Many CCTV systems have scheduled maintenance contracts in place,  offering the extra peace-of-mind that your customers’ premises, assets, and staff are protected. But are scheduled CCTV maintenance visits leaving end-users at risk?

Last year, we conducted a survey of 300 CCTV installations, most of which had scheduled maintenance in place, and found that 75% of these installations had one or more issue which affected operational performance, this was something as simple as the time not being set correctly, to camera and hard disk faults, and even systems not recording at all.

The reality is that a maintenance contracts with two site visits a year only guarantees that a system is working correctly 2 days out of 365 – only on the days the site visits occur.

Scheduled maintenance does not pick up any issues between visits, so your customers could have gaps in their security provision for up to 6 months if a fault or issue occurs between maintenance visits.

End-users often don’t have the time, motivation, or training to ensure their CCTV systems are operating correctly. I recently spoke to a Security Manager for a large food retail chain who is responsible for the security of around 200 high street stores, and last year they had 30 instances of critical footage being unavailable due to discovering an on-site issue when they attempted to review it.

It could be argued that your customers can get added protection by opting for your 4, 8, or 24-hour service response time to reduce the downtime of faulty CCTV systems, but the response time is often measured only from the time your customer detects and reports the fault to you, if it’s detected at all.  In many cases, end-users simply do not notice faults until they try and play back some recorded footage, by that time it is too late, and the finger of blame is pointed at the maintenance provider.

Many of our customers are using CheckMyCCTV to provide a proactive maintenance monitoring service to their customers, which means that on top of a single maintenance visit, additional visits  are only conducted when a fault is discovered by the software, ensuring that issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

A CCTV installer using CheckMyCCTV to provide proactive maintenance monitoring for 600 retail locations  is saving over 30% of their maintenance budget by reducing the man-hours and travel costs associated with maintaining a large quantity of sites, and still deliver a higher quality service.

CCTV systems need to be maintained to help continue operation over time, and we recommend that a maintenance visit is undertaken at least once a year, but by supplementing visits with 24/7 Status and Operation monitoring using CheckMyCCTV, you can ensure your customers are not left with worrying gaps in their security provision between visits, keeping your your CCTV installations and your reputation remains in good health.

To find out more about how you can improve your maintenance contracts using CheckMyCCTV, contact us on +44 (0) 161 870 6137 or email us at info@nullcheckmysystems.com

CheckMySystems introduce new ‘Pay as you Go’ licenses to significantly reduce the cost of monitoring the status of your CCTV systems.

Acting on feedback from our customers, we’ve introduced a new ‘Pay as you Go’ license model means that you only need to purchase licenses for each connected device you wish to monitor as and when you need them, reducing the up-front cost of providing health and operation monitoring for your customers’ remotely connected CCTV systems.

As part of the Pay as you Go package, you will get our full CheckMyCCTV Software for FREE when you purchase 10 or more device licenses, which we can install and configure for you remotely. You can then purchase additional licenses as you need them, or purchase multiple licenses at a discounted cost and use when they are needed.

Each Pay as you Go license provides one year of status and operation monitoring once it is activated, and can be automatically renewed or deactivated at the end of the 12 month period, giving you flexibility when maintaining your CCTV installations.

As Darren Rewston, Managing Director of CheckMySystems Ltd. explains “Recently, we have had many enquiries from CCTV Installers and businesses wanting to use our CheckMyCCTV status and operation monitoring solution, but perhaps only had a few sites to monitor so were put off by the upfront costs”

“Our new Pay as you Go licenses allows these customers to reduce the up-front costs by getting CheckMyCCTV software free of charge and paying only for the licenses they need.”

To find out more about CheckMyCCTV or the new Pay as you Go licenses or for a quote, contact CheckMySystems on +44 (0) 161 870 6137 or email us at info@nullcheckmysystems.com

CheckMySystems Ltd – the CCTV health and operation monitoring software specialist – announces a partnership with retail security provider CSG UK plc.

The move is designed to dramatically expand the take-up of the company’s industry-leading CheckMyCCTV automatic fault-finding solution to several hundred high street outlets operated by some of CSG’s major clients.

Initial trials, and orders, suggest that retailers are keen to adopt CheckMyCCTV as part of their CCTV maintenance strategy, given the pressing need to ensure that their remotely dispersed CCTV systems are operating correctly at all times, across multiple outlets, especially as Security and Profit Protection Managers look to tackle high levels of shoplifting and other criminal activity. Retailers certainly do not want to be in a position where they have to provide evidence for a prosecution only to find that it has not been recorded, a camera was out of action, or there was some other problem with the system.

From the perspective of security specialist CSG, offering CheckMyCCTV as a solution to their retail customer base will allow them to provide service levels, above and beyond, that which they could otherwise deliver through more traditional scheduled maintenance visits. Crucially, valuable time and resource will no longer be tied down attending sites where there may not actually be a surveillance issue. Now CSG’s engineers can be directed to where the CheckMyCCTV software has flagged-up a problem which needs to be rectified, whether it be a camera failure or recording issue.

Said Darren Rewston, Managing Director at CheckMySystems Ltd: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with CSG to unlock the full potential of our CheckMyCCTV health and operation monitoring software solution in the UK retail sector. We have started to collaborate on a number of major projects and believe that this relationship will prove to be mutually beneficial. CSG can now detect customer CCTV issues at a much earlier stage, enhancing service levels, whilst, thanks to their expertise, we are able to gain access to a much larger customer base than would otherwise have been possible.

“Already, we are beginning to see concrete results as CheckMyCCTV is rolled out at a national level across a number of big name retailers thanks to CSG’s efforts, from coffee shop chains to discount stores, and we expect that the total number of sites covered in this area alone will reach over 1,000 in the next few months, with many more in the pipeline.”

Commented Graham Chandler, Group Managing Director at CSG UK PLC: “Being able to offer CheckMyCCTV certainly makes sense for us and has transformed the way we look after the health of our client’s CCTV infrastructure. We can now undertake our maintenance activity in a much more directed and efficient way, and cover a greater number of sites, with the same manpower. A key point with the software is that although it applies sophisticated analytical techniques it is actually very straightforward to use. For example the on-screen traffic light warning system means that any issues on a client’s site are immediately visible around the clock. Status alerts can even be viewed on smart phones or via a web browser.

“Moving ahead, as CheckMySystems continues to expand the number of video surveillance brands their CheckMyCCTV software is compatible with, we anticipate that more and more of the retailers CSG looks after will buy into this state-of-the-art solution.”

For more information on the CheckMyCCTV health and operation monitoring software solution offered by CSG plc. contact +44(0) 844 8000 448 or visit www.csgretail.rmp-uk.com

Visit us at the EMCS Open Day & BBQ

EMCS, a CheckMyCCTV Service Provider, are holding open days and BBQ on 26th and 27th June 2012 to officially launch their CCTV division within their NSI Gold accredited ARC in Nottingham.

CheckMySystems will be exhibiting, along with other EMCS partners including Xtralis (Adpro), Dedicated Micros, CSL Dualcom, GJD, Heitel, Optex, Tavcom, Shop Guard Systems TeleEye, Raytec, Redcare, and Visonic.

We will be demonstrating our unique CheckMyCCTV Status and Operation monitoring software, and showing how EMCS’s Status Monitoring service can help you improve your service and maintenance offering to your customers and ensure their CCTV systems are operational 24/7.

There will be numerous other attractions over the two days including:

• BS8418 simplified – by David Wilkinson of the BSIA
• Live Demo workshops from GJD & Optex throughout the day
• EMCS Seminar – The benefits of CCTV monitoring, how to sell them to the end-user and explanation of the commissioning processes with EMCS
• False Alarm Reduction Seminar – Dale Jones of Optex
• Tours of the new look ARC including our newly established CCTV Department
• Trade exhibition with the following industry partners: Adpro (Xtralis), Dedicated Micros, CheckMySystems, CSL Dualcom, GJD, Heitel, Optex, Tavcom, Shop Guard Systems TeleEye, Raytec, Redcare & Visonic
• Free Prize Draws for all attendees – Giving the chance to win free monitoring and kit
• BBQ served in our Marquee from 12pm with Live Music & Bar

If you wish to attend this event, please send an email to sales@nullemcs.co.uk specifying your preferred day(s) together with the names of those attending and your expected time of arrival.

We look forward to seeing you there.

CheckMySystems Ltd – the CCTV health and operation monitoring software specialist – announces a partnership deal with retail security provider CSG UK PLC.

The move is designed to dramatically expand the take-up of the company’s industry-leading CheckMyCCTV automatic fault-finding solution to several hundred high street outlets operated by some of CSG’s major clients.

Initial trials, and orders, suggest that retailers are keen to adopt CheckMyCCTV, as part of their CCTV maintenance strategy, given the pressing need to ensure that their remotely dispersed CCTV systems are operating correctly at all times, across multiple outlets, especially as security managers and profit protection officers look to tackle high levels of shoplifting and other criminal activity. Retailers certainly do not want to be in a position where they have to provide evidence for a prosecution only to find that it has not been recorded, a camera was out of action, or the time setting was not correct.

From the perspective of security specialist CSG, offering CheckMyCCTV as a solution to their retail customer base will allow them to provide service levels, above and beyond, that which they could otherwise deliver through more traditional scheduled maintenance visits. Crucially, valuable time and resource will no longer be tied down attending sites where there may not actually be a surveillance issue. Now CSG’s engineers can be directed to where the CheckMyCCTV software, through automatic remote health and operation monitoring, has flagged-up a problem which needs to be rectified, whether it be a camera failure or recording issue.

Said Darren Rewston, Managing Director at CheckMySystems Ltd: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with CSG to unlock the full potential of our CheckMyCCTV health and operation monitoring software solution in the UK retail sector. We have started to collaborate on a number of major projects and believe that this relationship will prove to be mutually beneficial. CSG can now detect customer CCTV issues at a much earlier stage, enhancing service levels, whilst, thanks to their expertise, we are able to gain access to a much larger customer base than would otherwise have been possible.

“Already, we are beginning to see concrete results as CheckMyCCTV is rolled out at a national level across a number of big name retailers thanks to CSG’s efforts, from coffee shop chains to discount stores, and we expect that the total number of sites covered in this area alone will reach over 1,000 in the next few months, with many more in the pipeline.”

Commented Graham Chandler, Group Managing Director at CSG UK PLC: “Being able to offer CheckMyCCTV certainly makes sense for us and has transformed the way we look after the health of our client’s CCTV infrastructure. We can now undertake our maintenance activity in a much more directed and efficient way, and cover a greater number of sites, with the same manpower. A key point with the software is that although it applies sophisticated analytical techniques it is actually very straightforward to use. For example the on-screen traffic light warning system means that any issues on a client’s site are immediately visible around the clock. Status alerts can even be viewed on smart phones or via a web browser.

“Moving ahead, as CheckMySystems continues to expand the number of video surveillance brands their CheckMyCCTV software is compatible with, we anticipate that more and more of the retailers CSG looks after will buy into this state-of-the-art solution.

For more information on the CheckMyCCTV health and operation monitoring software solution please contact us on +44(0)161 870 6137

CSG UK PLC can be contacted on Tel: +44(0)844 8000 448 or by logging on to www.csguk.com

CheckMySystems Ltd – the CCTV health and operation monitoring software specialist – has extended the compatibility of its advanced CheckMyCCTV automatic maintenance monitoring solution to include Samsung’s popular range of video surveillance products.

CheckMySystems believes that the move to offer Samsung integration will significantly expand the number of sites across the UK where the company’s CheckMyCCTV remote health monitoring capabilities can be employed.

CheckMyCCTV is designed to remotely identify and automatically report specific CCTV faults and issues across multiple locations as soon as they are detected, whether it be a camera, hard disk, recording, or network connection failure. This means that issues can be flagged up and resolved as part of a proactive and cost effective maintenance programme.

With the implementation of Samsung compatibility, CheckMyCCTV now supports 20 brands, and there are plans in place for integration with other big name manufacturers in the coming months.

Said Darren Rewston, Managing Director of CheckMySystems Ltd: “We are delighted to offer the ability to implement CheckMyCCTV for our customers who are seeking to cover Samsung’s wide range of surveillance systems.

“We have been making strenuous efforts over the past year to add more and more supported brands into our CheckMyCCTV solution to satisfy growing customer demand. It is important, given the need for a comprehensive CCTV health and operation monitoring solution, that we are able to work with as large a percentage of the UK’s CCTV infrastructure as possible, especially when many sites can have CCTV systems from multiple vendors. The delivery of Samsung compatibility certainly fills a critical gap, as the number of systems they supply and their installed base is ever increasing.”

CheckMySystems will be exhibiting at IFSEC 2012 on 14th – 17th May at the NEC in Birmingham. Visit us on our stand in Hall 5 C116 (opposite the Samsung stand) to see a demonstration of our unique, multi-platform CCTV Health, Status, and Operation monitoring software.

We’ll be demonstrating how CheckMyCCTV can save you Time, Money, and Energy by monitoring the maintenance status of your remote CCTV Installations – diagnosing faults and operational issues remotely.

Your customers expect their CCTV installations to protect their Staff, Assets, and Buildings and CheckMyCCTV ensures it stays that way. Our Installer Partners use CheckMyCCTV at the heart of their maintenance contracts to provide their customers with a pro-active maintenance response, and reduce the cost of maintaining their CCTV installations.

Join us on our stand in Hall 5 C116 and we’ll show you how easy it is to automatically monitor the Status and Integrity of your remote CCTV installations, every hour of every day.

The concept behind CheckMyCCTV is to make your life easier and save you money and resources by remotely maintaining your CCTV installations.

To help you achieve that, we’ve launched a FREE Install & Setup service for CheckMyCCTV customers.

So, whether you have downloaded the CheckMyCCTV 14-day FREE Trial, or have already purchased CheckMyCCTV we can install and set it up for you.

Once CheckMyCCTV is installed and configured*, we can give you a remote hands-on demonstration so you are comfortable with its feature and operation.

To find out more about the Install & Setup service, or if you would like to request an Installation timeslot, contact us at support@nullcheckmysystems.com 

* Up to 20 systems can be configured as part of the service.

Check whether your CCTV systems can be monitored by CheckMyCCTV with our new compatibility checker utility.

The quick and easy compatibility checker just needs the IP address or Hostname of your DVR or NVR and it will tell you whether your system can be monitored using CheckMyCCTV.

We are committed to adding new brands to CheckMyCCTV all the time, so even if your CCTV system is not compatible, let us know by sending a message to feedback@nullcheckmysystems.com and we’ll see what we can do.

You can download the Compatibility Checker software by clicking the button below: