2024 Buyer’s Guide to Surveil­lance Cameras for Your Business

In today’s business landscape, employee theft results in staggering losses of over $50 billion annually. This alarming statistic under­scores the impor­tance of equipping your business with surveil­lance cameras to safeguard against both internal and external theft. Swiftly pinpointing the source of theft can signif­i­cantly reduce your financial damages. Imple­menting a robust surveil­lance system, which integrates cameras with various sensors, offers compre­hensive protection to deter and prevent future incidents.

Learn what you need to make your business a fort and keep bad actors on the outside. With the right customized solutions, you can minimize your risks. Look into:

Under­standing security basics is crucial, but achieving optimal protection requires expertise. Should your surveil­lance system need an upgrade, consider consulting with seasoned profes­sionals who can guide you through the planning and execution of an effective surveil­lance strategy.

Types of Cameras

There are dozens of options when it comes to cameras for your business, but most fit into one of four basic types: bullet, dome, panoramic, or pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ).

Bullet & Dome Cameras

Bullet cameras are shaped like standard cameras with a long body and substantial weather protection built up around the lens and camera. These cameras are typically single-direction and used to monitor a specific space that isn’t too large. They don’t offer excep­tional coverage but are often ideal for monitoring in specific depart­ments or entryways with limited side view needed. Both indoor and outdoor options are available, and these cameras come with good low-light capture.

Bullet cameras are nearly identical to dome cameras in that they perform similar tasks. The big question for any business, then, is: what kind of aesthetic are you looking for? If you’re wanting a lower profile looking camera, then Dome is the way to go. The bullet camera is more visible.

Panoramic Cameras

When wanting a good general view of an area, ideal for high-traffic areas with lots of open space, panoramic cameras capture every­thing in your lobby or event space. While these cameras don’t have the same focused capacity as a dome or bullet option, they offer a birds-eye view that is very helpful during emergencies.

Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) Security Cameras

PTZ cameras do exactly what the name adver­tises: They pan to better focus on a specific area, tilt to center the scene of interest, and zoom in to get more detail. PTZs are partic­u­larly useful with actively monitored cameras, where the control room can look closer if there’s a problem. Remotely maneu­vering the camera is invaluable when actively tracking in-progress theft or identi­fying a suspect individual. The solid weath­er­proofing on most of these models makes them a great choice for indoor or outdoor appli­ca­tions, and many businesses prefer them for parking lot monitoring.

Other Monitoring Devices

Installing enough video cameras to ensure zero coverage gaps can get expensive, partic­u­larly when you add in the cost of actively monitoring that many cameras. However, with the right access control options and sensors, your security team is better able to distin­guish the threats from the noise. Some of the most important add-ons to support your surveil­lance cameras for business use include entry alerts, motion detectors, and access-controlled locks.

Video Management Software

It’s not the equipment— it’s how you use it. Video management software can turn even the most basic setup into a usable security system with virtual add-ons. VMS allows you to gain access to your stored footage more quickly, sort through older videos looking for incident alerts, apply AI-enhanced features that help track patterns over time, and many other benefits.

Imagine you’ve noticed a problem with your postal supplies. You’re suddenly spending 70% more on postage than normal, but it’s difficult to identify the person — or, more likely, group — respon­sible for the increase. The right VMS can run a search to see who spends the most time in the mail room and give you a list of specific times to check the footage for unusual behavior. Every second not spent reviewing hours of footage is one you can be spending on more direct profit drivers.

When looking for a VMS, there are two basic options: on-premise and cloud-based.

On-Premise VMS

If you opt for an on-premise VMS solution, you should keep a few things in mind. First, it can increase your upfront instal­lation costs because you’ll need all the technology infra­structure to run it and the security staff to manage it. Second, on-premise systems rely on you to contin­ually invest in updates, so keep that budget line open. However, when you need fully in-house solutions for security reasons, keeping every­thing under your roof is just part of doing business.

Cloud-Based VMS

Cloud-based solutions offload all the infra­structure to your provider. You have a surveil­lance system set up on-site, but all the rest of the software monitoring happens elsewhere. Not only does this help lower your security headcount, but it also reduces your upfront instal­lation costs and ongoing invest­ments in your security. Since many techno­logical updates happen as the software develops, it often makes sense for a business to work with a third-party provider for monitoring and video management in one.

Monitoring Solutions

The ins and outs of monitoring any surveil­lance system will depend on the type of business in question. For example, a rental company with multiple offices in a single building may only need entryway monitoring. Each business tenant would then be poten­tially respon­sible for security in their own space. The building layout might mean the only areas the landlord needs to monitor are the lobby and the elevators. Limited space means very little security is needed to handle issues.

Larger buildings, partic­u­larly when owned and operated by a single business, often need much more complex solutions. While these buildings tend to need on-site security staff, that doesn’t mean camera monitoring needs to happen in the same place. It all depends on the setup. Ultimately, there are pros and cons to both on-site and remote video monitoring.

On-Site Video Monitoring

Pros: There’s no response time faster than real-time. With on-site video monitoring, your team can act as soon as something goes wrong.

Cons: If you have on-site video monitoring, that means hiring experi­enced monitoring personnel and paying a premium or providing extensive training for every new security team member. You’ll also need enough people on-site to perform physical checks and keep monitors under watch, which can dramat­i­cally increase your head count for security.

Remote Video Monitoring

Pros: When you work with a third-party security company, like Bates Security, for monitoring, you get experts who often respond more quickly than less experi­enced people on-site. Plus, off-site monitoring means that a disaster at your location doesn’t interrupt your security, and there’s someone available to notify author­ities or emergency services.

Cons: You’ll want to work with an experi­enced video monitoring company that is known locally. If you need police assis­tance, you want the right person to make the call, which means you need someone the police trust. This can complicate your monitoring decisions and make it more difficult to find the right provider.