“Navigating the future”, with Eagle Eye Networks and Axis Communications

ISJ catches up with Rishi Lodhia, VP & Managing Director EMEA, Eagle Eye Networks.

In 2024, what does the dynamic intersection of cloud surveillance and AI look like?

The intersection of cloud video surveillance and AI is dynamic indeed.

It’s dramatically altering the video surveillance industry – and the opportunities this shift presents for improving security for communities and businesses around the world is really exciting.

AI is dramatically enhancing existing video surveillance systems. Currently, there are about one billion security cameras around the world, and that number increases every day.

The combination of cloud and AI is making cameras more useful and valuable for business owners. 

One of the many benefits of cloud video surveillance is that it does not require the business owner to buy expensive specialty cameras or rip-and-replace their existing deployments.

They can use existing cameras and infrastructure, connect them to a cloud video surveillance system, such as the Eagle Eye Cloud VMS and turn those cameras into an intelligent surveillance solution that uses the power of AI and analytics in the cloud.

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We’re seeing more organisations utilising existing cameras, moving away from a rip-and-replace culture.

This means that your original investment in security cameras and infrastructure stays in place, making it: One, sustainable, and two, multi-use.

The cameras can be deployed for more than just surveillance purposes.

As video moves into the cloud, AI and analytics play a key role in making security cameras more useful. Cloud video surveillance is innately futureproof.

The AI in the cloud is always improving, getting faster and more accurate. In addition, security cameras are automatically updated via the cloud.

As the AI improves, or new features become available, these improvements are automatically available to the business customer.

There is no need for a reseller to make a site visit or for the business owner to hire extra IT personnel to make these updates. Instead of your video system being reactive, it becomes proactive.

Another big thing that we see happening is related to data – reviewing and searching video with AI is much easier. Smart alerts and getting more data in an organised way are other major benefits.

All these components help supercharge your current video surveillance systems as well as your technology investments.

When it comes to driving innovation and growth, can you tell us more about Eagle Eye Networks’ extensive partner network?

We are committed to working together with our partners in a structured way. We have a mature global partner program which is active in all of our regions.

We want to work with and support our partners in each region with a host of educational resources.

We know that things are changing at a rapid pace now in our industry. Technology innovations that are capable of enhancing our solutions happen regularly.

Take, for example, ChatGPT and a range of other new, powerful AI tools that have come to market over the past two years. 

With this in mind, at an industry level, we need to educate and help our partners, giving them more information about the kind of tools there are and how they can maximise them.

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How can we get the most out of the innovations that are out there? How can we grow together with our partners to help strengthen business operations and build recurring monthly revenue?

That’s another key point to mention. Eagle Eye reseller partners are now selling a platform with new features on top of it. They don’t need to drive out to a customer site, they can add features remotely and upsell.

Therefore, by working together with our resellers and offering our marketing resources and programs, we can help our end user partners to successfully leverage new technologies.

Historically, security systems were a transactional sale – now it’s a partnership.

We’ve got customer success teams in place that help from the beginning, right up until the point of sale and beyond. In our business, the sales and support process is never over.

Do you believe that last point is the key to your success?

Definitely. Excellent customer and technical support has been a part of our identity for a long time.

We’re pioneers. We’re sticking to our partner network and we’re investing in tools to enable us to provide 24/7 support. Going back to the local presence, this is really important.

Not only in the UK and EMEA region, but globally. Moreover, Eagle Eye understands that local language support is essential.

You place a lot of focus on supporting customers and consultants – how critical is this?

As I mentioned, the security world is changing at a rapid pace and consultants are expected to know about all the latest technologies.

This means there’s a place for us to provide support and we believe that we have an obligation to help the industry.

We support consultants by providing knowledge and education so that they are better equipped to recommend the most suitable solutions that solve their customers’ security challenges.

A key part of this is that it doesn’t have to be an Eagle Eye Networks solution. We want to help consultants find what is out there.

This is exactly why we have launched our dedicated A&E Program, which is being run by Richard Dover.

Richard is an industry veteran who’s worked with other major companies in the industry. He has rolled out this type of program all over Europe.

With the A&E Program, we aim to develop two-way partnerships that provide support and education.

It’s not only video surveillance that’s going to the cloud. The industry is AI-driven. The same pattern can be seen in intrusion. The same pattern can be seen in monitoring services.

The same pattern can be seen in access control. There are numerous partners in the cloud ecosystem.

Eagle Eye Networks and Axis Communications have partnered with ISJ on an upcoming webinar titled: “Navigating the future”. On a broader scale, what does the future of the industry look like?

In light of the pace of change we are witnessing, there is a tremendous opportunity for our reseller partners to build profitable businesses and solve their customers’ security and business challenges.

You only have to ask end users as well as our consultants and channel partners: Everybody in the market is saying, “wow what’s happening around us?”.

It’s not only security and video surveillance that is the focus now. Across the industry, the next big thing is developing solutions for business process optimisation.

That’s what AI and the cloud is bringing.

There’s so much more data, which will also drive a greater focus on technology integration.

AI is playing a pivotal role, not just in improving security, but enhancing business intelligence.

What’s on the horizon for the remainder of 2024?

We’re pleased to offer our partners across the EMEA region the best sales, support and customer success teams, communicating with them in their local languages.

Eagle Eye Networks is growing faster than ever. Our team is expanding and we’ve got a lot of new products and features being released throughout the year, especially AI features.

In addition to launching Version 3 of our API platform, we have new LPR offerings, AI-powered Video Search, and more.

Our goal is to continually improve the Eagle Eye Cloud VMS to make it even more user friendly, versatile and valuable to help businesses be more efficient and to make the world a safer place.

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