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Protecting all that glitters

Jewellery Design Company (JDC) is a retail chain of jewellery stores operating in shopping centres across South Africa.

With the recent growth in the chain, managing the larger number of stores required a different approach to managing the quality control and appearance of the individual stores as well as the related security risks inherent in the jewellery business.

In order to provide online realtime visual access to the stores, a CCTV solution based on cost effective remote access was considered. Initially a pilot based on a single store with four cameras was implemented, offering realtime video access to the store via existing ADSL Internet connectivity.

The product chosen was SerVision due to its extremely cost effective use of bandwidth, which would provide 24-hour access while ensuring that the stores were still able to operate without adding to their monthly ADSL expense.

The pilot installation offered unlimited access to the store's cameras providing extensive operational and security benefits, allowing management to remotely view the stores via cellphone or laptop from anywhere at any time. Benefits included the ability to ensure that the stores were professionally run and that operating policies and procedures were followed. Some of the procedures being remotely monitored were that the stores were kept tidy, customers were served promptly and that the stores opened and closed on time.

The pilot was a success and the SerVision solution was rolled out to all the other stores. Regional store managers were then tasked with reviewing their stores on a daily basis providing an operational benefit as well as cost saving in that the number of physical store visits could be reduced.

In addition, the 24/7 video records are available to resolve customer queries and provide staff with an additional safety net in resolving disputes with customers if they occur.

JDC also looked at the benefit of the SerVision system giving offsite CCTV access for security purposes. Management believe that the fact that the cameras are visible has deterred many 'would be' criminals as they are aware that the video is being monitored from an offsite control room due to the warning notices posted at the stores.

The systems currently operate nationally and have been rolled out in stores across the country providing valuable management, operational and security tools. By enabling operators to access the video footage from anywhere at any time at no additional cost the system provides a flexible management tool while at the same time giving peace of mind that the security of the stores can be monitored using CCTV.

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