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Reduce shrinkage with network video

Network video solutions take the fight against lost profit to a level far beyond what the market has become accustomed to.

Theft and inventory shrinkage are obvious causes of lost profit and they are traditionally fought with surveillance systems or security guards. Network video solutions take this fight to a level far beyond what the market has become accustomed to.

Whether it is in a single shop or a whole chain of malls, network video makes a noticeable improvement to the bottom line. The introduction of network video has revolutionised the way retail professionals work with loss prevention, store optimisation, fraud detection, security and customer service. Overall, network video provides a whole new set of tools to reach operational excellence.

Installing surveillance cameras and informing your customers about it goes a long way in reducing theft. The giant leap though, comes with the introduction of network video, which brings additional benefits such as:

* Revenue increase. Network video helps to improve staff planning, store layout and in-store advertising by monitoring the high traffic areas in the store. It is also a highly efficient loss prevention tool.

* Fast ROI. Reduced loss, less time spent on investigating suspect incidents, decrease in liability claims, enhanced marketing and optimised staffing all result in a compelling ROI.

* Seamless integration. Network video solutions run on standard Ethernet networks and are compatible with almost all existing in-store infrastructure.

* Future proof. Network video solutions are based on open standards, providing maximum flexibility when choosing surrounding equipment. The solutions are fully scalable and allow store owners to take advantage of the latest technologies and features.

However, because there is the human element involved in store surveillance, there will be times when security breaches do occur. When this happens and evidence has to be sought from the saved files, the built-in intelligence of network video surveillance systems becomes invaluable as it allows one to quickly and easily scan through hours of stored footage by logging a date and time search.

In addition, because all data can be saved on a central server, this enables efficient investigation from any Internet-connected PC or viewing device.

Detecting and curbing cashier related shrinkage is just as simple with network video surveillance. Instead of having to look through hours of video when analysing shrink-related transactions, network video surveillance systems provide detailed exception reports, where each transaction is linked with corresponding high-quality video, making it easy to identify common mistakes, misunderstandings and the manipulation of POS systems. POS exception statistics from single or multiple stores can also be used to detect suspect patterns and behaviour. This ensures that store owners always stay one step ahead in preventing internal loss.

Roy Alves

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