You already know the benefits of closed-circuit television (CCTV). Companies that engage in business overseas in hostile and destabilized regions know all too well how important security and deterrence are in preventing crime.
Whether your company operates container ships, bulk carrier ships, tankers, fishing vessels, oil rigs, or buoys, you need to protect the assets and resources that your company has so heavily invested in.
Remote monitoring systems
offer your business additional flexibility and accessibility when it comes to your security systems.
But what are the real advantages of these systems?
1. Improve Theft Deterrence, Detection, and Operational Efficiency
The goal of any security system is to deter a threat. Petty criminals may reconsider committing a crime if they know they are being recorded.
But that doesn’t always stop every threat. That’s where the second major benefit of a remote surveillance system comes into play—threat detection.
Having the ability to detect a potential threat as its happening can improve your ability to respond to it.
One feature that modern remote surveillance systems should offer is the ability to capture still images of critical locations on your vessels, including areas like hatches, fuel doors, movement in a restricted area, activation of heavy equipment, or boarding of a buoy.
Knowing when a threat has appeared allows your security teams to notify key decision-makers. This can improve response times and your ability to mitigate threats as they occur. Security teams can even trigger alarms to notify on-site crewmembers to potential threats.
2. Reduce Your Liability With Verifiable Evidence
One often overlooked benefit is the fact that your remote surveillance system can reduce your liability by proving where your vessel was located at the time of an incident and what actually occurred.
The employee who oversees your remote surveillance system can be located anywhere. Whether they are located ashore, in the United States, or elsewhere, they should have the same control over the system regardless of their location. They can monitor specific areas, adjust camera or system configurations in real-time, and gather valuable data.
All of this data will provide you with accurate records of what transpired during an event. You can use this data to assist you in verifying your vessel’s location, provide you with the necessary documentation you need for regulatory adherence, and to disprove false claims made by authorities and crew members.
3. Realize Legitimate Cost Savings
A remote CCTV system is designed to save your company money in more ways than one. Besides reducing your liability and deterring crime, these systems provide your vessels with additional security even if you are subscribed to a low bandwidth SatCom plan.
Low bandwidth plans are a cost-effective solution that can still utilize the still image capture and transmission feature and immediately provide them to decision-makers. This feature maximizes the value of their airtime plan.
Imagine a fishing vessel receives an event alarm when the vessel’s winch is activated. The system can capture still images in three-second intervals (or however often the customer remotely programs the settings) of the location and transmit them to the vessel’s owner ashore. The monitoring station will receive the still images, while the owner will receive them directly to their mobile phone.
What do these images reveal? They show the vessel’s crane being used to load fish onto an unauthorized vessel.
Now—the owner has images that include the vessel's GPS coordinates and a time stamp. They can use those images as evidence and take the appropriate action.
A remote surveillance system should be completely programmable from a remote location. You should be able to modify the way it records and captures events based on the types of processes and variables that your company encounters.
Remote Surveillance Systems Offer Flexible Security Solutions
Every business has different needs when it comes to protecting your assets and the resources you are harvesting.
Remote surveillance systems offer your business a flexible security solution that is accurate, accessible from anywhere, and provides you with enhanced tools for your forensic investigations. You want to make sure you maximize the benefit of a system and accelerate your return on investment.
