How to Identify Opportunities for Video Recording and Observation Software [An Integrator’s Guide]

A video recording and observation system is a video recording and observation software paired with audio/video equipment to create an integrated solution. We put together this guide for you, audiovisual integrators, to share where and when video recording and observation systems are used and key end user needs that should be addressed in a software, so you can present the best possible technological solution to your customers.

Who Needs a Video Recording and Observation System?

Healthcare, higher education, corporate and government markets all make use of video recording and observation systems for skills training, simulation, research, and evidence.

Healthcare

Healthcare departments and specialized units including, and not limited to, developmental and behavioral health, neonatology, neurology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, child development and child advocacy services, all use video recording and observation software to improve patient care and safety..

Sample Use Cases:

• Record clinical sessions with patients to improve patient assessment and validate patient progress.
• Stream video for patient monitoring to reduce risk and improve patient safety.
• Capture in-situ simulations and playback video in debrief to continue professional and interprofessional skill development.
• Record and catalogue techniques and treatment-related research for review and analysis.
• Supervisors observe and provide feedback to graduate medical students to improve their expertise and communication skills.

Individuals in healthcare who may be looking for a system include clinic and program directors, simulation coordinators, nurse educators, systems administrators, and CIOs

Higher Education

Like healthcare, higher education institutions need video capture in a variety of programs to improve student learning outcomes. For example, nursing, EMT, social work, and law enforcement programs use video to stream and record simulations for review and debrief. And physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, psychology and counseling programs that use audio/video systems for clinical skills training.

Sample use cases:

• Record simulations for timely debrief to improve student performance.
• Provide real-time, constructive feedback, and help both student and patient outcomes.
• Create video clips for future instruction or collaborative review.
• Manage multiple, simultaneous lab sessions and stream video from the session archive to review performance with supervisors.
• Use recorded video to enhance accuracy and objectivity of student assessment.

Connect with department heads, clinical educators, and simulation technologists to learn more about their video recording and observation needs in higher education and how you can help.

Government

Law enforcement, district attorneys, city councils, and courtrooms use video recording and observation software for interview recording, meeting capture, or/and skills training.

Sample use cases:

• Record suspect and witness interviews to protect the rights of the interviewed and the investigator, use recorded video as evidence, and save time.
• Capture and archive council meetings for public record.
• Monitor and record courtroom proceedings.

To start a conversation, ask for the detective officer responsible for managing investigative interview recording.

Corporate

Corporations use video capture for skills training and market research including product testing, user experience testing, focus groups, and usability testing.

Sample Use Cases:

• Simulation-based utilities skills training
• Sales and presentation training
• Human Resources interview recording
• Record focus group sessions, annotate video files and measure reported data
• Build a video library of product testing results and evidence product improvement
• Capture participant facial reaction and their monitor display side by side when user experience testing

Corporate training specialists or training supervisors and market research team leads may be interested in learning more about your video recording and observation system solution and how it supports their training or research objectives.

End users in all four markets share the following needs, which a video recording and observation software should help you address for your customer.

Ease of Use

End users want to observe live video and manage video recordings for streaming and playback, quickly and easily, with little to no training.

Choose a software that shortens the learning curve with a simple user interface configured to the end users’ day-to-day language. For example, room and camera names that match the names used in their physical building spaces, and the templates for video indexing, annotation and assessments that use their key terms and assessment criteria.

Detailed roles and permissions also contribute to simplicity by eliminating features and tools from the interface that are not relevant to each user. The more specific the permission settings, the better.

Look for software that supports multiple workflow options to initiate, pause, and end recording. For example, the user should be able to initiate and end recording via the software, schedule recordings, or start and stop recordings using a physical accessory such as a start/stop button.

In addition to multiple workflows, make sure the software enables observation and recording of multiple camera views and rooms at one time, on one display. The software should be mobile optimized and device agnostics to that a user can use a laptop, computer workstation, or mobile device as needed. Paired with IP based cameras, users can observe and record multiple rooms at one time from any networked device via the software, which makes your customer’s experience efficient and flexible, since they are not restricted to a specific room or workstation for observation or video playback.

Scalability

Each market includes numerous use cases for a video recording and observation system within just one organization, so it’s important to offer your customer a software that scales to support their variety of applications.

The configurability that contributes to ease of use, also provides a tailored user experience for each department or program, which helps the software scale enterprise wide. For example, your customer may deploy the system in one department initially, and then later add additional audio/video equipment and configure the software for additional departments and use cases.

In addition to user experience, system management is also an important consideration in terms of scalability. For instance, servers should be stackable so you can add any number of cameras for your customer and still manage the system as one centralized system. They should also be distributable if your customer’s use cases are in different site locations. Meaning, if the servers can be on the same network, servers at different site locations can provide a low latency stable connection for the audio/video equipment onsite, and still send data back and be managed by the main server appliance.

Reliability

Everyone wants a system that works as expected, when expected, so consider proposing to your customer a software that reduces potential points of failure by minimizing the quantity of equipment required. The benefit is a more stable solution with a lower upfront cost, and lower costs over time to maintain the system. For example, a software that includes the web server, database, and media server on a single server appliance, versus requiring a separate server for data storage, or a separate server to manage camera and video streams.

Another way to improve reliability and reduce quantity of servers is to select a software that supports a high quantity of video streams and camera devices on one server. Reducing quantity of equipment also improves ease of deployment and maintenance of the system.

Security

All four markets and their subsets must adhere to information security compliance requirements either at a federal, state, local, and/or business level. For example, any healthcare use case involving patients must meet established standards of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Present your customer with a software that has technical safeguards built into it to help them adhere to their compliance requirements. Examples of technical safeguards include encryption of data in transmission and at rest, granular role-based access controls, and activity and audit logs for every activity performed in the software.

Conclusion

There are multiple applications for video recording and observation systems in healthcare, higher education, government, and corporate markets. No matter the application, simplicity of use, scalability, stability, and information security should be addressed by the software.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to design, present, and implement a video recording and observation system or when you identify an opportunity to implement a video recording and observation system with a software vendor partner, please connect with us.