A small IT team modernized video security, simplified investigations, and saved time with AI-powered search.
Customer Snapshot
✅ Customer: Brown County Schools
✅ Industry: K–12 Education
✅ Location: Indiana
✅ Use Case: Replace legacy systems, reduce video search time, and streamline school security management
“The plain text search in Coram is fantastic… I found the footage within five minutes.”
For David Phelps, Technology Director at Brown County Schools, that moment sums up the difference between old-school CCTV systems and the modern, AI-powered Coram platform.
Before Coram (Challenge)
As the district’s technology director, Phelps oversees “anything that plugs in”—from classroom systems to access control and cameras. But aging video infrastructure was stretching his small IT team thin.
“We’ve had cameras here as long as I can remember… Coram is our third system,” Phelps said. “Our old one relied heavily on our own servers, and when one went down, I had to replace it within a month.”
The district’s previous vendor tied AI features to expensive proprietary cameras, making upgrades cost-prohibitive. “I was looking at replacing cameras at $800 each,” he explained. “And the AI only worked on specific models. It just didn’t make sense.”
The Switch to Coram
A timely outreach from Coram landed in Phelps’s inbox while he was evaluating replacements. The offer of integrated cameras, affordable licensing, and powerful built-in software sealed the deal.
“Because of the inclusion of the cameras… Coram will pay for itself just within a couple of years,” he said. “Then I’m just paying the subscription fees and I get higher-quality cameras.”
More importantly, the software immediately transformed how the IT team managed footage. “We spend a lot of time searching for footage,” Phelps said. “And the plain text search in Coram is fantastic. I used it last week to find a girl’s red water bottle. I just typed it in and found the footage within five minutes.”
Life With Coram (Results)
Brown County Schools now uses Coram across its middle and high schools, with plans to expand to elementary sites by year’s end. The rollout took less than a day per site.
“Setup was almost instantaneous… we just plugged the cameras in and they appeared automatically,” said Phelps. “We replaced all our middle school hallway cameras in three and a half days.”
With Coram’s Discover and Journey Path tools, tracking incidents or verifying activity takes minutes instead of hours. The system also supports quick responses for minor incidents—students’ misplaced items, after-hours access, or unexpected visitors.
“In the past, those little things—like finding a missing water bottle—weren’t worth the time,” Phelps said. “Now we can find it in five minutes, so why not just help them out?”
Even from his phone, Phelps can search, review, and share clips in real time:
“I pull up the app on my phone… I can just search from here. That’s nuts.”
Why Coram?
- AI-powered search that turns hours of review into minutes
- Affordable upgrade path with camera inclusion and flexible licensing
- Fast deployment with near plug-and-play setup
- Cloud-managed simplicity for small IT teams
- Responsive support from engineers, not ticket queues
Recommendation
For Phelps, Coram has quickly become essential infrastructure:
“Oh yeah, this is a no-brainer for me… I’d recommend it to any technology director I come across.”
As Brown County expands its rollout, Coram’s AI tools are helping a lean IT department do more—with greater accuracy, less effort, and faster results.
QUOTE CARD
“The plain text search in Coram is fantastic… I found the footage within five minutes.”
— David Phelps, Technology Director, Brown County Schools
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