How to Quickly Identify Incidents in Logistics Operations with Cloud-Managed Video

Logistics and warehousing is a rapidly growing industry, with the number of employees working in this sector doubling between 2010 and 2020. Thousands of moving parts work together so companies can get cargo to warehouses and customers on time. These moving parts can include employees, vehicles, security devices, and locations, each adding to the complexity involved in operating a vast business. 

However, this complexity creates inefficiencies around facilities, leaving teams unable to quickly respond to critical situations or have adequate coverage in key areas for investigations. The amount of data from disparate systems and processes can be hard to manage without the right security solution in place. Leveraging a cloud video solution can solve this issue by helping you and your team quickly identify and verify critical incidents, thanks to alert notifications. Additionally, security video can aid with investigations into past incidents, empowered by search tools so you can cut through the noise and get right to the most critical video. Events are not limited to those detected by video analytics and cameras on-site, but also other integrated business systems, including access control, environmental sensors, and barcode readers, for more proactive response to important business events. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how cloud-managed video works within the logistics industry for better visual verification of operations and processes for more proactive response. We’ll also cover how video surveillance can operate alongside other security devices for a more thorough solution custom-tailored to your business’ needs. 

Rapidly React to Critical Incidents with a Complete Warehouse Surveillance Solution 

Expansive operations, multiple locations, hundreds (if not thousands) of employees, and outside threats from cargo theft, supply chain issues, and more all complicate the day-to-day operations of logistics companies. Additionally, the need to build safe work environments is more vital than ever. With 2.8 million workplace injuries and illnesses reported in the U.S., it’s crucial that logistics companies have security systems in place that ensure their employees are protected. 

With cloud-managed video security, both operational and safety protocols can be more effectively enforced in real-time with event-based alerting. Find-and-share tools allow you to locate video quickly and distribute it to the proper team members or outside parties, such as law enforcement or insurance agencies, in seconds versus hours. Additionally, an open platform helps unify your disparate systems under a single platform for fast response to various scenarios, from alarm panels to access control. 

Proactive Alerts for Improved Response Time 

Alerts through a cloud-managed video security system can ensure that you’re notified of the events that matter most around your facilities. These alerts range from alarm events with video verification to AI recognition of suspicious behavior, helping you quickly respond to a number of different scenarios. 

Alerts can help provide a more proactive response to situations including loitering, line crossing, intrusion, or suspicious vehicles with license plate recognition (LPR). If a person or vehicle is identified within an unauthorized area, an alert can help quickly remedy the situation in case of suspicious activity or violation of safety procedures. Having an alerting system in place not only ensures you react to situations that need your immediate attention but also helps reduce the number of false alarms you’re receiving and any associated costs. With visual verification through your video security system, you can quickly identify what’s happening. 

Additionally, leveraging a cloud system will help you react more quickly, as you’ll be able to receive and review specific events from anywhere on any device. This includes mobile notifications, email, or notifications within the desktop app, so you can ensure all of your locations are secured, regardless of where you may be. For security teams off-site, at another location, or moving around facilities, the ability to quickly view video tied to alerts can ensure employees are safe and assets are protected. 

Quick Find and Share for Streamlined Investigations 

When critical situations occur, whether that’s damage done to cargo in a loading bay, an employee ignoring operational protocols, or theft at a warehouse or parking lot, it’s vital that you have a system in place to find video tied to those events. 

With a cloud-managed video system, you’ll have the tools necessary for the task. Not only can you quickly find surveillance video of the event, but you can also share it with needed parties quickly and securely. 

To fast-track identifying when a suspicious person or vehicle enters or exits your property, thumbnail search can help quickly drill down to find the specific event when the exact time is unknown. If your video security system is integrated with POS terminals or barcode readers, being able to search through transaction or other data and their associated video can provide another layer of enhanced investigative abilities. Additionally, events tied to analytics, such as motion, person and vehicle, license plate recognition, and more can vastly improve searches to get your eyes on the video most important to your organization. 

Reports can be used to consolidate security video to get a better frame of reference for your facilities, whether that’s side-by-side views from the same camera of your facility during day and night, or thumbnail reports to quickly see if operations are running normally at a glance. 

With these tools in hand, logistics operations can more quickly identify critical incidents on camera for investigations. From there, that video can be shared with internal teams and outside parties for improved investigations and enhanced collaboration, with notes added to clips to clarify information, and access to the video easily managed in the cloud. This includes sending video to law enforcement to help during investigations or insurance to aid with claims and compliance. 

Open Platform for Complete Security Coverage 

A cloud-managed video security platform with an open platform will allow you to utilize other security solutions throughout your organization and connect these data points to video for quick visual verification of these disparate events. This includes access control, alarm systems, environmental sensors, thermal cameras, barcode readers, and more. When paired with your video surveillance, these systems work together to cut through the noise of business operations and get right to the most important events. 

Not only that, but it also provides a more complete picture of your business as you expand your system across numerous locations. Instead of having to rip and replace your preexisting surveillance setup, an open platform model can integrate third-party cameras into its network, along with other security solutions, for easier rollouts with a less complicated path to the cloud for companies beginning to leverage cloud-based technologies. This ensures that regardless of the technology you have today or tomorrow, you’ll be able to respond quickly to the events that matter most to your business. 

Strengthen Your Logistics Management with OpenEye Web Services 

To ensure your team can rapidly respond to critical incidents across your organization, it’s vital that you invest in security systems that can help you identify a wide range of scenarios. OpenEye’s powerful cloud video platform helps get eyes where you need them for improved security throughout your business. 

OpenEye Web Services (OWS) equips logistics companies with a diverse set of video security tools, including: 

• Alerts: Leverage OpenEye Web Services to receive visual verification of events via phone or email such as loitering, line crossing, intrusion, or suspicious vehicles with LPR to reduce false alarms. 

• Quick Video Search and Share: Quickly find and securely share surveillance footage through OWS’ web browser or mobile device to expedite investigations and provide security video to relevant authorities in seconds versus hours. 

• Open Platform: Seamlessly integrate environmental sensors, access control, thermal cameras, intrusion detection, and other systems into OpenEye’s platform so you can quickly respond to various scenarios. 

To see how OWS can help your logistics operation quickly identify and verify critical incidents, such as damaged products, alarms, or unauthorized persons in restricted areas, book a demo with us now.