Security is vital for banks. Yet more and more, banks are also using their security systems for operational and business intelligence purposes. Meanwhile, banks are increasingly moving their security to the cloud, which offers various benefits.
Security is vital for
banks. Yet more and more, banks are also using their security systems for operational and business intelligence purposes. Meanwhile, banks are increasingly moving their security to the cloud, which offers various benefits.
Needless to say, banks attach a great importance to security, amid various internal and external threat. Security solutions such as
video surveillance and access control, coupled with the latest AI technologies, can play an important role in this regard.
Yet increasingly, banks are also leveraging their security systems for operational efficiency and business intelligence purposes as well.
“The integration of business intelligence functionality into security systems is a major benefit and allows users to gain greater insights into how their banks are used. This includes people counting, heat mapping, and tracking how users navigate a retail bank floor, for example. The insights gained from this intelligence are invaluable to operations and marketing and allow banks to gain greater efficiencies in how they handle customer needs,” said Richard Joslin, Senior Director for UK/I, Central Europe and MENA at PACOM & 3xLOGIC.
“Analytics does have operational efficiency and business intelligence functions. Loitering analytics used in cameras can alert when a potential person is in an ATM vestibule and may be at risk,” said Chris Meiter, Chief Sales Officer at Salient. “Proptech cameras and sensors can be used to measure queuing lines, evaluate facial expressions so to identify frustration, and detect slip & falls with alerts.”
Migration to cloud
With security playing a key role in banks, how to set it up becomes an important question. One consideration banks are often faced with is whether to set up security on-premises or in the
cloud. For a long time, banks have employed the on-prem approach. Yet they are increasingly moving their security to the cloud, which offers various benefits, including remote access by site administrators, automated deployment of firmware and software upgrades, and unlimited scalability.
In particular, a
hybrid cloud architecture, where certain video footage is kept onsite while older and less relevant video is pushed to the cloud, presents a favorable solution for banks. “Few banking organizations are 100 percent in the cloud at present, and a degree of on-premises functionality may always exist, even with the advent of the cloud, in a hybrid setup,” Joslin said.
“Modern hybrid cloud systems really offer benefits that simply can’t be beat. Many institutions have multiple branches – and one security admin. With remote, consolidated access to all their cameras and systems, anywhere they are, security admins can really have ‘eyes everywhere.’ Monitoring multiple systems doesn’t have to be problematic. There’s no need to worry about storage capacity, or manually wiping videos, and you can rest assured all the components – alarms, cameras, access control – work together smoothly to give your spaces the best possible prevention and protection. And with support available at the click of a button, you can reduce downtime and the reliance on service from third-party vendors,” said Jake Stauch, Director of Product at Verkada.
Indeed, due to these benefits, a migration to the cloud is expected to become a key trend for banks. “The easy scalability, wide functionality and great resilience of the cloud means many users will be moving part of their systems to the cloud over the next few years – especially because data analysis is often better handled in the cloud,” Joslin said.
“95 to 99 percent of all bank installations today are on-prem, with few allowing remote access. There is a progression towards a hybrid model where video is stored on-prem and then offloaded to the cloud after a certain amount of time. Banks may migrate more to cloud in the next two to three years, hosting software either in their data center or using Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure or AWS. This hybrid model is more popular in smaller branches and ATMs,” Meiter said.
Integrator’s role
To deploy a bank security system that works well, the systems integrator plays a major role. What the SI needs to do to succeed in bank projects are discussed as follows.
“First, experience with camera installation and placement is important – layout can make or break the success of these systems. Additional training in alarms and access control installation is also beneficial; these tend to be more complicated system components, and in some jurisdictions, even carry specific regulations,” Stauch said. “On that note, an understanding and appreciation of the importance of compliance is also important. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) mandates a set of requirements for financial transactions. Verkada’s systems can help meet these requirements, greatly simplifying compliance.”
“The integrator needs to understand how different systems integrate in order to protect against potential threats, such as having the knowledge around camera and analytics technology, as well as the ability to integrate the camera technology, video management system, access control system, intrusion alarm and email functionalities, so to provide an extra layer of security. Additionally, the integrator should be able to create an alarm situation with intrusion alarm, including the ability to detect potential threats in the parking lot with camera analytics, instantly lock down the facility, and send silent alarms with pictures of the threat to Police Departments or bank management. It’s essential for integrators to be familiar with the features of various products and work with manufacturers to deploy all technologies correctly for maximum security,” Meiter said.