February 24, 2022

5 things to consider before buying a facial recognition software

If you are considering installing a facial recognition software in your business or infrastructure, you will surely feel overwhelmed by the number of providers that are now on the market.

But you may also be wondering what the key factors are to discern between a good or a bad system, since finding the one that meets your needs and is reliable at the same time, is not an easy task.

Regardless of whether you work through an integrator or not, here are 5 tips that will help you differentiate between a good or bad facial recognition system:

1) ACCURACY

Yes, they all claim to be the most accurate on the market. There are going to be some that even dare to provide matching rates of 99% or 100%.

An advice? Do not believe that. Such percentages are very difficult to be achieved in real environments, since the conditions are different from those of a test environment in which external factors are controllable.

With external factors we mean: lightning conditions, the quality of the images in the database or the IP camera position,

So, in the real world, precision is something that will be achieved by having the facial recognition software working in situ. It is very important to be able to get a demo before purchasing any product, and make sure it is a system that has a good reputation among its customers and with existing references.

2) SPEED

Although in a video surveillance installation with facial recognition one of the key factors is the level of reliability of the system (that is, a low percentage of false positives), what is also very important is that it is accompanied by a high speed in said system. result.

The reason is clear: to be able to detect and act in time. For this, the ideal is that the system can offer identifications in real time.

3) ADAPTABILITY

Another indication that the facial identification system is of good quality is that it can be adapted to the existing infrastructure. So if you have cameras installed along with a VMS to monitor them, the software should be able to adapt and integrate seamlessly.

In addition, it should also be possible to scale the system to other locations and be able to centralize everything in one place.

4) PRIVACY PROTECTION

We will all agree that security is more important than privacy, which is why you will be resorting to increasing the security of your business with facial recognition.

But it is also very important to protect the privacy of other people, so you must ensure that the software does not violate anyone’s right to privacy. This will depend on the legislation of the country you are in, so the company should be able to offer encrypted databases or image deletion from time to time.

Another factor to take into account is the manufacturing origin of the products. It is important to check that the product you are buying does not have a use ban in your country. If you live in the UE, this article will help.

5) FINAL COST

Today many companies minimize the necessary use of hardware, even going so far as to use edge systems to adapt to the client’s budget without affecting the performance of the software. Unlike CPU-based systems, software that uses GPUs to process video streams allows you to analyze more cameras on the same GPU.

Even if you have ensured that these main points are guaranteed, it is important to always test before purchasing. Optimal demo licenses should last up to 2 months, that’s the enough amount of time for a company and its IT managers to “play” with the software and see if it works well with their conditions.

Written by: Laura Blanc | CMO, Herta

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