In 2020, Watcher Surveillance Solutions was approached by Plantation Farms, a third-generation family farming operation in the south of Boksburg, to provide a farm security solution to assist in reducing crop losses due to theft.

Estate upgrades and enhances its security through a partnership between surveillance specialist Watcher and the incumbent guarding company.

Looking beyond the hype and all the marketing optimism about AI and cloud services in the security market, there are significant benefits to incorporating the two into an estate’s security operation.

Watcher Surveillance Solutions provides an off-site Surveillance Operating Centre (SOC), offering a cloud-based video management system that manages customers’ video feeds using the latest in-video analytics and artificial intelligence.

Organisations need security systems that are reliable, intelligent, efficient and aimed at optimising the guarding component in order to adapt to their environments.

SMART Security Solutions started the year with our annual SMART Estate Security Conference in Cape Town on 26 February 2026. Held at Anna Beulah Farm, the conference saw a number of delegates enjoying the farm’s excellent cuisine, while listening to outstanding presenters.

As we move into 2026, several technology trends that were once mostly confined to research labs and conference keynotes are now becoming part of the daily reality of the security industry.

The single most important question a surveillance buyer can ask is deceptively simple: “Was this system programmed or was it trained?” That question alone will reveal more about what you are evaluating than any feature list or marketing video.

As AI continues to evolve, the most successful surveillance operations will be those that not only reduce nuisance alerts, but also derive meaningful business intelligence from video data.