Putting the Smart in Surveillance: Unlocking New Potentials of Surveillance Data with Norman Ayob
Huge amounts of surveillance data are captured by your security cameras each day. Are you making the most out of them? We let Norman tell you how.
Our security cameras are a treasure trove of information. They capture huge amounts of surveillance data each day — valuable data with insights that don’t just inform security, but other business functions as well.
These data are, however, often overlooked and underutilised. With limited resources and manpower, it’s simply impossible for security and business teams to monitor live footage round the clock just to extract meaningful information.
Now, we have a solution: Canon Smart Surveillance.
What exactly is Smart Surveillance? How does it transform business security and more? We sat down with Norman Ayob, Head of Marketing & Consulting Services, Imaging & Analytics Solution, Canon Singapore, to find out.
First of all, can you tell us what Canon’s Smart Surveillance is about?
Smart Surveillance is Canon’s suite of advanced cloud video surveillance and data analytics solutions. They leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence, powerful network cameras and IoT technologies to transform passive surveillance data into smart, actionable insights.
These insights go beyond security and benefit businesses and institutions in many ways. In healthcare, for example, intelligent video analytics detects falls and notifies healthcare workers immediately. Face recognition recognises every staff and resident in eldercare facilities, triggering alerts once unidentified individuals or unescorted patients are detected.
In manufacturing, smart sensors are deployed to detect gas or water leaks, and track the journeys of raw materials. In retail, face recognition and people counters offer valuable insights to customer profiles. Heatmaps are also utilised to capture customer movement and analyse in-store foot traffic.
In essence, Smart Surveillance is a suite of end-to-end solutions that enables businesses to fully leverage their surveillance data. From solutions design to network architecture to consultation, management and installation, we will not only transform security operations, but also marketing, logistics, emergency response and more!
The word surveillance may sound invasive to some people. How does Canon ensure the privacy of the individuals you’re trying to protect?
We understand that a smarter surveillance infrastructure can deepen privacy concerns. That is why we made privacy a central part of our solutions design.
One example is our Moving Object Mask. This is a privacy mask that embeds moving objects with a silhouette effect. When you look at the footage, you’ll see green figures instead of actual individuals. This preserves anonymity and allows for privacy-sensitive monitoring.
In private spaces where visual surveillance is not possible, we use specialised sensors like LiDAR and sound analytics to detect incidents. This is especially useful in sectors like healthcare, where falls could happen anywhere, especially in bathrooms and shower areas.
We want to strike a balance between optimising security and upholding anonymity when it comes to privacy. And we do all that while adhering to prevailing data regulations and privacy laws.
What kinds of businesses would find Smart Surveillance useful?
Any business or institution across any sector!
Smart Surveillance is a suite of AI-powered video surveillance and analytics solutions that can be hosted on-premise or on the cloud. This means companies have the flexibility to tap on the cloud’s benefits as needed — like cost efficiency, easy setup, centralised access, and so on.
In fact, we tailor our solutions to every business’s needs. If you’re a small business with no existing surveillance systems, we have the hardware and software to get you started. If you’re a large enterprise with an active infrastructure, our solutions can integrate with your systems with minimal disruption.
On top of that, our solutions can easily be scaled up or down later on, if needed. That’s a prerequisite to remaining agile and resilient as we deal with the uncertainties that come with the future of work.
Do you have examples of how businesses have benefited from Smart Surveillance?
Case Study 1
Perhaps I’ll share a little on KAI Suites. KAI is Singapore’s first premium confinement hotel specialising in luxury pre-and postpartum care services. They came to us looking for solutions to three of their biggest challenges:
First, they want to bridge distances between newborn and family.
To achieve that, we placed high-definition cameras above every bassinet in the nursery to livestream the babies’ every moment to mothers recovering in a separate room. Friends and family can also access the footage via a simple app with a given access code — even if they’re overseas!
Second, they want to keep their vicinity safe and serene.
By integrating face recognition and video analytics with 360-degree cameras, we enable a swift detection of suspicious characters or emergency situations like a fire. This triggers real-time alerts, prompting immediate actions from designated personnel.
Lastly, they want to enhance overall productivity.
With automated alerts, a centralised system, 24/7 monitoring and more, we are able to streamline KAI’s operations and enable their team to prioritise tasks that matter — like delivering prompt assistance, elevating the overall guest experience, and even enhancing kitchen workflow and productivity.
Case Study 2
CLA Global TS is another good example of how Smart Surveillance transforms the workplace. To protect the assets of this accounting and audit firm, we had Face Recognition with Access Control deployed in two areas: Door Access and Printing Control.
By doing that, we not only strengthened the firm’s security, but also enhanced the way employees work. Face recognition has made it easier for them to move around the office, now that staff passes are no longer needed. Print control has also fostered greener habits as print usage is now tracked and monitored. The number of printed documents has actually declined since its implementation!
From surveillance to intelligence.
When fully leveraged, surveillance data is a powerful resource that extends beyond security applications. By merging artificial intelligence with IoT devices, we seamlessly and effectively add the much needed extra pairs of eyes and ears on the ground to ensure the safety, comfort and convenience of everyone.
Keen to put the smart in your surveillance? Reach out to maximise the potential of your surveillance data today!
