Total Cost of Ownership: Traditional vs Cloud Video Surveillance

Surveillance and security systems are a large capital expense for any business. Over the past several years, the evolution of video surveillance cameras and technologies has considerably changed the surveillance industry in terms of cost savings, increased safety, and convenience of the users. With so many options available, it can be challenging to evaluate the costs, maintenance, and overall investment required, to manage surveillance for your business.

As cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) have taken hold, video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) or cloud surveillance–has emerged as the most popular option for businesses seeking to simplify their physical security installations. The key benefits of cloud surveillance are: instant access from any location, greater scalability and increased storage. Users can store as much visual data in the cloud as required for a long as required, and they are able to pay only for what they use.

A major benefit is that the total cost of ownership (TCO) is lower for cloud based solutions vs traditional systems.

With traditional video surveillance solutions, there are a variety of start-up and ongoing fixed costs. The ongoing costs can include: annual maintenance fees, router configuration, system configuration & operating system backup, OS security patches, server equipment refreshes, remote network access, IT staff costs, space, power, software update installation, PC client SW install/upgrades, central management, mobile apps, video backup, cyber security expertise & support, and multi-site integration.

All of these aspects bring additional resource support as well as the associated costs. And this must be factored into TCO for traditional systems. 

Cloud technology offers businesses substantial economies of scale. A cloud-based deployment model does not require the capital expenditure for traditional on-site servers. Therefore, you have lower setup and deployment costs. With cloud-based solutions, support is typically included—so if anything goes wrong, it is managed by your cloud provider.

In addition, cloud video surveillance allows software updates to be delivered wirelessly, so any bug fixes and security improvements are managed without having to replace existing hardware. Remote monitoring and support means that your provider can maintain the health of your system and notify you if there’s a problem, such as a camera going down.

Additional benefits of cloud surveillance include scalability, streamlined processes and reduced expenses and human resources– that can be redirected to customer service, marketing, and other areas that can to help grow your business.

If you are curious about how a shift to cloud video surveillance might benefit your business and your bottom line, drop us a note to connect..!