Use your CCTV security cameras to attract additional customers
Security camera systems are undoubtedly important in helping to protect your business from theft and vandalism, as well as providing video to the police if something happens at your business. However, a quality PC based DVR security camera system can be used for many more purposes when set up correctly. Security cameras generate content 24 hours a day, which can be easily used to help your business stand out from the rest of your competitors. The benefits are not limited to specific businesses, but can be tailored to virtually any business, to help customers remember you, talk about you, and also recommend you to others.
First of all, it’s important to make sure you have a camera system that can support easy remote viewing by your customers. We always recommend PC-based DVR card/software packages for this application, because they offer the best remote viewing options and generally support hundreds of simultaneous logins. The system we have used for most of our forward-thinking business clients is Alnet Systems’ PC-based DVR cards, which install in a standard PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista and allow remote viewing for hundreds of simultaneous users. . This system allows you to allow access only to specific cameras, so you can specify certain cameras only for clients to view. If you currently have a more limited VCR-based or standalone DVR security camera system, you can easily remove the DVR or VCR and install a PC with a DVR card. The cameras will connect directly to the DVR card, instead of the separate DVR or VCR, allowing for a simple upgrade to your existing camera system. PC-based DVR systems are easily upgraded by installing additional cards in the PC, allowing you to keep your existing cameras for security and add additional cameras for content.
Once you know that your system is capable of transmitting video to your customers, it’s time to look at some of the hidden benefits of your business security camera system. It is important to consider the type of business when looking to use your cameras for the benefit of your business. Think of something that can help impact your customers with video content. For example, our shipping facility uses our camera systems to take snapshots and video of packages as they are shipped. When our packages are shipped, customers receive an email with a JPG image of their package being checked before being placed in the box. That way, customers can see their items and it provides a great personal touch, as well as helping to catch any errors before the customer receives their package.
Other uses include auto repair facilities, with cameras showing the bays of their facility, as well as the parking lot. These cameras can be embedded into a web page, so customers can simply view the cameras live when viewing your website. This allows customers to view your vehicle while it is in the parking lot or in the shop where technicians are working. The auto repair market in general has suffered in the last 20 years from trust issues with the public, stemming from some installations breaking public trust. Customers can see the reliability of your business, when they can see your car at any time; it allows them to see that there is nothing to hide. Several auto shops that installed these systems not only saw an increased amount of traffic to their websites, but also improved their customer return rate and saw an increase in customer referrals. The storage facilities used cameras to be installed in specific high-speed storage units and provided customers with a login through their website. By being able to view their storage facility with an infrared night vision camera at any time through their website, their customers had more confidence in the security of the facility.
Restaurants and bars, especially in popular destination locations, have used publicly accessible video surveillance cameras on their website for years, to allow their customers to call their friends and family and view them on the web. These web cameras can be easily linked to a PC based DVR surveillance camera system to provide features for countless customers and help increase customer traffic to the restaurant or bar.
Pet kennels are also a business that deals with the trust of the public. Customers must trust that the facility will provide adequate food, water, and love for their pets while they are out of town or on vacation. By strategically placing cameras in the kennel areas, as well as areas around the building, and providing logins to their clients, these kennels are able to give their clients the ability to observe their dogs over the internet, from their PDA phone, Windows Smartphone or Laptop from anywhere in the world. Customers now not only have greater peace of mind about leaving their pet behind, but also have more trust in the facility and are more likely to not only use the service again, but to refer other customers as well.
Every day, millions of people leave their children in day care, even though nightmares about how children have been mistreated in some facilities still dot the news. This makes it very difficult for parents to choose the facility that they can trust with their children. It is easy to show parents that your daycare can be trusted and at the same time provide a value-added service to parents by installing a remotely viewable CCTV security camera system. This will not only show parents that you are serious about the security of your facility, but you can also set up a user account for the parents, so they can connect and view their children over the Internet using a web browser. , or even with your PDA Phone or Windows Mobile Smartphone. This makes choosing where to entrust your children an easy decision.
The examples above are by no means the only widespread application of security cameras to improve your business model. They are only meant to show some of the limitless possibilities of a quality DVR surveillance camera system. Once the cameras are in place, it’s time to simply ask yourself how you can use content to improve your business model, improve customer trust and loyalty, and improve sales on your premises. It’s time to stop viewing security camera systems as just security devices and start looking at them as genuine business assets that can be used to improve your overall business model.