Over the past few years, we have seen the UK CCTV installation market being powered by a distinct driving force – price. In an effort to remain competitive and meet the market conditions, installers have been forced into the race to the bottom.
While the proliferation of Chinese CCTV products continues to be a significant factor in the industry, suppliers are being offered a different path to solidify and grow their position through high quality, feature-rich products that enhance security installers’ ultimate profit margins and give their clients a video surveillance product they prefer to use.
Security concerns abated
Continued CCTV cybersecurity breaches and wide-open backdoor exploits leaked across the Internet have left their systems accessible to even the most unskilled hackers, and these have plagued the market over the last several years. Government officials have issued warnings and passwords have been changed. Nonetheless, security installers and end clients uncomfortably await hackers’ next set of tricks, perhaps praying for an “un-hackable” CCTV system.
End-users are becoming far more security conscious due to the fact that GDPR laws require significant responsibilities for the integrity of CCTV data – thus, increasing the need for responsible security. Therefore, hacking not only presents a challenge, but also system abuse by authorised users which presently incurs hefty administrative expenditures to monitor.
However, perhaps the answers come not in “un-hackability” or tedious manual administrative procedures? Perhaps one answer is a better ability to detect and be alert about potential intrusions? Hackers thrive on continuously creating new ways to implement their art and today’s “hacker proof” system becomes tomorrow’s conquest. However, if you can detect their activity and send an immediate alert, a hacker’s quest becomes increasingly futile. The answer to ensuring proper system use by authorised users is equally simple. A fine-grained user access permissions coupled with a way to easily track and monitor exactly what those users do should do the trick.
ERTECH, a London-based video surveillance platform provider, was the first in the CCTV space to offer such robust intrusion detection and activity monitoring features. It was also a pioneer in fine-grained user activity tracking and makes it easy to monitor who saw what, what changes were made, who made them, and many features that make efforts to misuse the system futile.
Rethinking the NVR/DVR
The “race to the bottom” NVR/DVR selection still suffers from the typical constraints:
– horrendous user interfaces
– time-consuming rewinding/fast-forwarding
– cumbersome setup procedures (port forwarding, etc.)
– a need to go on site when something happens
– a need to go on site to configure/re-configure
– a need to download footage onto a USB stick and take it to the relevant party in order to share it
– an inability to know when the NVR/DVR goes offline
– an inability to easily see all access to the system
– an inability to easily see every change to the system
– an inability to know about unauthorised system access
The time and operational costs of dealing with the aforementioned easily nullify any original benefits in cost savings.
Why not differentiate yourself with a solution that solves all of the above constraints? Many of Ertech’s installers often present Ertech side by side with a traditional system. Overwhelmingly, end clients quickly see why Ertech wins. Ultimately, Ertech makes the installer more competitive and improves your relationship with your clients, making it easier to do your job. Ultimately, it makes you more profitable.
Instant upgrades
With traditional systems, new security threats needing software patches wait for painstaking manual updates while continuing to be vulnerable (best case scenario) or for the new version of the product (months if not years away). A seemingly easy interface update is subject to the same time frames, if not longer.
The solution sits in systems that release instant updates over the air, without any extra work being required for the installer or end user. Ertech’s ethos is to continuously improve and upgrade our product. Therefore, we release updates regularly. Our clients simply log in and enjoy updates and new features. Ertech also takes regular surveys from our clients, asking about their needs and where the system can be improved. Feedback is incorporated in future development plans. Ertech’s cloud video surveillance platform facilitates this perfectly.
How to win
Education is key. End clients are very willing to listen to explanations of how spending a couple of extra hundred pounds on installing a CCTV system can mitigate their security concerns, offer improved UI and save time.
As a British supplier, ertech not only offer a visibly superior product, but many of the inherent security issues that plague Chinese products simply do not exist with ertech. We provide cutting-edge intuitive software which suits the evolving security needs of the 21st century. Our revolutionary cloud video surveillance and security system puts both installers and end users firmly in control and safe in the knowledge that they are protected by one of the most reliable and robust systems on the market.
