“Vision” was the theme at NRF 2020 in January, and was reflected in the conversations that Solink had with a number of prospects at Retail’s Big Show.
“Big” is an understatement. This is the annual trade show of America’s National Retail Federation. The 2020 edition attracted some 40,000 attendees from 99 countries, with 18,000 retailers and 800 exhibitors.
Those retailers come in all shapes and sizes. They include the biggest names, with hundreds, even thousands of locations. But whether your business is a large one or a small one, costs are costs. We spoke with many that have sizable investments in video surveillance.
A common scenario is a retailer with a network of hard-wired IP cameras that it installed five or six years ago. These security cameras don’t deliver the cool data-driven functionality of the latest surveillance camera technology. But it’s a tough pill to swallow to pay $1,000 a camera to rip out that old system and replace it.
And then there is the analog crowd that remains committed to legacy technology on the grounds that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Whether it’s a five-year old IP setup or a 25-year-old analog one, what are these retailers missing by not adopting the latest in data-driven cloud video surveillance?
Every retailer deals with shrinkage. Every retailer has a vested interest in loss prevention. The question that must be asked is this: How much loss can be prevented by investing in new technology?
This is a bit of a trick question. That’s because gaining the benefits of a modern data-driven video surveillance system doesn’t have to involve a rip and replace of the existing security camera system. In fact, it often isn’t necessary.
Instead of new cameras, a retailer just needs new software.
The ideal model is cloud-based subscription software that integrates video surveillance with the POS system and has a low up-front cost. It’s the software that does all the heavy lifting, to create a dashboard of searchable moments from POS transactions and security camera footage. This makes it easy to pinpoint trends and issues that affect profitability and provide the insight to take action for improved loss prevention.
AT NRF, it came as a big surprise to many retailers to discover that they could realize this kind of performance gain with their existing CCTV cameras – even, in many cases, the analog ones. In fact, Solink can integrate its cloud video surveillance software with about 90 per cent of the cameras in use by the retail and QSR industries. The cameras just need to be compliant with ONVIF (an open standard from the Open Network Video Interface Forum) or use the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).
Can Solink’s cloud-based video surveillance and operations management platform work with your existing security camera system, so that you don’t have to incur the cost of a hardware replacement?
Give us a call and let’s talk about it. The answer may surprise you.