Cloud-Based Services vs Surveillance Software: Understanding the Advantages and Disadvantages

Data theft, property theft, workplace accidents, and low productivity can devastate your company’s financial health. In addition to on-site damages and losses, litigation costs are hefty, and your business reputation could suffer long-term damage. Because no manager can monitor every staff member around the clock, employers are looking for more effective ways to track workplace activities. Cloud-based services and local surveillance software are two useful approaches.

Both monitoring methods have advantages and disadvantages regarding productivity, safety, and security practices. The best method for your business will depend on your unique needs, areas of concern, and business type.

How Do Cloud-Based Services Work?

Properly constructed and secured cloud-based services take workplace surveillance far beyond traditional security.

Cloud-based operations host surveillance data in a remote server location rather than on-site. The cloud provider installs and maintains the hardware, software, and supporting infrastructure in its data centers, while you access and manage your service via the internet. This means regardless of the number of outlets you have; you can see what’s happening in every store without being physically present.

Advantages of cloud-based storage include:

• Data security. Cloud-based services have no risk of on-site hardware being destroyed or overwritten.
• Centralized viewing. You can view all location data with a single login. Compare stores, regions, and employee performance on one platform, no matter where you are.
• Proactive systems. Instead of simply recording footage, you can turn it into a proactive tool that sends alerts for specific movements, events, or actions.
• Easy sharing. Cloud-stored data allows near-instant downloads and image sharing.
• Notifications. A cloud-based system will alert you in real-time when security systems fail.

How Does Surveillance Software Work?

With on-premises storage, you physically store your company’s surveillance data on-site as part of your organization’s infrastructure. Your business’s in-house IT team—or IT partner—controls, administers and performs all necessary maintenance on an ongoing basis.

Advantages of on-premises storage:

• Full system control. Because you store all information on your premises and your in-house team manages it, you have complete control over your data.
• Maximum uptime. On-site data storage is always accessible, with or without an internet connection. You do, however, need to be on the premises to access your data and footage.

Cloud-Based Services vs Surveillance Software: What Makes More Sense for You?

To determine which monitoring option best suits your business, consider the following considerations.

Can You Make an Up-Front Investment?

On-premises solutions entail a large up-front investment for hardware, software—and possibly cabling. They also require a budget for annual maintenance, backups, staff, configuration, and physical space.

On the other hand, cloud-based services call for a smaller upfront layout but include a monthly subscription and annual contract renewal fees. Even if there isn’t a major difference in the overall long-term cost, the cost distribution varies significantly.

Do You Have Dedicated Support and Maintenance Staff?

On-site setups need ongoing support for hardware and software maintenance. This is generally in-house, but you can outsource it to an IT partner who will spend time on your premises weekly.

Because hosted systems have an offsite provider, that provider takes care of everything. Your monthly or annual subscription includes support and maintenance services.

Physical Space Requirements

With an on-site setup, you’ll need a room for your central server hub storage and video processing. This should be a dedicated, secure space with controlled access.

Flexibility

If you plan to change the layout of your premises or anticipate a future move, a cloud-based solution is the best choice. This is because it requires minimal reconfiguration compared with on-site hosting. Additionally, a cloud-based service lets you scale your operations easily and as needed—all without purchasing extra hard drives.

Data Security

On-premises solutions risk permanent hardware (and thus footage) destruction by intruders, fires, floods, or being overwritten. Even if your property is compromised, your data is still secure with cloud-based services.

Accessibility

On-premises solutions need you to be at the actual location to view the footage. With cloud-based services, the advantage is viewing footage from any device, anywhere.

Furthermore, factors include video storage capacity, video quality, and bandwidth requirements. These may depend on the provider you choose to work with, your hardware, and your setup’s nature.

The Savi Difference: Why Real-Time Cloud-Based Services Matter

Savi is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that makes gaining on-demand insights into your business operations effortless. The solution consolidates footage and data from all your nationwide outlets into a single dashboard. This means you can view footage, gain data insights, and even manage access with a single login from any device, no matter where you are.

Because all processing is also done in the cloud, safety is optimized, and fluctuations in on-site bandwidth are kept to a minimum. Moreover, Savi analyzes and formats data from various sources into easy-to-understand charts, graphs, and tables—ready for sharing, interpretation, and decision-making.

The Savi Difference: What Clients Say

R&R BBQ was using multiple platforms and logins to manage ongoing vendor services. With Savi’s solution for restaurants, they no longer have to deal with different contacts for their alarms, access and lock systems, and security cameras. It’s just one company, one platform, and one contact.

Managing employee credentials was another huge pain point for R&R before using Savi. Now, they can easily assign different types of access to general managers and area managers, as well as remove employees when they leave the business.

The FiiZ franchise used Savi’s user-friendly tools and insights to solve a major theft problem. After implementing Savi’s cloud-based solution for retailers, they could identify theft through loyalty programs, voids, and stolen goods, without needing to watch countless hours of video footage. The automated audit system identified points of concern and matched them with video and audio clips for effective on-point reviewing.

In addition to combatting cleverly executed theft, Savi’s enterprise solution can also enhance employee training and maximize cost savings. This was the case with Negril, whose in-store Negril Eats promotions sometimes complicated register transactions. Automated audits and insights helped them to implement proper execution and identify training gaps, and filter transactions by type, date, employee, etc.

“We saw transactions where staff were taking advantage of the system. We would never have caught it if the footage wasn’t tied to the receipt in an easy-to-use way. Having these videos clipped for us and even sending us alerts really helped us identify and address these behaviors.”

Get the Best Cloud-Based Surveillance From Savi Solutions

Savi Solutions’ advanced cloud-based service offers improved situational awareness, proactive response, and practical business intelligence. It’s a cost-effective solution that’s convenient, reliable, and easy to use. Furthermore, you have ready access to formatted, categorized, and analyzed operational data nationwide with a single login from anywhere.

Savi Solutions takes care of all maintenance and management, so your team can focus on putting data to good use rather than spending time sifting through footage and looking after systems.

Elevate the way you do business with improved data security, decreased theft, better customer service, and effortless management across all your outlets. Schedule a demo today to see our groundbreaking solutions in action.