In response to the varying levels of lockdown South Africa has experienced since March 2020, there is an increasing trend for people to work from home. Tobie van Schalkwyk, product manager at Duxbury Networking, cites a recent study – Decoding Global Ways of Working[1] by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network, including local partner organisation CareerJunction – which included almost 209 000 participants in 190 countries and 1 421 in South Africa.
The study says that “53% of South Africans said their preference in the future will be for a job that allows them to work from home at least occasionally. However, South Africa has also emerged as one of the countries that would embrace fully remote work, with 44% saying they want to work fully remotely compared to a global average of 24%”.
“As more people adopt a work from home lifestyle, the need for heightened security at home offices is also on the increase, with criminals perceiving an opportunity to get their hands on office equipment that would normally be kept in a secure corporate environment,” says Van Schalkwyk.
Affordability naturally plays a large role in the purchase of security equipment for the home office environment, but without compromising quality and features. “We believe that the Duxbury smart security battery-driven camera is the ideal solution for small businesses and people working from home who need an excellent price-performance ratio. This IP65 weatherproof and completely wireless camera operates on battery power and can therefore be placed in virtually any position in and around a home or building. It contains many of the features of more expensive cameras, but without the higher price tag,” says Van Schalkwyk.
The Duxbury camera has a built-in rechargeable lithium battery that provides up to six months on one charge, assuming a maximum of 20 ten-second videos are recorded every day.
This versatile HD security camera, with a sleek and compact design, lets users see, hear and speak to anyone on their property from their phone or tablet. “The camera includes a built-in speaker and microphone for two-way communication. Using the app on your smartphone, these audio features allow you to hear everything going on in and around your home or business, and in return you can talk to loved ones, pets or even visitors at your front door. Users have the option to receive real-time notifications on their mobile phone when movement is detected, or to view recordings later,” he adds.
Dual-source lighting, comprising infrared lamp/white-light source, is supplied for night vision up to a distance of 7 metres, and colour images are also available in night vision. The 1080P full HD image and video capabilities (via mobile device) capture every movement with great clarity. “The Pet Snap feature on the camera also supports the identification of vehicles and pets, so the camera is not only used for security purposes, but also for car and pet status reminders,” Van Schalkwyk points out.
Cloud and up to 128GB of local storage is provided. Included with the purchase of the camera system is a free plan allowing seven days of recordings (not exceeding 1GB of storage). Three optional plans – Basic, Plus and Pro – can be subscribed to directly from the app, depending on user needs. “Plans offer more storage space and features such as Intelligent Notification (recording people, pets and vehicles in the video and analysing their actions) and Activity Zones (users only receive push notifications when movement is detected in pre-identified, precise locations).
Basic – 15 days recording with 3GB storage space, Activity Zones supported.
Plus – 30 days recording with 5GB storage space, Activity Zones supported
Pro – 60 days recording with 10GB storage space, Activity Zones supported.
[1] https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/advantages-of-remote-work-flexibility