As companies across Europe look to stay ahead of the competition and achieve success, leaders at these organizations are constantly looking for new solutions. Especially those who harness the potential of their data to generate valuable insights. A key innovation in this area that is becoming increasingly popular is enhanced smart video that can rely on the power of artificial intelligence (AI).
AI-powered smart video solutions have far more capabilities than the traditional surveillance of their basic counterparts, making these tools the new must-have for businesses across a wide range of industries. They apply advanced analytics that provide almost immediate insights for better business operations, reduce costs and increase revenue.
A Western Digital study was recently launched to understand the impact of AI on smart video, particularly its potential for European businesses. The results showed that AI is already integral to delivering benefits, including improved scalability, efficiency, and customization of surveillance and analytics. As smart video technology becomes more flexible and AI emerges, the use cases will only continue to expand. While the full use cases of smart video are emerging, numerous examples can already be seen across industries, including:
Smart manufacturing: AI analytics in the factory
Smart video is already crucial in production. When implemented in factories, these solutions have several advantages. After filming the production process, leaders can collect data for analysis. This allows them to understand which production phases are inefficient and then prevent bottlenecks. The data collected can also predict future machine problems, allowing systems to be upgraded as necessary.
On a mass scale, improving production efficiency leads to much greater output and profits. In addition to generating analytics, smart video technologies in factories can monitor worker health and safety and automatically report on incidents if necessary. This can give factories access to better insurance policies and help improve their reputation for workforce wellbeing. Project management and planning may also refer to analysis of video recordings to comply with global safety standards.
HDD Product Marketing Manager, Western Digital.
Smart video in healthcare
Hospitals, doctors’ offices and other healthcare institutions are now increasingly relying on smart video systems to improve the safety and efficiency of care. When entering a building, a patient’s data from smart video can trigger an alert so that the patient receives care as quickly as possible. In some cases this may take the form of a member of staff assisting them, or even a full team with specialist equipment during a medical emergency.
Over weeks and months, data analytics can improve facility management and staffing, ensuring that necessary resources are allocated to peak times. This therefore limits unnecessary expenditure and staff burnout, especially when there is a shortage of medical staff. For example, if a GP practice is overstaffed due to patient appointments, smart video analytics can help identify busier facilities where staff should be reallocated.
Keeping transport moving
Smart video is also used in public transport systems to improve service delivery. For companies that manage trains, metros, trams and buses, tracking travel times is a major operation. In London alone, the bus system consists of 9,300 vehicles operating 675 routes. To increase efficiency, smart video insights can be used to allocate staff and vehicles, especially at peak times when there is the highest volume of human traffic. These insights can also be used to identify and counter problems.
In some of the world’s largest cities, smart video insights can help a passenger who needs help or has a line outage. Where problems cause delays, analytics can help reroute other trains where necessary and alert control rooms to plan accordingly. This helps the world’s largest cities keep moving.
In addition to public transport, smart video is also implemented for traffic management of roads in cities. When crossing a road, the traffic lights change automatically when necessary, without you having to press a button. This ensures that these lamps are used most effectively. Insights from smart AI video can also be used to warn of oncoming traffic through signage changes, allowing drivers to reroute their journey to less congested routes.
Data produced via smart video
Research has highlighted the benefits of smart video, as well as an increasing willingness to install new smart video systems or upgrade old ones. However, rapid implementation will further increase the demand for valuable data storage. Most AI-enabled smart video solutions use 4K recording for real-time insights. Therefore, even more data must be stored and accessible on demand. With a quarter of companies planning to implement this technology by the end of the year, data storage requirements will only increase.
Depending on the scale of the smart video operations and specific user requirements, different storage solutions may be required. For the heavy workloads required to handle video and analytics, many business leaders are turning to HDDs as a cost-effective, high-capacity option. Because of the high performance required for these use cases, many business leaders are turning to storage solutions designed specifically with smart video in mind. This helps organizations work smarter.
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