"Loss prevention as a 'profession' is still underway – for many in retailing it is still viewed as being primarily about locks, bolts, alarms, catching thieves and providing muscle in uniform. However, to others it is about making a valuable contribution to the profitability of a business through understanding the root causes of shrinkage and developing solutions that are fit for purpose." Adrian Beck, University of Leicester (UK)
The above quote was on a PowerPoint chart at NRF 2013 in New York a couple of weeks ago in a session titled "Big Data, Predictive Analytics, and the Bottom Line."
This quote plus IMS publishing their top ten trends for video surveillance for 2013 inspired this week's blog.
In December 2012, IMS Research published the following top 10 trends for video surveillance for 2013(*):
- New Battle Ground in Image Quality - Worldwide shipments of megapixel resolution network security cameras are predicted to outsell standard resolution network security cameras in 2012 for the first time. During 2013, IMS research expects that technology developments and cameras features that improve image quality will become the new battleground as manufacturers try to establish their own USPs.
- Mobile video streaming - The next Gear of Mobile Video Surveillance - Increased buzz in both wireless infrastructure and mobile video surveillance industries for the capability to wirelessly stream video from a mobile video surveillance camera back to a control center. In the coming years there will be renewed emphasis on intelligent video streaming including its access on smartphones, tablets, laptops, or in-vehicle monitor from a control center.
- India to remain a High Growth Market - Indian market will enjoy double digit growth with average market growth of almost 20% over the next four years. Market is very price sensitive and has a highly fragmented supply base. Very few companies manufacture CCTV and video surveillance equipment in India.
- Keeping it Simple in 2013 - This will be the year where suppliers begin to focus on developing products that are easy to install, easy to operate, and easy to maintain.
- Intelligent Video Surveillance - 2013 will be the year when intelligent video will move beyond physical security. Medical industry has been looking at using video analytics to identify if a patient has rolled out of bed or that an employee has not washed their hands.
- Private Cloud - The Future for Enterprise Video Surveillance Systems? - Private cloud being used for the infrastructure of enterprise video surveillance systems will become a major trend over the coming years. Being driven in part by IT managers increasingly taking responsibility for the management of video surveillance systems.
- Remote Video Applications - Video intelligence as a service (VSaaS) and its ability to provide remote access has been hotly debated with opinion divided whether it will be successful. The potential to use remote access to video surveillance for other applications is likely to become more important in 2013.
- Chinese Companies Looking West - China is one of the largest and fastest growing markets for video surveillance equipment. The IMS research in 2012 revealed that two of the Chinese video surveillance manufacturers were estimated to be in the top 10 suppliers for calendar year 2012.
- Video Surveillance Goes Vertical - A vertical market focus is becoming more common in the video surveillance market. This approach means that products would be designed and marketed towards a specific vertical market.
- Video Content Analysis and Video Meta-data as "Big Data" - The amount of data being created day to day is staggering, estimated at 2.5 quintillion bytes by IBM, around 90% of all data has been created in the last 2 years alone. While Big Data is not being to be a mainstream concept for video surveillance in 2013, IMS Research predicts that the use and aggregation of analytics and video feed meta-data as Big Data will continue to grow.
The three most important trends from above that will transform the video industry and set it in a new direction with new business opportunities include:
- Mobile video streaming - Leveraging the explosion of smartphone and tablets, security companies will increasingly deliver innovative mobile video streaming applications. Security guards will be able to patrol and access remote video from their mobile devices. Video will be distributed to appropriate mobile devices to the individual responsible to address whatever the specific problem that is being highlighted. That individual can then be "mobile" to determine the severity of the situation and response. The challenge for security companies will be to understand that they are not just developing solutions that will be isolated to their traditional customers. Mobile devices will transcend multiple departments of their target customers within the same vertical. Innovative companies will understand that the days of very narrow solution sets are coming to an end. Properly developed and deployed, new mobile video streaming application will appeal to a wider customer base and potentially drive increased revenue. The really innovative companies will link other triggers to their video streaming to increase the value of the content being delivered.
- Intelligent Video Surveillance - The future will be all about smart applications. As computing power increases and moves to the edge, video analytics will become more mainstream. In retail, for example, there are already video applications that count people coming into the store, identify store traffic hot spots, measure the effectiveness of store displays / end caps, separate children from adults, identify whether you are a male or a female, segment employees wearing uniforms, determine whether that store window is attracting shoppers, etc. Think of the power of video analytics data driving mobile applications for faster response to customer opportunities. The retail store of the future will be multi-sensored and video will play an important role. Innovative companies will understand that again a blend of video and other sensors will be important to increase the value of the content delivered.
- Video Content Analysis and Video Meta-data as "Big Data" - Video is already playing a very large role in the growth of "Big Data". As IDC reported in December, the world's data is growing 14% faster to 40 Zettabytes by 2020. To put that amount of data in perspective, 57 ZB is equal to 57X the number of sand grains on all the global beaches (**). Much of this data will be video. Consider that every minute, 72 hours of new video is uploaded on YouTube (as reported on their site). Think of the power of smarter video analytics applications built through "Big Data" delivering the key exception information in a timely fashion to impact both revenue and profitability. Innovative companies that specialize in video already understand that the future of their industry will be about content analysis and turning that visual image into actionable data.
Above three key trends in video surveillance point to potential new approaches for delivering solutions to a broader audience. One possibility for reaching a wider customer base is the delivery of video analytics based solutions in a mobile app delivery model.
A key challenge for the loss prevention industry will be making their IT department their most loyal partner in the future adoption of new information based video surveillance solutions. Video absorbs substantial communication bandwidth and computing resources. IT needs to be a co-partner with LP in the introduction of new video applications, timing their arrival to existing and planned internal technology infrastructures.
Fully agree with Adrian Beck that loss prevention will continue to evolve to a more analytical function that will make a valuable contribution to the profitability of business. Video will continue to play a substantial role in the future evolution of the loss prevention industry. Providing visual evidence thorough mobile applications and tying it closely to data analytics will lead to intelligent video surveillance. In turn, these smarter apps will deliver the exception information to a broader audience within a business. The value of the loss prevention function will increase as the applications that contribute to profitability increase. Start today in getting much more comfortable with mobile security applications and data analytics solutions. Spend time with your IT deparment and learn the basics. Prepare for an exciting 2013 and beyond in the evolution of the video surveillance industry.
(*) ow.ly/gLc6X (**) http://ow.ly/g7T7q
Image from http://ow.ly/hasft
