The Customer, (a mid-sized convenience store chain in the Midwest), was having problems with increasing shrinkage, and their outdated security system was unable to provide the needed information to identify the causes and help solve the problem. They needed a security solution that they could easily implement into all of their retail stores to monitor overall store surveillance, as well as employee transactions.
The Situation
The Customer, (a mid-sized convenience store chain in the Midwest), was having problems with increasing shrinkage, and their outdated security system was unable to provide the needed information to identify the causes and help solve the problem. They needed a security solution that they could easily implement into all of their retail stores to monitor overall store surveillance, as well as employee transactions.
The surveillance capabilities they had with their previous security system were limited. Not only was video search difficult, but image and video retrieval was cumbersome, not very easy to extract and took up a lot of time. With their previous solution, they were also not able to connect to their POS system, and they found it difficult to prevent and capture theft. Additionally, they were looking to replace their VCRs with an up-to-date, video management solution that also took up less data storage space.
The customer wanted to install an overall store surveillance system to monitor their retail locations and capture and observe employee transactions. They were especially concerned about the fact that employees seemed to be ringing up fewer items than they actually had at the register during checkout and were giving away product. Merchandise shrinkage was becoming a major issue at all of their store locations.
They desired a system that would provide better store surveillance with more capabilities and features, to reduce theft and provide POS integration for future use, so they could capture and search transactional data and improve operations even further.
The customer wanted the new security system to provide a flexible, future-proof solution that gave them up-to-date capabilities to handle their current business needs and also grow as their store needs evolved. They wanted to leverage the cabling for their existing systems, to support analog technology; yet have the ability to add IP cameras to the hybrid DVR when they needed to. Digiop's hybrid DVR capabilities allow them to keep their existing analog camera infrastructure and integrate the latest in IP camera technology as needed.
Objectives
* Increase capabilities to monitor stores, address key loss prevention concerns (including questionable employee transactions and theft), and reduce shrinkage.
* Replace their existing VCR system with current technology that provided a better storage solution for archived video footage.
* Have the ability to integrate with their existing POS system and provide analytic and business intelligence capabilities as their business needs grow.
* Gain true flexibility with a new video management system that allows them to utilize current analog technology, but also provides the capability to switch to IP technology when they are ready for that step.
The Solution
The customer chose to implement Digiop's EH Series with Digiop ELEMENTS into their stores because it provided a flexible platform with the benefits of traditional security solutions and met their current needs. It also positioned them to add retail intelligence benefits such as advanced video analytics and POS integration, as their business continued to grow.
Digiop's EH Series is a purpose built platform that includes the full Digiop ELEMENTS software suite. Capabilities and features from the Digiop software suite have provided The customer with additional tools to help them monitor their business transactions and operations and analyze data. They have found the search features, timeline search and scrub bar to be very helpful to them with their video searches. The scrub bar allows them to dynamically play through video and data timeline, and the timeline search provides quick and easy-to-navigate tools to expand and contract the amount of information being viewed. They also like the thumbnail search feature which allows them to see video events more easily across the timeline.
Additionally, they use the software to capture video footage of theft that they can submit as evidence to the police when needed. Now they are able to pull recorded video from one central location for each of their stores. The customer's fuel and communications technician says, “Since implementing the Digiop EH Series, I feel more confident about the video we are able to record and submit to police departments as evidence.”
Streaming data from their POS system to the DVR was also very important to the customer. This option was one of the big benefits of choosing Digiop. The fact that they purchased a solution that has the ability to synchronize their POS data with the recorded video was huge selling point for them.
The customer really appreciated the fact that Digiop hybrid VMS are built on Dell's latest hardware platform: the OptiPlex XE Chassis. They have a history with Dell, and the fact that the Digiop hybrid VMS are built on Dell chassis was a big selling point.
The customer has implemented the hybrid digital video recorders in several of its stores and is in the process of outfitting more of their store locations nationwide with the hybrid systems. The process is going well and they are pleased with the results.