How to Run a Camera Rollout Across 50+ Locations

A camera rollout across 50 locations looks simple on paper: hire an integrator, schedule the installs, done. In practice, it fails at coordination. Different GCs per site, inconsistent hardware, no single point of contact, and six months later, head office can't pull footage consistently from any of them.

Start with a written standard

Before you install a single camera, define what 'done' looks like. Camera model, resolution, field of view, naming conventions, retention policy, remote access configuration. If your 50 sites don't share a standard, you don't have a system, you have 50 individual installations.

Map every site before procurement

Floor plans, ceiling heights, existing cabling, network infrastructure, and power availability vary per site. Sites that look identical on paper are different on the ground. A site survey per location before procurement eliminates the most common source of delays: arriving on site to find the scope is wrong.

Schedule around trading hours

Most retailers can't close for an install. The rollout schedule has to be built around your trading calendar, not the integrator's. A vendor who doesn't ask about your hours before booking installs is a vendor who will cause more disruption than they're worth.

Commission before you leave

A camera that's mounted is not a camera that's working. Commissioning means verifying every camera is recording, the footage is retained to spec, remote access is configured for the right users, and the system is documented. Don't sign off until it's done.

The rollout process is replicable if it's documented. Every location should be handed off with the same package: design, as-built drawings, commissioning report, and credentials. If the eighth location looks different from the first, the process broke down somewhere.