Pandemic is causing CCTV systems to move to the cloud faster

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A significant number of businesses are planning to migrate their CCTV systems to the cloud, according to a recent survey of businesses in England by tech company NW Security.

The study found that, among businesses already running CCTV systems, 71% of medium and large firms in the private sector are planning to move to the cloud within the next 12 months. The figure was 43% for public sector organizations.

Looking at specific industries, 89% of construction firms are looking to adopt cloud CCTV, while 80% of businesses in the wholesale distribution and retail sector are planning for cloud migration. Manufacturers come third in terms of cloud CCTV enthusiasm, with 78% planning to move their systems to the cloud over the next year.

Time to upgrade

One of the reasons why businesses are only now looking to upgrade to cloud CCTV systems is that the UK was so quick to adopt traditional CCTV systems, meaning that the transition to the cloud has been delayed. Another key factor is the coronavirus pandemic.

“What we are seeing here is three key drivers for accelerating cloud CCTV migration coming together right now,” Frank Crouwel, Managing Director of NW Security, said. “Number one is COVID-19 which is stimulating an acceleration of all IT applications into the cloud, creating a ‘Remote Everything’ phenomenon as we like to call it.”

In addition to the pandemic, the fact that the UK has now gone past the ‘CCTV to network video’ tipping point, combined with the broader transition to a service-based IT model, means that cloud CCTV systems provide a better service for the modern businesses. With many organizations moving more of their in-house IT platforms to the cloud to accommodate remote working, migrating CCTV security systems just makes good business sense.

Barclay Ballard

Barclay has been writing about technology for a decade, starting out as a freelancer with ITProPortal covering everything from London’s start-up scene to comparisons of the best cloud storage services.  After that, he spent some time as the managing editor of an online outlet focusing on cloud computing, furthering his interest in virtualization, Big Data, and the Internet of Things.