10 Ways How VSaaS Solutions Directly Amplify Warehouse Operations

Video-surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) solutions have infiltrated the security scenario in recent years. Moving away from stagnant restrictive monitoring, the avenue has opened up for real-time tracking in transit. Unlike traditional security systems, VSaaS solutions are not limited to providing surveillance. These are equipped to enhance your premises’ productivity, increase the ROI of your business, marginally reduce the loss or damages due to employee misconduct and uphold the goodwill of the organization.

For warehousing facilities, VSaaS solutions work in a similar manner. Besides protecting the storehouse from intruders, safety hazards like fire outbreaks or accidents due to defective machinery, the solution also improves the overall performance quality.

The integration of recording devices such as cameras along with gateways & bridges, local & cloud storage, unified dashboard, and digital interface, a video surveillance solution enables owners to maintain unification across all sites.

To understand how video surveillance solutions affect warehousing operations:

Here are 10 ways VSaaS solutions can amplify your warehouse operations and improve performance

1. Live-monitoring

There are limitations to what security guards can achieve while on patrol duty. Not only does manual security leave a majority of the site unattended for long periods, coming face to face with an intruder or multiple intruders can cause more significant damage to life.

Live video surveillance and real-time alerts enable security guards to monitor sites from the safety of a surveillance room. Rather than keeping them at the frontline of any threats and attacks or unforeseeable circumstances, surveillance guards can stream cctv camera recordings in real-time.

This also enables a handful of security guards to monitor multiple sites, which would be impossible in manual guarding.

2. Cloud storage and services

IP cameras and sensors as part of the VSaaS solution can transmit data directly onto the cloud. With a memory card for local storage, these devices do not require on-premise video recorders like DVRs and NVRs.

IP cameras are also well equipped to perform wide-ranging analytics, such as object recognition & people counting. At the same time, intelligent sensors can detect motion, vibrations, smoke, and other particles in the air.

In the case of network disconnectivity, the devices can store data locally before transmitting it to the cloud after the issue is resolved. This ensures that no data is lost in the face of fluctuating network bandwidth.

All the data recorded via multiple cameras and sensors is transmitted onto the cloud in warehouses, allowing all authorized personnel to access the data from the same platform.

3. Centralization of data

For any organization with a decentralized ecosystem, finding relativity across sites can be difficult. For warehouses distributed across geographies, this can lead to a lack of communication regarding stock acquisition, movement across facilities, and consequential delay in deliveries.

A VSaaS solution is backed by the idea of centralizing all data irrespective of the geographical distance between facilities. This means that as the owner of multiple & distributed logistic centers, you can view all of these sites simultaneously or even sequentially.

To monitor the unloading dock areas of all facilities simultaneously, you can label camera views that allow you to segregate your focus areas during the whole day.

4. Mobile application-based solution

What’s better than simultaneous monitoring? Doing it remotely.

Whether on-site, somewhere in a 2km radius, or in a different country altogether, you can view precisely what is happening at your premises with a mobile application.

This application gives you direct access to only those devices and sites that you are authorized to access. In other words, as an employee, your activity on the platform can be restricted by the employer; as the owner, you can decide the level of control and visibility other employees can enjoy.

Using your credentials, you can access the application from anywhere across the globe, as long as you have network connectivity.

5. 3rd Party surveillance back-up

VSaaS solutions are more than just a product sold to magnify surveillance. The solution is a long-term, service-based solution with a command center closely monitoring your premises.

The command center personnel have access to the platform and all devices providing coverage to your facility in your absence. Whether during the day or night, 24*7 alert-based surveillance ensures that your facility is free from any threat of intrusion or accident.

Every alert sent to the command center has to be reviewed and resolved within a predefined period, and any changes made on the platform are notified to other escalations. This keeps you in the loop of what is happening, and the transparency also makes the solution trustworthy.

6. IoT devices for stringent control

IoT devices like intelligent cameras and sensors are installed across the site, majorly focusing on data sensitive and heavy inventory areas.

Temperature, humidity and air quality sensors ensure that all commodities are stored at the optimal environmental settings. Since any fluctuations beyond a certain threshold can compromise the quality and longevity of the products, these IoT sensors maintain state-of-the-art quality.

Smoke and fire sensors help locate source points and notify escalations so the situation can be regulated.

RFID tags and barcode scanners monitor all the goods moving inwards or outwards, and cameras can be used to monitor shelf and panel occupancy.

7. AI-based analytics

Monitoring different parameters and deducing operational insights enable owners to upgrade their services and smoothen out the course of a commodity.

With multiple types of machinery on-site, the energy consumption can go beyond an expected threshold. Data collected via energy meters can be analyzed daily, weekly, or monthly to provide insights into problem areas.

Regular monitoring of premise opening and closing time and timely/untimely handover of goods to courier vendors can give insights into employee performance.

8. Inventory control

From the moment a product enters a warehousing facility to the point of its departure, its complete journey can be re-viewed via the video surveillance solution. The commodities at the GRN tables can be identified and tracked using RFID tags or barcode scanners.

This system of identification at every transit point enables you and your customer to track the orders.

9. Key performance indication

Keeping a close watch on the overall performance of the facility starts from closely monitoring your employees. While respecting their privacy is essential, there are areas of a warehouse that requires constant monitoring.

The inefficiency of employees while receiving stock or shipping it out can lead to an imbalance between the records and the actual inventory. Wrong orders sent to customers due to distracted employees aren’t new; however, with technically advanced solutions like VSaaS, you can easily find the person accountable.

10. Risk management

Dock areas for shipment loading & unloading can be dangerous areas if proper safety measures are not followed. In fact, irresponsible material handling and forklift accidents amount to most accidents that can be prevented with proper planning and adherence to safety protocols.(Source)

Incidents involving pallet rack collapses are also extremely common in warehouses, owing their high occurrence rate to negligence while stocking them up.

Flammable goods and liquids can also prove to be a threat if not placed in cool and dry areas, far away from heat sources.

Warehouse video surveillance solutions can help surveillance staff monitor these high-risk areas and notify them in real-time when any safety protocol is not complied with.

CONCLUSION

VSaaS solutions have changed the view we see today from a camera lens, turning a stagnant reactive structure that focused at one part of the site into a multi-dimensional solution, panning, tilting, and zooming, that does more than secure the premises.

To learn about IGZY’s VSaaS solution and how it can improve your warehouse operations, contact us.