Whilst video monitoring has benefited business, enterprises, and society as a whole, especially in terms of security, there are increasing drawbacks.

Monitoring the video feed, which is the richest source of data, is expensive and hard to scale. This is according to Natalie Doran, chief executive of Singapore based Lytehouse, who spoke at a Securex 2024 seminar this week.

Outlining the evolution of video surveillance, she referred to early analogue systems, followed by the digitising of the video signal to off-site monitoring and control through live feeds.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the incidence of false alarms is diminishing, as the systems are getting better at object and face recognition.

“But we are at an early stage where operators still are drowning in alerts, resulting in long response times,” she said. “And the system remains at a level where it is unscalable.”

The solution does not lie in simply increasing services, either in terms of cameras or operators. “How many cameras can an operator truly manage? There is a ceiling to what can be done,” she stated.

Rather, the answer is in automation with AI, which is writing the next generation technology, which is essentially an auto-operator. The AI monitoring the video system can ‘see’ and interpret an incident, and instantaneously ‘write’ a message, or even generate a voice alert.

“Of course, this new technology still involves people, as it requires a human intervention of some sort, but AI takes care of a significant part of the surveillance and monitoring function. And it is certainly scalable,” she said.

The bespoke technology that Lytehouse is offering covers business spheres from mining, retail, warehousing, logistics to real-estate and education.

“In this regard, the risks being addressed are in the areas of health and safety, infrastructural, operational and security,” she concluded.