How to Upgrade Your Surveillance System, Save on Installation Costs, and Use Existing Security Cameras

A video surveillance solution is an essential piece of security for nearly every business. 

Unfortunately, these systems are also costly and can quickly become outdated as the latest hardware and software becomes available. In some cases, it might seem easier to delay upgrades due to the time and cost associated, instead staying with your existing legacy system. However, these systems can have multiple vulnerabilities, including being prone to system failures, which may leave you without security in critical moments. Not only that, but it can cost your team valuable time due to managing a clunky, outdated solution. 

To upgrade your solution while limiting the costs and time associated, you might consider an open platform that can work with your existing devices or security systems. By being able to leverage some of the existing infrastructure, your business can avoid starting from scratch every time you want to upgrade your surveillance. Not only does this reduce the cost and time required to upgrade a system, but it allows you to more easily scale your security as your business grows, and unlocks new avenues for future innovation. 

In this article, we’ll explore how retrofit options allow you to leverage existing security infrastructure while upgrading your surveillance solution. 

How an Open Platform Solution Can Streamline Upgrading Your Security System 

Often, ripping and replacing your entire system simply isn’t feasible. While you may want access to advanced features, it can be too costly to upgrade your video security every five or so years just to ensure you have access to these futuristic solutions. Even if your organization does have the funds to completely update your entire security system, the downtime from cabling and installing new cameras can leave your business without video security for a significant amount of time. When you factor in upgrading multiple locations or scaling your security, the problem can become exponentially more complex. 

That’s where an open platform can help. An open platform enables the use of disparate and existing security infrastructure, including cameras, alarm panels, access control, and other systems, and integrates them into a single, unified surveillance solution. If you lack the budget, retrofitting is not only the most cost-effective way to upgrade your security to include the latest features, such as AI-powered video analytics, but it also offers access to recent innovations by integrating with diverse systems that matter most to your business. If you want to avoid as much downtime as possible between upgrades, using existing cameras and networking helps fast-track the update process. Additionally, a solution that offers retrofit options can help your business easily scale as you build new locations or take over facilities with pre-installed security infrastructure, ensuring that you’re always connected, regardless of location. 

Below, we’ll analyze these benefits in detail to demonstrate how you can benefit from retrofit solutions through an open platform. 

Save Money and Get More Value from Your Existing Systems 

After already investing in a company-wide security system, it can be discouraging to see new technology quickly outpace the capabilities of your current solution. Leveraging retrofit options through an open platform will enable your business to get the most value out of your current investment. An open platform system allows integration with third-party cameras while powerful server-side analytics deliver on next-gen solutions needed to better protect your organization. 

Server-side analytics add powerful new features to your existing security infrastructure by having the server analyze video from your existing cameras, adding a significant security and operational boost to your business. Analytic types include: 

• Person and Vehicle: Video analytics enables searching and alerting on events tied to a person or vehicle to reduce motion events and generate more actionable alerts. 

• Line Crossing/Intrusion: With line crossing analytics, your video security can easily detect people or objects passing through a virtual line or area. This can help strengthen safety in key areas of your facilities, from warehouses to office locations. 

• Loitering: Monitor any loitering in or around your business by having video analytics alert on persons or objects in the same area for more than a defined period of time. 

There will be no need to rip and replace your camera system. Instead, you’ll get all the value of a next-generation video solution from your current cameras. 

By updating your video security with an open platform, you’ll be able to invest in your business’ security system over time, saving on substantial infrastructure costs along the way. This includes other business systems, such as access control, intrusion alarms, point-of-sale, and more. By leveraging these existing systems, you not only save on update costs, but you can create more value across your organization by marrying video to these disparate system events. 

Avoid Installation Downtime

Upgrading video security is a worthwhile investment, but there is still an additional factor to consider: time. A surveillance system will be down while the newer solution is put in place. If your business is ripping and replacing its entire security infrastructure, that could be days or weeks without standard surveillance measures. 

With an open platform that allows you to use third-party cameras and devices, much of the cabling and hardware is left in place, limiting the amount of time needed to revamp the security system. Less time and labor needed to upgrade a system means less time without video surveillance. In some cases, you won’t have to replace other systems at all, such as access control or intrusion, which can create a more seamless connection to these devices than you may have had previously. You can easily roll out your new solution in a timeline that works for your organization to avoid being without security for unnecessary amounts of time, ensuring that your people and assets are protected while you upgrade your system. 

Easily Scale Your Business 

Retrofit options through an open platform also ensure that you’ll be able to keep your security connected, new or existing, as your business grows. 

When adding new locations, you may face challenges while connecting older systems with your choice of more forward-looking solutions. Alongside that, you might take over facilities that have pre-installed security systems in place. In these instances, it’s probable there are different manufacturers as well different platforms needed to access different cameras or systems, such as access control. Over time, you may find gaps in your security and need a solution that can address those quickly. By retrofitting through an open platform, you’ll be able to connect all your devices, systems, and locations and view it in single platform. 

If you have more than one location and plan on expanding in the future, an open, cloud video solution allows for easy scalability across locations, whether that’s a few stores or hundreds of facilities. A cloud-managed solution has the added benefit of centralizing your system’s management, so you can easily manage devices, users, and locations, all in one place. 

Cloud cameras are another solution that can be easily integrated into your existing framework. These allow you to add additional channels, with onboard recording and a dedicated analytics processor, regardless of the limitations of the current server, making them perfect for scaling across new locations or addressing gaps in security. 

Enjoy Cost-Effective, Fast, and Scalable Retrofit Options from OpenEye 

With the ability to retrofit, you can scale your video surveillance over time and implement the latest security innovations as they emerge, all while using your existing systems. Your solution will not just help you meet the needs of today, but it will also prepare you for the needs of tomorrow. 

OpenEye’s flexible and scalable retrofitting options offer next-generation technology without next-generation costs by allowing you to upgrade your business’ system while leveraging existing security infrastructure, giving you a low-cost and often more expedient migration path to the cloud. 

Analytics in OpenEye Web Services offers access to powerful AI-based video analytics without having to upgrade your cameras. Motion, person and vehicle, line crossing, loitering, and intrusion analytics can all be leveraged to get more from existing video security without the costs of implementing new cameras or networking. 

OpenEye’s line of advanced cloud cameras provide the perfect way to flexibly scale your security. Capable of supporting one location or hundreds, these cameras deliver an all-in-one video solution with onboard recording and dedicated analytics processor. 

Ready to see how retrofitting can benefit your organization’s video security? Book a demo with OpenEye today to learn more about the powerful, convenient, and scalable applications of OpenEye’s retrofit options.