilities between cameras and access control systems!
Activating access control card readers, such as this one made by AMAG, can now create an instant video alert to let you track access to your property.
Integrated Access Control-Based Camera Notification Options
Over the past several years, access control systems have gotten increasingly popular. Installing these systems involves using advanced lock equipment to control access to your property. Access control systems utilize electronic locking hardware to operate specific doors within a business. Rather than using a key at these doors, users approach a keypad or a reader and present either a code or a physical credential. Users who present an approved credential will then be able to open the door after the reader interacts with the door’s electronics to unlock it. Business owners can assign each credential to open only certain doors at specific times, giving them tremendous control over who can open which doors, and when.
So what does this have to do with our camera notification options? As it turns out, quite a bit! We can now integrate cameras into your access control system to create instant images of those entering and exiting your property. This means that you can create a live video alert to pop up on your phone if someone activates an access control door. This allows you to track access to your building in real time. If someone with a credential lets someone else in, you’ll know immediately. Furthermore, you can also receive video alerts from an outdoor camera if someone with an inactive credential tries to enter your property. The integration of cameras and access control systems adds a unique and powerful security tool to our arsenal!
Putting it all Together
We hope that this post helps you understand your camera notification options. As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquries. Moreover, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer complimentary security audits and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. During our visit, we can find solutions for any and all of your existing security concerns. Additionally, we can create security suggestions of our own based on our observations of your property.
Perhaps you have a solid security plan in place, but wish to add some of the security described in this post. Or, maybe you have very little in the way of security now, and want to get started! Either way, we are here to help. We help hundreds of customers create and implement effective security plans every year. Moreover, we will also work with you to create the security experience that you desire. Together, we can set you up with an array of security products and services that keeps your property — and everyone on it — as safe and secure as possible.