by Rahul Yadav
Using digital video technology in an analog way seems like a contradiction but traditionally, that’s been the approach in the security industry. This article looks ahead to show CTOs and senior leadership how they can use data-driven video technology as a powerful tool to achieve higher-level business outcomes.
In the analog approach, people work at the periphery of the solution as tools to watch and analyze the video. The problem with using people as tools for analysis is that video is unstructured data. It contains a lot of valuable information, but it’s not organized in a pre-defined way, and people are not good at extracting information from unstructured data.
Disrupting by moving people to the center
Data-driven video technology is disrupting the security industry, but it’s not removing people from the solution, it’s moving people to the center of the solution. Software is now the tool at the periphery doing the watching and analyzing, not only identifying objects, but also making sense of what’s happening in scenes. At the center, people function as a human-in-the-loop using their skills to verify analysis and make decisions on what to do.
For example, in a retail store, if a customer finds an empty shelf for the item they wanted to buy, chances are they walk out and try another store – a lost sale. To prevent losing these customers, stores are using video technology to monitor shelf space and signaling when to restock.
Seen through the store management’s lens, data-driven video technology is helping to maximize sales per linear shelf-foot, an important business outcome for retail.
Data-driven video technology
Moving people to the center solves the unstructured data problem. When people watch video, they’re prone to missing things, especially when they get tired. Software rarely misses things in the video, and it does not get tired. On the other hand, software can mis-interpret what’s happening in the video, whereas humans rarely make mistakes here.
In data-driven video technology solutions, instead of people watching the video, the software watches the video. Using video analytics, it converts the video data into information (structured data) that both describes objects and what’s happening in the scene. The vast amount of data (information) is used to train an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model. The AI model can uncover patterns, trends, and correlations, and use these to create insights, and actionable intelligence that helps people make informed decisions.
On the new frontier, rather than the video itself, these insights are what customers see as valuable. And this is changing the way we do business.
Revolutionizing the security industry – customers expect more from technology
These changes will revolutionize the security industry. A new breed of customer is emerging that has learned to expect more from technology. These customers work with vendors on two levels:
- A solution approach, aimed at solving problems for today.
- A business outcome approach, using the power of data-driven video technology to achieve higher-level business goals.
This new breed of customers sees the traditional security features as hygiene factors in a video technology solution. Their priority is for vendors to work with senior management to understand their company’s strategic direction and find ways they can use technology to reach that new end-state.
That doesn’t mean that security and surveillance is going away, it’s not either or, safety and security will always be needed. However, because these solutions are based on AI, this new breed of customer does not see security and surveillance alone as a reason to select a vendor. If the technology does not provide a good solution for safety and security, it may not even be considered. As the negotiation moves into the C-suite, the basis of decision moves to what a solution delivers beyond security and surveillance. For example, the C-suite’s reason to buy, is more likely to be integrations with other technology to optimize business processes and improve resource utilization.
What does the future look like?
The new breed of customers sees AI as a way to drive innovation to achieve their business outcomes. For many, the future is already here, recent data from PwC found that 86% of business and technology executive said that AI is already a mainstream technology at their company.
The trend is clear however, we think society will mandate a different endgame. It’s no longer only about who can innovate the fastest. The future will be about who can innovate in the most responsible way.
We are not alone in this thinking. A 2022 survey of senior executives and directors by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) concluded that “responsible technology is now more than a buzzword.” 73% of participants said responsible technology “will become as important as business or financial considerations when making tech decisions.”
Responsible technology – a license to operate
The MIT survey confirmed that responsible technology is firmly on the agenda for executives. A 2023 global survey of 150 technology decision-makers by Milestone showed that they would take it a step further, excluding potential vendors from technology purchases because of the way they use technology.
Most technology buyers (85%), indicated that in the future, using AI, video analytics and video surveillance in a responsible way will be a prerequisite for doing business with tech vendors. Over the next three to five years, technology buyers will mandate responsible technology as a license to operate.
Success on the new frontier – you need people’s trust
To succeed on the new frontier, you need to win future generations’ trust. At Milestone, we believe people have the right to feel safe knowing that they can trust the way we use technology. And our customers agree. That means responsible technology must be embedded at the core of a company strategy, in the way you develop, the way you sell and the way your customers use your technology.
Rahul Yadav, Chief Technology Officer, Milestone Systems
