It is obvious that sophisticated and reliable surveillance is a must for a jewelry store. One of Brazilian jewelry store chains is no exception. Naturally, the primary reason that the jewelry chain sought a surveillance system was to guard against theft of its high-priced merchandise. However, its management also hoped to use the same system to monitor and subsequently improve the customer service provided by its employees.
It is obvious that sophisticated and reliable surveillance is a must for a jewelry store. One of Brazilian jewelry store chains is no exception. Naturally, the primary reason that the jewelry chain sought a surveillance system was to guard against theft of its high-priced merchandise. However, its management also hoped to use the same system to monitor and subsequently improve the customer service provided by its employees.
VIVOTEK distributor Alpha-Digi worked together with system integrator Ferraz Telecom on the project to provide the jewelry chain with such a dual-purpose system. The jewelry chain had suggested that it hoped to use a single video camera to monitor each store as a whole as well as multiple cameras to film and record audio at in-store locations where employees typically interacted with customers such as the merchandise display area and the payment counter.
Informed of these requirements, Alpha-Digi recommended the use of four VIVOTEK cameras in each store. According to Director Sergio Coimbra, Alpha-Digi recognized that camera PTZ capabilities would make it ideal for fulfilling the jewelry chain's initial requirement of a single camera that could effectively monitor a store's entire retail space. On the other hand, the camera came to mind when the jewelry chain mentioned the desire to both film the interaction between employees and customers and monitor the conversations that took place. "It's a natural for this type of application," Coimbra said.
The resulting setup has proved capable of fulfilling the dual mission envisioned for them by the jewelry chain. Coimbra explains, "The stores attached an external microphone to a camera and that was enough to clearly capture all the conversations between employees and customers."
Alpha-Digi paired the VIVOTEK hardware with VMS from Aimetis, giving the jewelry chain features such as bandwidth management, video compression, and intelligent video analysis.