What Every Business Should Know About Addressing Smart Camera Issues

But just like many other devices of this type, it can sometimes cause certain glitches, resulting in offline feeds, blurry images, delayed alerts, etc., which can negatively affect different aspects of the company that’s employing it.

On a more positive note, most of these problems can easily be resolved; however, it still doesn’t hurt to get familiar with some of them, just so you can properly prepare yourself. And that’s exactly why this article is here.

It’s going to further dive into this topic, to help you better understand them, and above everything, make well-informed decisions when the time comes to tackle them.

Let’s Start With The Privacy Intrusions

This tool is capable of capturing a large amount of data, at times without clear user awareness. Even though every business owner who installs it decides to do so for security reasons, its continuous surveillance can cause privacy concerns. 

This is particularly the case with companies that are newly established, in which employers and their workforce didn’t have the opportunity to get to know each other better. Employees may feel as if they are continuously being watched, which may result in morale and trust issues.

In some instances, you’ll encounter manufacturers that are prone to sharing anonymized and even non-anonymized data with law enforcement, insurers, and advertisers. One of the biggest problems when it comes to this is the lack of transparency, aside from surveillance.

That’s why it would be smart if you’ve gone through privacy policies, to get a grasp of how your footage is being processed.

Issues With Security

Those who have been utilizing smart cameras for a certain amount of time will tell you that one of the most common problems with them lies in the fact that they are susceptible to cyberattacks. 

Why do they occur so frequently? Well, that’s because lots of models are connected directly to the Wi-Fi and various cloud platforms, which makes them ideal targets for potential hackers and scammers.

But does it mean that these issues cannot be resolved? Luckily, overcoming privacy concerns with smart cameras isn’t as difficult as you may think. There are several things that you can do to successfully tackle them!

For starters, if you notice that someone has breached your security system, the first step that must be taken is to change your password as soon as possible. If you want it to be hard to crack, then you must create one that’s both complex and long, meaning that it should contain uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters, and numbers.

Another thing that you can do that’s going to provide you with an additional layer of security is to make use of two-factor authentication. If you’ve never done it before, then ask someone who’s knowledgeable and seasoned when it comes to this to help you out, because it’s truly beneficial.

They Could Cause Performance Problems

No device is perfect, and regardless of how generally good it is, at times, it can cause performance issues, just like any other tool. The ones that are the most common include the following:

• False alarms – Motion detection tends to mistake shadows, pets, and others for something suspicious, instantly creating false alarms. Although it’s not the end of the world if something like this happens, it may cause unnecessary stress.
• Problems with connectivity – If your Wi-Fi connection isn’t stable enough, then this may cause videos to lag or freeze, making your security camera completely useless in critical moments.
• Cloud dependency – Now, here’s an issue that could potentially be very serious. For instance, if the provider’s server goes down for any reason, you may lose access to real-time monitoring. These things have happened in the past, causing companies to go bankrupt.

Social And Psychological Effects

The problems caused by these devices aren’t restricted solely to the technical ones. They can affect how people feel, as well. As stated previously, your workers may lose trust in you if they conclude that they are constantly being monitored.

They may feel as if you do not have enough trust in them, which may negatively impact their productivity and cause additional stress. That’s why it wouldn’t hurt to first talk to them before you introduce smart cameras to your firm.

If your entire business is equipped with smart cameras, your workforce may start perceiving surveillance as the new normal, which may undermine the expectation of personal freedom.

They May Cause Additional And Unexpected Expenses

Another problem that may be caused by these tools is related to your finances. Lots of people think that the only problems they’ll have are those concerning potential repairs. What most of them fail to realize is that they’ll need to set aside a certain amount of money for the cloud storage subscription, maintenance, and extra AI features.

Besides them, if God forbid, your cameras are hacked and videos are leaked, then there’s a chance your clients will file a lawsuit against your company, or that you’ll be fined, which can result in substantial expenses.

Now, some business owners become heavily reliant on smart cameras, overlooking other equally effective forms of security, which may cause dangerous blind spots.

Do Not Misuse Them!

Having smart cameras for security reasons is totally fine and something that many firms do; however, in some instances, employers have the tendency to misuse these devices, meaning to employ these cameras not only for security, but also to constantly supervise their employees to ensure they are productive enough, which is definitely wrong. 

By doing so, they are basically crossing the line between surveillance and management, which is never a good thing because it may cause long-term trust issues.

As you can see, smart cameras, just like most modern devices, come with a variety of different virtues and flaws. Since some issues caused by them cannot be prevented, what you can do is at least to get familiar with anything that could potentially go wrong, to avoid unpleasant surprises.