Why XProtect Makes Sense for Small Business Comes Down To Affordability And Scaling, According to Mark Shannon Of BGW Technologies.
Why XProtect Makes Sense for Small Business – According to Mark Shannon of BGW Technologies, Milestone XProtect makes sense for small businesses thanks to its affordability and the fact it scales to enterprise and everything in between.
XProtect is an open-platform video management system that supports most manufacturers’ cameras, sensors, access control, analytics, and more, but it’s a mistake to think that because XProtect is installed in large applications it cannot support SMBs.
“Security shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for big organisations with big budgets,” explains Shannon. “That ethos has always been at the heart of Milestone’s development of XProtect.”
“Milestone’s XProtect Express+ is extremely cost-effective and if you compare it to others, you’ll be surprised as to how competitive it really is.”
Shannon says the misconception that small business is stuck with NVRs runs deep.
“I talk to small business owners all the time who think enterprise-grade video security is out of reach for them, and they are stuck with clunky NVRs,” he explains. “What continues to draw me to XProtect as a solution, is showing these businesses that they are mistaken. With XProtect Express+ you can start lean, start smart with enterprise-grade features, and when you need to grow, the platform grows with you.
“This scalability is real and seamless – it’s not just marketing hype. A single small server comfortably handles smaller deployments. As you grow, additional recording servers, failover systems, and multi-site management layer in seamlessly. Businesses can start with 3 cameras and scale up to 300 cameras or more as their operations grow.”
According to Shannon, centralised management is what ties it all together.
“The heart of XProtect is one central hub managing all your cameras, all your sites and all your analytics,” he says. “This centralisation means you’re not jumping between systems, everything’s right there, and this makes searching especially straightforward.”
“Centralisation also offers strong features such as Smart Map, which enhances situational awareness. Smart Map enables security operators to see the whole picture across one or many sites with instant access to any camera and sensor, all connected with precise geolocation – it’s beautiful operational functionality.”
According to Shannon, security within the security system matters too.
“XProtect ships with robust cybersecurity built in, including multifactor authentication and encrypted communications, and these capabilities feed into the governance of investigations,” Shannon explains.
“A feature I find incredibly valuable is the evidence integrity validation capability and it sits right at the heart of what CCTV systems are for. They are not toys – CCTV systems are installed to collect court admissible evidence.”
“Yet so often you hear that security footage presented to authorities could not be used because the evidence chain was broken. In comparison, XProtect evidence is encrypted and the integrity of the recorded and exported media can be validated.”
When it comes to selecting video management solutions, Shannon says the key to operational success of any system is forward-thinking.
“I ask every customer a simple question,” Shannon says. “Where do you want to be in 5 years? It is certain that any security system chosen to meet the requirements of today will quickly become operationally compromised.”
“But because XProtect is a solution that is designed to grow with your application – or your customer’s application – it will be there to support those operational security needs, no matter how much a business grows.”
To learn more about XProtect, and run through a demo, reach out to your local BGW Technologies’ team here – there’s more SEN news here.
“Why XProtect Makes Sense for Small Business Comes Down To Affordability And Scaling, According to Mark Shannon Of BGW Technologies.”
