A practical CCTV buyer's guide for Dubai offices and warehouses

Specifying CCTV is one of those projects where it's easy to over-spend on cameras and under-spend on the things that actually determine whether the system is useful — storage, network, lighting, and the process around it.

Coverage before camera count

Start by mapping the spaces you actually need to see and the questions you need the footage to answer. "Who walked through this door at 02:14" is a different spec from "general overview of the warehouse floor".

Storage is the silent budget item

Higher-resolution cameras need more storage, and Dubai compliance expectations on retention periods can push that further. Budget for an NVR (or VMS) with room to grow, and design the network around it.

Access control belongs on the same plan

CCTV and access control are two sides of the same system. Plan them together — you'll save on cabling, get better incident response, and avoid the awkward situation of two vendors pointing at each other when something goes wrong.

Our short checklist

• Map zones and the question each camera must answer.
• Choose IP cameras with consistent firmware support.
• Plan storage for double the retention you think you need.
• Design CCTV, access control and network as one system.