April 19, 2026
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Retail

Checkpoint launches industry first, design focused NEO in-lane EAS system

Checkpoint Systems – a global leader in retail technology solutions – has today unveiled a radical new sensor addition to their NEO portfolio. The NS40 provides grocery retailers with a discreet but powerful in-lane loss prevention solution. Designed to be installed at the checkout, the NEO-based NS40 antenna features an ultra-slim design, with patented 360 circular array technology along with the benefits of Bluetooth connectivity for easy deployment, with no floor cutting.

Developed to be unobtrusive and effortlessly fit within grocery stores, the NS40 can be tailored for any checkout configuration and thanks to its innovative design, can be mounted against metal without any adverse impact on detection rates.

Secure Bluetooth connectivity provides ease of installation as no floor cutting is required between checkout desks. It also gives retailers the ability to easily reposition and remodel the checkout space, when required, without expensive re-cabling or disruption to services.

The NS40 delivers excellent, high-performance detection, through the use of 360° circular array technology. Located at the end of the checkout, after products are scanned and security labels deactivated, it effectively recognises non-deactivated tags and those being concealed.

With customisable LED light and sound files, the sensor enables alerts to be dealt with efficiently by the checkout operator. This ‘early’ loss prevention alarm helps tackle incidents of non-deactivation promptly, reducing embarrassment for customers and for shoplifting attempts, aids the retailer in the successful recovery of goods before they reach the exit doors.

Available in a brushed steel finish as standard, the NS40 can be painted, powder-coated or vinyl wrapped to match a store’s visual identity. Custom Voice messages and a variety of sounds and coloured LEDs can be created for different alarm events.

Additionally, the connectivity of NEO delivers historic trend data via the SaaS Cloud service, providing retailers with a rich source of activity data to improve shrinkage results and help monitor store performance, while also providing proactive maintenance support, with more than 50% of technical issues resolved remotely.

Simon Edgar, Senior Director of Product Management – Checkpoint Systems, commented: “ The NS40 offers retailers a revolutionary new design for their in-lane EAS systems. Designed specifically for the grocery market, our new NS40 antenna has already been trialled successfully in Spain. Voice of customer feedback was cruicial during this project to ensure the end solution exactly matched the use case requirements for in-lane grocery retailers. The design, detection and ease of installation are without doubt market leading.”

SMART INVENTORY MANAGEMENT HELPS RETAIL IN OPERATIONS, REDUCE SHRINK PROVE

Special Feature
Retailers today are looking for smarter, more time-efficient, more cost-effective ways of inventory management. Traditional methods of inventory management are time-consuming and prone to human error, which costs businesses time and money. By deploying smart inventory management solutions such as autonomous inventory robots, smart shelves, RFID, etc., retailers are able to reduce shrinkage and improve overall business efficiency. The average shrink rate in the retail industry in 2018 was roughly 1.4 percent, which translates to US$50.6 billion, according to the 2019 National Retail Security Survey by the National Retail Federation. The majority of survey respondents indicated that they will allocate more money to loss prevention efforts, with a majority of that going toward technology. The need for more advanced inventory management solutions in retail has driven retail technology providers to develop smarter, easy-to-use solutions. Furthermore, with new challenges facing retailers, these solutions may be the key to improving business operations and providing customers with a better in-store shopping experience.

Smart Inventory Management Provides Retailers with Real-Time Data
Utilizing smart inventory management, like autonomous inventory robots, smart shelves and RFID, is helping retailers become more operationally efficient and reduce shrinkage.

Smart inventory management is enabling retailers to make informed decisions based on real-time inventory data. Today, as the retail market shifts more toward omnichannel and cross-selling, the need
for accurate data has become more important than ever for retailers to make informed decisions. “Smart or real-time inventory is an innovative way to control cost and operations using data to minimize inefficiencies,” said Sergio Ramos Jubierre, Product Manager for Stockbot and Head of Retail at Pal Robotics. Traditional inventory management is done by hand, which Jubierre notes is only appropriate for small retailers (i.e., less than 500 square meters). However, on a bigger scale this method is costly and time consuming, as well as more prone to human error. By automating the inventory process retailers can not only save time and money, but also increase operational efficiency and reduce the dreaded retail shrink. In fact, a recent report estimates the global retail automation market will reach US$19 billion by 2023, according to MarketsandMarkets.

Autonomous Inventory Robots Provide Real-Time Data

Autonomous robots have found their way into an entire gamut of industries, including retail. Several robotics companies have developed autonomous inventory robots specifically to help retailers automate the inventory process and provide a plethora of other valuable data. Pal Robotics created Stockbot, its autonomous inventory-taking robot system for retail. Equipped with RFID and a vision camera, Stockbot provides retailers with the necessary data to make informed inventory decisions. The robot is able to autonomously move around and perform inventory while the shop is open with customers. Furthermore, it does not require any additional equipment or complicated setup. “Due to the high amount of data Stockbot is able to generate it has a positive impact on customers, employees and management,” Jubierre said. “By being able to localize products Stockbot positively influences the in-shop customer experience, and, therefore, the brand reputation as well.”

Smart Shelves Tell Businesses When to Restock

Smart shelves have been around since the early 2000s and have become an alternative emerging technology in the retail business. By utilizing various types of sensors (e.g., light, optical, weight, etc.), smart shelves not only keep track of current stock availability but can also measure customer interest and enhance the in-store shopping experience. Recently Amazon launched the Dash Smart Shelf aimed at small businesses. The shelf has a built-in scale that can be set up to automatically place orders with Amazon to restock when supplies are low; alternatively, it can send notifications to alert the business if automatic ordering is not wanted. Kroger, the US’s largest supermarket chain and world’s fifth-largest retailer, partnered with Microsoft to develop its EDGE smart shelf. The shelf is powered by Microsoft Azure and connects to IoT devices. The technology aims to enhance the grocery shopping experience by connecting to the customer’s smartphone shopping list and highlighting similar items on the shelf. It also allows Kroger to better manage its inventory and eliminate paper and tags by enabling stores to quickly change prices on digital displays.

Analytics Predict When to Reorder

Retail analytics are often integrated with a store’s point-of-sales (POS) system, analyzing data to help retailers better optimize their inventory and make pricing decisions. The National Retail Federation’s 2019 National Retail Security Survey reported that 55.6 percent of retailers surveyed have already implemented some kind of POS analytics across all its stores. “Analytics are now available closer to the retailer decision maker due to the ability to have more computing and cleverer analytics software close to the data user,” said Harley Feldman, Co-Founder and CMO of Seeonic. Feldman pointed out that more analyzed data will become available to retailers as analytics algorithms improve and computer processing power grows. He added that data capture will also continue to improve as better RFID tags are created to deal with distance, metal and liquids. Demand for RFID (radio frequency identification) is on the rise in the retail sector. This is partly a result of the growing need for real-time inventory tracking and the growth of omnichannel retailing, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan. Retailers have been using RFID for quite some time; however, as analytics have improved and the need for more data has increased, more and more retailers are adopting
RFID solutions. “Soft goods retailers are already beginning to see real benefits from RFID,” said Don Taylor, VP of Business Development at Newave Sensor Solutions. According to Taylor, some soft goods retailers are already quoting 10- to 30-percent inventory savings with RFID while keeping more goods on their shelves and improving inventory accuracy. “We have found that using real-time technology such as RFID, when compared to current inventory methods, is much more accurate,” Taylor added. “This technology provides more information to manage and track products and is far less labor intensive and more accurate.” He noted that audits in particular are highly inaccurate, being just a spot check. “The analogy is that audits are like a photo at one point in time compared to real-time smart technology that is like a video showing exactly what was happening over a specified period of time,” Taylor explained.

How RFID Can Improve Real-Time Inventory Management for Retailers Retailers are driving growth in the RFID market, using the technology for real-time inventory tracking and to improve customer experience.
Retailers are driving growth in the RFID market, using the technology for real-time inventory tracking and to improve customer experience.

Advantages of RFID in Retail

Harley Feldman, Co-Founder and CMO of Seeonic opined that using passive RFID tags is the best method for counting in-store inventory. He explained that using RFID tags gives retailers the ability to perform in-store inventory much more quickly and accurately than manual counting, while also allowing them to easily collect inventory data electronically. Data from RFID also provides retailers with the ability to use analytics to monitor store inventory, such as time-on-shelf by SKU or item, react to changes in demand more quickly, and monitor items from the time they enter the store until sold. Still, there are challenges to using RFID. For one, the technical limitations of 10 to 15 feet of read distance and difficulty with metal and liquid items can be problematic; although, future developments in RFID are expected to improve upon these issues. Then there is the issue of the item’s manufacturer needing to be the one to create and attach the RFID tags. Over the last few years, though, it has become more commonplace for manufacturers to place RFID tags on merchandise, especially in apparel, Feldman noted. The cost of an RFID solution is also a barrier — costs include readers, antennas, the tags, etc. “The tags are typically in the US$0.06 to $0.09 range and carry the SKU of the retail item along with a unique serial number for that individual item,” Feldman said. However, as the technology continues to develop and advance, and as demand continues to rise, the price for RFID is expected to decrease making costs more affordable.

RFID and Smart Shelves

To get around the issue of tagging each individual item, Newave developed a patented RFID system to track merchandise availability in real-time without tagging each item with an RFID label. This system focuses on grocery, convenience and mass merchandise retailers. Newave’s Smart Shelf system provides retailers with information on shelf item movement in seconds using the company’s patented wave RFID antenna technology. When an item leaves the shelf, Newave’s Smart Shelf sees it even when it is not tagged. Based on criteria set by the retailer for low inventory limits, the Smart Shelf software signals an alert in real time that can be sent on-site to store managers, or remotely to merchandising and loss prevention personnel as well as suppliers. It can also trigger an audio alarm message and a video capture alert within the store. “Newave’s Smart Shelf system strives to make it easy to get real-time in or out-of-stock shelf information available anytime to any authorized person or group,” explained Taylor. Such a system could greatly lower costs by providing on-shelf merchandise availability without the need for tagging the products on the shelf.

WHAT RETAILERS WANT IN A SMART INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
Retailers are looking for smart inventory management solutions to help reduce shrink, improve the customer experience and boost overall operational efficiency.

Today more than ever brick-and-mortar retailers need smarter, more efficient inventory management solutions. The most common methods of retail inventory management currently used are technologies and processes that have been around for several years. “Unfortunately retailers continuing to use these methods will still see out-ofstocks at a minimum of 4 to 8 percent of sales, and scanning bar codes for shelf management has proven to be very labor intensive. In many cases, retailers do not have the personnel to monitor and manage their inventories and shelf availabilities. This drives the consumer to other stores or online shopping,” explained Don Taylor, VP of Business Development at Newave Sensor Solutions To combat these issues and to keep customers coming into physical stores, retailers want to improve the in-store experience by reducing out-of-stocks, personalizing in-store ads and having store personnel focus on customer needs. Retailers are also looking for solutions capable of automated tracking of shelf inventories, faster scanning of products, ease of installation for new systems, reduction of labor costs and real-time visibility to a problem at the shelf. According to Harley Feldman, Co-Founder and CMO of Seeonic, the top issue requested by retailers is inventory accuracy by SKU currently on shelves in retail stores. “Retailers are satisfying more and more customer demand, especially ‘Buy Online and Pick Up in Store (BOPIS)’ orders, from store inventory. Therefore, the inventory accuracy is critical to satisfying customer demand accurately and quickly,” he said. Other requests such as data for time items spend on shelf and times items are removed and returned to shelf can be performed more accurately with the serialized data available from the RFID tags, Feldman added.

Easy-to-Deploy Solutions and Positive ROI

Deploying a smart inventory management solution requires time and money — two things retailers want to spend less of. To overcome those obstacles companies like Pal Robotics and Newave Sensor
Solutions have developed solutions that are easy to deploy and guarantee good ROI. “We have created a ready to deploy solution that doesn’t need any layout modifications or additional store installations,” said Sergio Ramos Jubierre, Stockbot Product Manager and Head of Retail at Pal Robotics, of its autonomous inventory-taking robot Stockbot. Pal Robotics provides clients with leasing options that could allow retailers to deploy Stockbot with no upfront cost and positively impact operational optimization and return on investment (ROI). “Stockbot generates data that can be integrated and manipulated for numerous application, such as store floor management, supply chain visibility, process automation and accuracy, omnichannel retailing, promotional activities, returns, locating items, loss prevention and cross selling. Those have a direct impact on store/brand reputation, customer satisfaction and thus on sales,” Jubierre explained. Taylor explained how the soft goods retailers that first adopted RFID into their store operations have seen a good ROI and are continuing to expand RFID use. Retailers are also beginning to move away from handheld RFID scanning and toward fixed portal readers, which allows them to better utilize store resources and improve productivity. Major mass merchandise retailers are also beginning to use RFID portals in their distribution centers to track cartons and pallets going in and out. Newave believes this will evolve into more store-level use of RFID technology. For instance, the company, along with its partner, recently completed installation of over 1,500 dock door portals for a leading international retailer. Within days the RFID solution paid back with a 25-percent improvement in productivity by day two after installation.

Overcoming Retail Challenges with Smart Inventory Management
The retail sector faces many challenges when it comes to implementing smart inventory management, ranging from cost to resistance to change.

Implementing new technologies always comes with its challenges — this is no different in the retail sector. Nowadays retailers face new challenges. Among these are dealing with growing demand and the dynamic nature of product movement. Other challenges originate from the side of operation and logistics. Sergio Ramos Jubierre, Stockbot Product Manager and Head of Retail at Pal Robotics highlighted scalability, tracking, automation and reporting as some of the biggest difficulties that need to be tackled. Additionally, speed of delivery is a problem encountered by both customers and retailers. Challenges with RFID in Retail Jubierre pointed to RFID technologies as a compelling solution for the retail industry. In addition to RFID tags, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has adopted barcodes. “Due to the low margin in the FMCG sector barcodes are the preferable choice for food retailers,” he said. The cost of RFID tags is most definitely a barrier to adoption for certain smart inventory management solutions, as is the cost of the technology needed to read the tags and collect the data. However, the price of RFID tags is dropping and will continue to do so with the projected growth in volume. “Metal and liquid-filled items will benefit from newer tag designs,” explained Harley Feldman, Co-Founder and CMO of Seeonic. The number of manufacturers adding RFID tags to their products will also continue to grow as more and more retailers demand the tags be added. “Since it is more efficient to add RFID up, but it provides the ability for retailers new to RFID to add the technology more easily,” Feldman said. He explained that automatically collecting RFID data is desired, but the cost to do so is still high. As a result, most retailers still use handheld RFID scanners to collect real-time inventory as they are flexible, inexpensive and readily available. Unfortunately, handheld scanners require a person to use it resulting in labor costs.

Challenges with Smart Shelves

In regard to using smart shelves for inventory management, it can be costly since the retailer may have to replace its existing shelving to incorporate new sensing devices. Don Taylor, VP of Business Development at Newave Sensor Solutions explained how in many cases Newave’s Smart Shelf can retro-fit to existing shelving to reduce the cost of installation. In fact, Newave’s Smart Shelf solution has helped retailers reduce out-of-stocks by 60 percent in the first few months after installation. To achieve accurate information on smart shelves, Taylor noted the retailer needs to already have some disciplines in place. Newave requires a product planogram, so that they can monitor and track every SKU. “Retailers need data to be able to determine if they have achieved a positive ROI on their new technology investment. Newave can provide real-time information to any authorized smart device on out-of-stocks, low inventories and missed sales to name just a few categories that will assist the retailer in formulating an ROI,” Taylor said. According to Newave, its technology will deliver a positive ROI in less than a year.

Championing New Technologies

In order for more smart inventory management solutions to be adopted, it is important that retailers are educated on the benefits of these new technologies. Oftentimes it is the lack of education on new technology, not understanding how it works, how it can benefit a business, that keeps them from adopting smart solutions. Retailers need an internal champion to drive new technologies through their stores. By providing proper training to retailers, they will have the knowledge needed to understand and push for new smart technologies.

Compact for convenience – the G40, Checkpoint Systems newest space-saving EAS antenna

XXX 2019 –Checkpoint Systems, a global leader in source to shopper solutions, has today announced the launch of the G40, a small footprint acrylic antenna specifically designed to tackle theft in convenience stores.

With small format stores growing at an exponential rate globally, the need to protect merchandise in high traffic, small footprint environments is increasing. The compact RF-based, G40 EAS antenna offers a solution to cover areas where installation of traditional EAS proves challenging. Maximising space for product displays, delivering accurate detection between pedestals while back-shielding against false alarms caused by customers walking behind the antenna.

The antenna, built on Checkpoint’s trusted EVOLVE electronics platform, delivers full system connectivity for remote servicing, management reporting and system updates to minimise downtime.

Simon Edgar, Senior Director of EAS Solutions at Checkpoint Systems commented: “The G40’s high-performance, small form factor, focusses on tough to protect areas offering retailers a cost effective, efficient EAS antenna that doesn’t eat into valuable space, meaning retailers can still maximise selling space while minimising losses.”

The G40 is available immediately.

Using innovation to enhance the shopping experience

The way people shop has been changing ever since the advent of online shopping. Traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ shops have struggled – with some failing and crashing out of the high street. But the survivors are now turning to innovation to help them compete. According to magazine AdWeek, 70 percent of businesses say that omni-channel strategies are important, very important, or critical to their success. One industry that’s looking closely at how technology can bring a new channel of advertising and revenue to them is retail, with a focus on customer experience. A good example of that is the use of camera technology to show people how they look in certain clothes, which is revolutionizing the clothing retail industry.

Maximizing relationships
In a world where the battle for attention happens constantly all around us, new innovative ways of capturing those vital moments where a prospect is looking at your brand are emerging. One of these is precision marketing – the art of maximizing the relationship you have with your existing customers. According to Inc. Magazine, it is five to 10 times more expensive to find a new customer than to sell to an existing one. More traditional methods of doing this have been used by companies for a while now – like loyalty schemes.
One trend on the high street is delivering experiential shopping to customers – for example, hosting events in stores, entertaining people and providing much more of a personal service. These are all designed to give people an experience that they cannot get online, so bringing their spending power back to the high street. In some cases, the experiences are merged, with shoppers visiting a store to see what’s possible, and try out the products, but actually when they buy, it’s through the online store. So, we have entered an era when people could come out of a store and feel satisfied, even when they don’t have the product with them!
There is a secondary benefits to these methods too – through these activities you can find out a lot more about your customers – their shopping habits, for example, and popular items. This all feeds into the Holy Grail of effective marketing – understanding your customers and their decisions.

Innovation in-store
Marketeers’ quest has now turned to technology to bring exciting new experiences to the shop floor, and at the front of the queue for these changes is the fashion industry. One of these innovative methods uses a camera (for example Hikvision’s DeepinView Facial Recognition Camera) to capture a shopper’s gender and age to recommend suitable products, giving them an immersive experience.
Software can also recommend items – either as replacement, or even to complement, which increases the sale value. The DeepinView camera is armed with Deep Learning technology, which powers the smart element of the solution. Although the system does not keep records of those it scans, and so cannot identify them, it can detect how old they are and their gender using facial recognition. It can also be used to create a VIP customer scheme (with explicit permission from the customer) so that when the camera recognizes the customer entering the store, the sales attendants are alerted, with information about the customer. This means they can immediately approach them with a much more personalized service. This can really help shoppers and goes some way to make them feel special, understood and catered to individually.
With touch-screen capabilities, the signage can also be used to help shoppers to find the right products, by searching and navigating through available products.
All of this adds an element of fun into the experience, giving shoppers a positive feeling about the brand and increasing the likelihood that they will return and even share their experience with others.

Hikvision’s solution
Hikvision’s solution for retailers is made up of its leading DeepinView Facial Recognition camera to detect characteristics and a Floor-standing monitor to show products and provide interaction.
DeepinView Facial Recognition Camera (iDS-2CD8426G0/F-1)
– 1/2.8″ Progressive Scan CMOS
– 1920 × 1080 @ 30fps
– H.265+/H.265
– 5 video streams

Floor standing digital signage (DS-6055FL)
– 55” screen (43” screen also available)
– Resolution: 1920 × 1080@60 Hz
– LED backlight
– Metallic appearance
– Auto coloring and image enhancing engine

With retailers turning to technology to be competitive in the digital age, some innovative solutions are appearing to attract shoppers into bricks and mortar stores through experiential activities. Hikvision has a number of solutions to help retailers with this, including smart cameras and digital signage to push the boundaries of what’s possible in-store. These also help retailer to practice precision marketing – by offering their customers products tailored to their personal needs.

Click here for more information about what Hikvision smart solution can offer retailers.

Businesses are using faces to gain security and business insights

Smartphones and social media all utilize facial recognition, and user acceptance has paved the way for more varied uses. While the technology is still mostly associated with security, government and law enforcement, businesses are taking advantage of it as well for both security and business intelligence purposes.

The overall global facial recognition market is growing, expected to reach nearly US$7.8 billion by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9 percent, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. The report cites the growing need for surveillance in public spaces as a major contributor to growth.

The unique capabilities of advanced facial recognition can be applied to almost any vertical. Also, since the technology requires no physical contact or credentials that can be lost, stolen or replicated, it is an attractive solution for many different applications. Add in the insights businesses can gain from its ability to easily identify and track individuals — which could provide them with valuable data to perform advanced trend analysis, productivity research workflow processing and so much more — it is no wonder more and more businesses are deploying facial recognition solutions.

Making Businesses More Efficient With Facial Recognition

Businesses are deploying facial recognition technology to increase operational efficiency and learn more about customers.

Nowadays everyone is using facial recognition and businesses are no exception. The use of facial analytics solutions to gather information on demographics and consumer buying patterns is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. Adoption of face recognition technology is growing across industries, which is being fueled by growing awareness, advancements in the technology, and accessibility. For instance, the development of advanced facial recognition analytics that are centralized has made it relatively easy to apply to any networked camera, explained Shawn Mather, Director of Sales for the U.S. at Intelligent Security Systems (ISS).

With businesses also looking for more ways to utilize smart technologies, and with artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning gaining momentum, the use cases for facial recognition have opened up. Additionally, improvements in video surveillance cameras have allowed “organizations to realize the full value of video surveillance investments,” according to Stephanie Weagle, CMO of BriefCam.

“The growing sophistication of video content analytics (VCA) systems combined with the market’s fuller understanding of the ways in which video analytics solutions can drive organiza- tional efficiency and performance alongside security, has resulted in businesses of all types taking a deeper interest in VCA and face recognition,” Weagle said. From a retail perspective, leveraging facial recognition technology allows them to better understand customer demographics (e.g., gender, age, etc.). This data provides the retailer with a better understanding of who their customers are, which could enable them to better personalize the shopping experience and tailor their marketing strategy.

“When companies educate themselves on demographic composition, they create business intelligence opportu- nities to improve convenience in how people interact with their built environ- ments and to enhance the personal- ization of experiences in advertising,” explained Dan Grimm, VP of Computer Vision and GM of SAFR at RealNetworks. Grimm explained that companies can use facial detection and charac- terization, which does not retain any biometric information, to gain actionable insights of their customers. “For example, shopping mall owners will be able to make better advertising, leasing and customer service decisions if they know that between the hours of 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. they tend to see traffic of X number of persons broken down by 60 percent female, 40 percent male, with an average age of 42, based on a single IP camera properly tuned for an entrance,” he added.

Businesses are also using facial recognition to create customer loyalty programs to help identify VIPs.

Mather also highlighted the use of facial recognition in workforce management. This is a trend he sees on the rise globally. The ability to accurately identify and track personnel for time and attendance management with facial recognition is especially being sought after. Facial recognition is being deployed for this purpose in a large number of industries where large, but often temporary workforces are being deployed to either permanent or temporary sites, he said. “Perfect examples are factories and construction sites, where shifts change based on delivery schedules and production lines, and different groups of specialized workers need to be on production lines at different intervals,” Mather explained. These are just some of the ways businesses are using facial recognition technology for nonsecurity purposes today. In the near future, many expect facial recognition to become more mainstream where its use for even more business intelligence operations will continue to grow.

How Businesses Use Facial Recognition to Enhance Security

Facial recognition is helping businesses stop thefts and keep environments more secure.

More and more businesses are using facial recognition technology to improve situational awareness. Doing so gives businesses a smarter, easier way to monitor who is entering, staying and leaving their environment, while also increasing safety, security and convenience. Doug Aley, CEO of Ever AI, noted that “mission-critical” applications form about 75 percent of the facial recognition market. This includes use cases such as security surveillance, access control, digital authentication and government and law enforcement applications. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the increased need for enhanced surveil- lance and monitoring at public places and the increased use of the technology in industries such as the government are driving the market growth. While the main purpose of deploying a facial recognition solution is security, it is also about “empowering individuals to use their faces as a token to gain fast safe access and authen- tication,” said Dan Grimm, VP of Computer Vision and GM of SAFR at RealNetworks.

Facial recognition is “ideal” for environments that need to positively identify individuals for physical and data security clearance, general access permis- sions, compliance with mandated regulations, and financial verification, according to Shawn Mather, Director of Sales for the U.S. at Intelligent Security Systems (ISS).

In a business environment, such as retail, “this could mean leveraging footage of different shoplifting incidents, assembling a suspect watchlist using frames from video surveillance, and then responding to alerts triggered by a video content analytics (VCA) system’s detection of a biometric match for the suspected shoplifter,” explained Stephanie Weagle, CMO of BriefCam. From there, security or police officers could investigate further to determine whether the alert has correctly identified the shoplifter and, if so, apprehend the perpetrator before the store bears further losses.

Facial recognition can also be used to provide live analytics for industries where there are high numbers of unknown visitors (e.g., malls, retail spaces, event venues, stadiums, etc.). This also applies to large enterprises with high visitor flows, such as hospitals, universities and stadiums, that have a need to know when persons of interest appear on camera. Grimm used a sports stadium as an example. Stadium operators might flag banned patrons in its database, while box owners may want notifica- tions when VIPs are onsite, in order to properly greet them and provide a superior level of customer service. “To support effective ‘watchlists’ — both for threats/concerns and for VIPs — facial recognition systems must be adept at high accuracy under the real-world conditions of identifying people in live video. This means avoiding false positive matches and reliably identifying people despite variations in lighting, orientation and facial occlusions due to scarves, glasses and hats,” Grimm explained. Customers from schools, office buildings and manufacturing are also using facial recognition to provide secure access to facilities. “In these cases, facial recognition systems enhance security in ways that are superior to badges, which can be easily stolen, and also offer features that catch piggybacking instances to offer a more accurate assessment of who is entering and exiting,” Grimm explained.

Facial recognition can also enhance convenience over existing access management solutions. For example, with facial recognition users no longer have to deal with situations where badges are forgotten at home or left on a desk. Grimm added that for secure access, facial recognition solutions should include anti-spoofing to prevent unauthorized access to those attempting to use a photo to gain entry.

How Businesses Should Protect Privacy When Using Facial Recognition

As facial recognition becomes more ubiquitous, concerns about privacy are at an all-time high.

Facial recognition has been entrenched in controversy lately. San Francisco recently made headlines by becoming the first city in the U.S. to ban the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement and government agencies; however, businesses are not included in this ban.

Built-in facial recognition in smartphones has helped ease the general population’s concerns over biometrics by making it a norm. However, many civil liberties groups and consumers are still just as concerned about how enterprises are using and storing facial recognition data. The determination of privacy is often dependent on the use case. In some instances, privacy is determined by the governing entity. For example, the Global Entry program, administered by the US Department of Homeland Security, uses facial recognition to verify that the person in front of the camera is the same as the one in the passport photo. “Not only is consent and privacy in this instance ‘implied,’ but also legally mandatory,” said Doug Aley, CEO of Ever AI.

On the other hand, consumer expectations of privacy and consent are often contingent on the application. “We typically find implied consent in situations where consumers are expecting it (e.g., consumers expect that bad actors are not allowed entry into the country, and so the concept of face recognition to identify them is acceptable),” Aley explained. However, there is a delicate balance that will come down to the difference between mission-critical applications (e.g., where the government doesn’t need permission to use an individual’s face) versus general purpose face recognition for casual, entertainment-focused applications, he added.

In terms of legislation, laws regarding privacy are rapidly evolving around the world. In the U.S., states such as Illinois, Texas and Washington have specific biometric privacy laws governing the use, collection and storage of biometric data. In Europe the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also has specific clauses mandating how biometric data can be collected, used and stored. For example, the GDPR states that EU residents must give explicit consent before their data can be collected, and that they have the right to withdraw consent at any given time — this is known as “the right to be forgotten.” Dan Grimm, VP of Computer Vision and GM of SAFR at RealNetworks, believes regulations are needed at a national level in the U.S., not just by jurisdiction. This would help to provide a baseline for how facial recognition can be deployed in ways that take into account the “important missions of our customers and the interest of the general public.”

While making sure all facial recognition deployments abide by privacy regula- tions is a given, whether in the cloud or on premises, businesses can further maintain privacy by doing their part. This should include ensuring that all data is encrypted in transit and at rest; systems are built with stringent cyber protections; providing the ability for individuals to be deleted from a system; and offering an opt-in/opt-out structure that encourages users to provide consent around the use of facial recognition. “For SAFR from RealNetworks, we find this particularly important and not only include these features out of the box, but also provide our customers with best practices for implementing facial recognition,” Grimm added.

From a consumer’s perspective, concerns surrounding facial recognition rests more in the hows (e.g., how it is being used, how it is being transmitted and how it is being stored) rather than the actual use of the technology, according to Shawn Mather, Director of Sales for the U.S. at Intelligent Security Systems (ISS). For this reason, he explained that privacy is much more an issue of application. In the future, we can expect that governments worldwide will continue to develop policies to regulate the use of biometric technologies, as well as define the rights of opting out of being tracked digitally. We may even see more cities opt to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and ban certain applications of facial recognition technology altogether.

What’s Required for Businesses to Deploy Facial Recognition?

Getting the most out of facial recognition requires the right equipment; however, needs may vary by application.

The hardware needs of businesses wanting to deploy facial recognition can vary depending on the application. Not every situation requires the highest resolution camera or the highest computing power, nor does every every environment pose the same challenges (e.g., lighting, crowding, weather, etc.). Generally, in order to deploy a facial recognition system what is needed are a well-tuned camera, local computing power, and software. Hardware systems must be paired with the appropriate computing power to run facial recognition efficiently, which depends on whether you are managing a high- or low-density environment.

However, hardware requirements can vary greatly depending on the application and deployment architecture. For example, secure-access use cases, where you are viewing a few faces at a given time, can leverage lower-resolution cameras with lower frame rates and require less computing power (in addition to deploying fewer cameras), which effectively lowers your total cost of ownership (TCO), explained Dan Grimm, VP of Computer Vision and GM of SAFR and RealNetworks.

On the other hand, when using watchlists, deploying more cameras can improve accuracy and performance. Grimm added, “If the facial recognition platform supports a distributed architecture by doing detection at the edge and recognition in the cloud, then you’ve not only lowered TCO, you’ve also increased your ability to scale in a massive way.”

In the early days of face recognition, there was often a tradeoff between accuracy and device power. “Lower powered devices, either in terms of chipset, bandwidth requirements or camera resolution, suffered from lower accuracy,” noted Doug Aley, CEO of Ever AI. Today, Ever AI has had success in being able to deploy on everything from a single core legacy processor all the way up through a cluster of high-powered GPUs, like an NVIDIA T4. “There are now other companies like ours where the accuracy tradeoff is no longer an issue,” Aley added. Nowadays, speed is where the major variability comes in — the more powerful the hardware, the faster the speed of matching and the faster the overall user experience. Aley explained that most modern chipsets, especially from a quad-core onward, are going to be very fast. Furthermore, today’s face recognition models, and the frameworks off which these models are built, are getting more adept at handling lower-power chipsets. Shawn Mather, Director of Sales for the U.S. at Intelligent Security Systems (ISS) highlighted software integration issues over complications with hardware. Software providers, however, can overcome these challenges by making their solutions compatible with VMS solutions and electronic access control solutions. The type of facial recognition — 2D or 3D face recognition technology — a businesses chooses to deploy may also come with its own specific set of challenges and requirements. A report by MarketsandMarkets noted that captured images from earlier 2D facial recognition technology were highly dependent on illumination, meaning poor lighting significantly affected image quality. Another challenge was the “incompatibility of integration between software tools and biometric hardware devices.”

However, the report expects 3D technology to have the largest market share in the coming years. Unlike 2D technology, 3D technology is not dependent on illumination. This enables it to capture higher-quality images in uncontrolled environments, such as poorly lit or completely dark areas. Something else to consider in the years to come are facial recognition cameras, where the recognition process is done on-board at the frontend. These types of cameras, though, require strong computational power since all of the tools for recognition are on-board. While several camera companies are developing face recognition cameras, the overall market is still in a fledgling state, but may be something to look forward to in the future.

AI, Analytics Power Luxury Retail Customer Experience

The personal luxury goods market is growing, thanks to renewed interest from millennials. The retail channel of the global luxury goods market grew 4 percent in 2018, according to a report by Bain & Company. However, it still faces tough competition from wholesalers and online sales.
Izvor: a&s International
E-mail: redakcija@asadria.com

From a regional standpoint, China, Japan, Europe and the United States all saw positive market growth in 2018. Chinese consumers are leading the growth trend both domestically and abroad, with an estimated 33 percent of global luxury spend in 2018, according to Bain & Company.

Nowadays, everything is becoming digitally influenced in one way or another, and luxury sales are no exception. A report by McKinsey & Company stated that nearly 80 percent of luxury sales today were “digitally influenced,” meaning that “in their luxury shopping journeys, consumers hit one or more digital touch points.”

For luxury retailers, this means it is becoming critically important to better understand customers’ wants and needs in order to meet and exceed brand expectations. That is why luxury retail is finally starting to utilize artificial intelligence (AI), video analytics and other technologies and techniques more widely. By using such solutions, luxury retailers are now able to get a more in-depth look into what their customers want, not only improving the customer experience but also driving sales.

Luxury Brands Turn to Technology to Woo VIP Shoppers

Providing the best customer experience is one of the most important aspects of luxury retail, and retailers are turning to technology to ensure every customer feels like a VIP.

Tough competition for high-spending consumers means luxury retailers must provide VIP service at every step of the way. As Ray Hartjen, Marketing Director at RetailNext, puts it: “Shoppers don’t need to shop at any brand. Brands need to make shoppers want and feel like they need to shop a brand. Technology can help.”

Pressured by new entrants and online sales, luxury retailers are adopting fresh tools to better understand their customers. According to Andrew Fowkes, Head of Retail Center of Excellence at SAS UK and Ireland, this includes “looking at the end-to-end lifecycle of the products and services they sell — recognizing the importance and profit that can be made from ‘outlet’ business as well as full price offerings.” Hartjen pointed to the “connected journey” of high-end consumers, saying that following this from beginning to end could provide key information to retailers. “It will be important for luxury retailers to tie into and integrate seamlessly with shoppers’ connected journeys. They will need to understand how shoppers’ online experiences drive store visits, and how store visits have tangential and residual impacts later on in the brand’s digital touch points and channels. And, of course, they need to understand the key branded interactions that convert shoppers into buyers,” Hartjen explained.

“Luxury retailers are in many ways leading the retail industry’s response to shoppers’ connected journeys. Activations are regularly popping up around the globe where influencers and shoppers experience a brand and its ethos in ready-for-Instagram settings. The activations are more brand showroom than retail store, where the brand is the hero, not its products, and they allow for an almost continual sharing through shoppable social media platforms,” Hartjen said. “Luxury is investing in the shopping experience, because it’s what shoppers want and crave, and what’s good for shoppers is good for business.” Parallel to understanding the connected shopping journey is the need to understand who the shopper is. “Relevant communication and engagement is paramount to success, and in the luxury sphere, relevant means personalized,” Hartjen added. “The luxury segment needs to engage on a personal level, and to get shoppers to reveal personal information, there has to be value in it for the shopper. Those brands that do it well will have a loyal customer for life.”

While gathering consumer data can help retailers provide a personalized shopping experience, they must also comply with GDPR regulations. For instance, although video analytics and face recognition data is useful, GDPR rules require customer consent before such data can be used. But Stephanie Weagle, CMO of BriefCam, believes that should consumers opt in, luxury retailers can use data to optimize and personalize the shopping experience even further.

“Luxury retailers can create lists of VIP customers and upload images of these visitors to their video-content analytics engine. The video analytics solution can be configured to alert operators when key customers are recognized entering the store. By triggering a call to action any time a VIP customer walks into the store, sales associates can be mobilized to engage the visitor immediately and personally. When face recognition data is integrated with historic sales data, the retailer can quickly review and understand individual customer shopping trends and prefer- ences based on past purchases, and use this information to share personalized and relevant information and offers to drive sales,” Weagle said.

How Machine Learning, AI Improve the Luxury Retail Experience

Luxury retailers are utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand customer needs and improve the shopping experience.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are being introduced and utilized by nearly every industry. This includes the luxury retail sector, where advanced algorithms are allowing retailers to enhance the customer experience both in-store and online. Brands such as Dior have launched AI chatbots that can interact with and make recommendations to online shoppers. Burberry’s flagship store in London meanwhile, has fully embraced the digital age with a host of interactive multimedia tools, including smart mirrors that double as screens. In-store, luxury retailers are using AI and augmented reality (AR) to provide customers with a more personalized and immersive shopping experience. An example of this is smart mirrors, which can automatically recommend accessories for a given outfit, as well as allow shoppers to make a 360-degree video and change the color of clothes.

While luxury retailers still rely on human sales associates for the time being, AI and machine learning are playing an increasingly larger role in helping brands interact with their customers. As a report by McKinsey & Company states: “Big data and machine learning are bringing authen- ticity and relevance back into the customer relationship,” by providing advanced analytics to help brands offer services uniquely tailored to each customer and occasion. According to Andrew Fowkes, Head of Retail Centre of Excellence at SAS UK and Ireland, “applying machine learning to in-store data has great potential to help luxury retailers better understand their customers through their entire lifecycle.” He added retailers were also “utilizing these techniques to better understand demand patterns, to have the high-value merchandise in the right part of the world to fulfill demand.” Fowkes said luxury retailers were deploying machine learning techniques to better understand their customers and keep them engaged with a brand. Such techniques were also used to “apply more real-time context to offers or messages they put in front of their customers, or the messages their employees can use to sell more when face-to-face with the customers.”

Ray Hartjen, Marketing Director at RetailNext, emphasized the need for accurate footfall data, noting the importance of deep-learning based sensors such as RetailNext’s Aurora v2, which can accurately distinguish between customers and reflec- tions, shadows and shopping carts piled high with merchandise. Hartjen added that advanced sensors and processes were able to determine shoppers from sales associates, providing not only accurate footfall data, but also information on how, when and where shoppers and staff interact.

“Inside the store, sensors with AI determine what shoppers are doing at displays other than dwelling within a certain geo-fenced location. For example, the sensor can determine if a shopper reaches for an item, picks it up, looks at it more closely or tries it on, returns it to the display, etc. Deep-learning based human activity recognition delivers the data that allows for retailers to modify their store layouts, displays, fixtures, product assortment, staffing models — everything really — to drive the desired outcomes they’re designing toward,” he said.

Fowkes also pointed to the use of “computer vision;” a new discipline that trains machines to interpret and understand the visual world using digital images from cameras combined with deep learning models that mimic the processes used by the human brain.

“Our most developed customers can join online browsing data, social media influence and even images deploying computer vision techniques to automatically generate attributes. These attributes can then be used to fine tune customer real-time offers or future design and development of products,” Fowkes said.

Video Analytics: Providing Business Intelligence to Luxury Retailers

While the use of video analytics in luxury retail isn’t new, advanced algorithms are making it an increasingly invaluable business tool.

Video analytics are an optimal solution for luxury retailers. Not only does it enable them to leverage existing resources to gain operational intelligence, it also empowers them with the data to personalize and optimize the in-store experience. This helps to cement brand loyalty, increase engagement and ultimately drive sales. “Whether customers are window shopping, walking through the store, interacting with products or dwelling at certain displays, video analytic data helps the retailer understand visitor behavior and tailor the experience to meet consumer demands and expectations: from understanding when to mobilize sales associates to engage customers, to how to update the store layout for optimal navigation, video business intelligence empowers retailers to cater to luxury shoppers based on qualitative, actionable data insight,” said Stephanie Weagle, CMO of BriefCam.

While in-store video surveillance still has security monitoring functions in luxury retail, now more than ever it has become an important source of data. This is due to advances in analytics, which have retailers seeking new and innovative ways to collect and utilize data, while also taking advantage of existing resources such as video. “Many retail businesses rely on video surveillance for security monitoring; however, video analytics solutions are enabling retailers to harness video for more, such as optimizing operations and performance,” Weagle said.

In order to increase video-content-analytics coverage to optimize operations, some retailers are expanding their video surveillance systems. “By measuring traffic hotspots, store navigation patterns, dwell time and product display activity, the retailer can harness video intelligence to uncover trends; A/B test advertisements, layouts and displays and increase security and efficiency throughout its stores,” Weagle explained.

Furthermore, the demographic and activity data drawn from video analytics helps retailers make intelligent merchandising, staffing and inventory decisions to optimize sales at each store. Video analytics solutions are also enabling retailers to integrate data from sources such as point-of-sale (POS) devices in order to achieve more comprehensive analytics. “Retailers might, for example, draw conclusions about staff effectiveness by evaluating information about store entries and time spent in store, staff positioning throughout the store and final sales data,” Weagle said. “The ability to analyze and visualize traffic and shopping data into dashboards and heat maps makes it easy for retailers to identify inefficiencies, test solutions to problems and achieve data-driven optimization in store.”

This data can provide important insights into questions such as: Are shoppers dwelling next to a certain display, removing items but not purchasing? Are certain areas of the store underutilized or infrequently visited?

The ability to recognize and identify objects in video was also instrumental for employee oversight, Weagle added. “Rules can be configured to trigger calls to action for certain employee activities. For instance, by adding images of employees and using face recognition capabilities, the retailer can set alerts for when employees enter the stock room or to mobilize employees to the checkout when crowds start forming by the cashier.”

Doing More With Less – Retailer Strategies For Loss Prevention And Mobility

In the increasingly competitive retail space, there is a constant need to implement, expand and improve loss prevention programs to secure assets, decrease shrinkage and increase customer safety. With that, budget cuts in the manned loss prevention (LP) staff industry in all store ranges – from mom and pop shops, to big box retailers – have retailers exploring the latest in efficient and affordable LP management through video surveillance and the vast amount of add-on monitoring and analytic programs.

By Trenton Thoms, Milestone Systems, Inc.

According to loss prevention and inventory shrinkage consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International, in 2012 nearly 1.15 million shoplifters and corrupt employees were apprehended, up more than seven percent from 2011. The threat is real, but the cost of managing these issues is easily streamlined by technology currently available to nearly every retail manager in the business.

Milestone Systems’ partners cater to end users in all retail environments looking to expand or improve surveillance systems, offering a complete solution, backboned by Milestone XProtect. XProtect meets virtually all retailers’ needs because of its open platform technology, which provides retailers with the freedom to choose from a nearly unlimited number of possibilities when it comes to retail surveillance solution hardware or software.

As budgets are cut, working with legacy monitoring equipment is vital to save costs while keeping a store environment safe and shrinkage down. Channeling a store’s video feed through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, however, gives managers the ability to monitor goods, customers and employees from anywhere – even the back office!

Milestone Mobile offers retailers the ability to view security system output in any store — whether stand-alone or on a corporate or franchise level — through mobile devices. Live video and playback can be viewed at all times with an Internet or Wi-Fi connection. With Milestone Mobile’s Video Push feature, live video can be sent from a mobile device’s camera directly into Milestone XProtect, for immediate awareness of incidents, or shared from other cameras in the system.

With the ability to create and watch video exports on the go, Milestone Mobile provides operators with expanded remote capabilities, allowing them to take immediate action during an incident, or quickly review footage to gather evidence. Outputs, such as opening and closing doors and switching on lights, can also be controlled through the mobile devices.

With the open platform integration capabilities, Milestone’s video sequences can be linked with personnel, goods, receipt and transaction data gathered from POS, ERP or ATM systems. Video linked with each transaction can be integrated within the system to help reduce fraud by identifying and sending alerts to mobile devices about suspicious activity, including deceptive use of gift cards, discounts, fraudulent or stolen credit cards and refunds.

However, the benefits of mobile surveillance extend beyond loss prevention to include many aspects beyond security! Integrations with numerous analytic offerings can add valuable marketing tools like people counting, traffic patterns and queue management or product placement aids.

Video monitoring through mobile devices can also ensure manufacturing, packing, shipping, and logistics, are running smoothly within a retail environment. Milestone has been installed in a broad range of production and distribution centers around the world to increase full-chain visibility for managers, executives and other decision makers.

IP video can also be an essential component in the day-to-day operations of an online retailer, especially when authorized personnel have access to live and recorded video on a smartphone or tablet. From the second an item is removed from a warehouse shelf, it can be monitored through the conveyor system, measured, weighed, tagged and made ready for shipment, all with video surveillance insurance and proof of processing. Management knows and can document exactly what is happening at every point to assure quick and effective delivery of its in-demand products.

Milestone VMS solutions are versatile and effective tools for retailers large and small. No longer does an internal security team have to worry about downloading evidence to USB drives, or spend hours watching tapes to search for an event. Many retailers have seen the extraordinary benefits of IP-based surveillance and the cost efficiency and flexibility of Milestone Mobile, helping retailers stay up to date with store locations’ vital information.

Major Australian retailer upgrades with Geutebruck

Major Australian retailer Harvey Norman has chosen to upgrade its video security systems with Geutebruck IP technology. During the last year the franchisees at around a third of its stores in Australia and New Zealand have been enjoying Geutebruck’s high quality images and ease of use. And, as word spread through the Harvey Norman grapevine others are clamouring for their turn!
In Australia Harvey Norman is a franchise operation with 250 stores trading under the ‘Harvey Norman’, ‘Domayne’ and ‘Joyce Mayne’ brands, and selling electrical, computer and entertainment equipment, furniture and bedding in different sectors of the market. It takes the interests of franchisees very seriously and its commitment to store security is one expression of this. It maintains a very high level of technical expertise within the organisation and provides the franchisees who handle their own day to day security operations with both the security hardware and specialist security support. Until relatively recently all stores were using surveillance systems with analogue cameras and DVRs, but as system reliability and image quality issues mounted it became imperative to find a new long term replacement.

Top of the list of requirements was good image quality, but important too was 90-day storage capacity, hybrid operation with existing analogue cameras, and easy-to-use client software. – In this environment, where systems are operated by store managers without specialist skills or knowledge, this last criterion is particularly significant so good intuitive design is key.

Besides meeting these requirements Geutebruck also enjoys a reputation for offering the most cost-effective IP systems. As Bill Elkass, Harvey Norman’s general manager of loss prevention reports, “Geutebruck technology is user friendly. Its client software is very easy to navigate through and it was particularly useful to us that there are Geutebruck staff here in Australia who could provide answers and help in devising a good solution.”

For the stores with upgraded systems the frustration of poor images is a thing of the past. Elkass continues, “Now we find that when we are looking at an incident of theft, we can see exactly what is going on: what the suspect picks up and where he conceals it. Our new systems provide the clarity which enables the police to take action.”

Installations vary depending on the size of the store and on the existing kit which has been incorporated. Small stores have 40 to 50 cameras, large ones around 110, and the average is 60 to 70. Some solutions are hybrid systems, using Geutebruck re_porter hardware and combining existing analogue cameras with new IP ones sited to monitor critical areas. – Cameras over cash registers for instance, to provide a detailed record of transactions and spot discrepancies. While other stores have pure IP systems using super micro servers with 30 cameras per server. “Running Geutebruck software on super micro servers is a good solution for us,” explains Elkass, “because it gives us the storage duration we wanted. We find we need 90 days because it takes time for the police to put a case together, and it can be some weeks after an incident that they request video evidence. In the past we had usually overwritten the relevant recording. Now, 9 times out of 10 we still have it.”

The overall plan is to upgrade the majority of sites over the next five years. New or refurbished stores will get pure IP systems, as may some of the larger stores. Systems in the remaining stores will be replaced with hybrid ones as and when these require attention.

So how has the new technology gone down with the non-technical store-managers? Elkass is fulsome in his praise, “The image quality is excellent and is providing the information they need: for example allowing them to recognise known offenders. I have to say, they are absolutely loving it. The franchisees talk amongst themselves and they all want Geutebruck technology.”

SMARTair™ brings flexible access control to a new Dutch superstore

London, April 2018 – Witzand has been a trusted supplier of building materials since the 1890s. Their largest retail outlet — dubbed “XL” — and head office is at Almelo, in the eastern Netherlands. Here the company designed a new building with openness in mind, to stock and display a wide range of their products, including a specialist woodwork department. The new premises also needed a brand new access control system.

A combination of SMARTair™ devices — wireless, battery-powered escutcheons, cylinders and wall readers — ensure security at the new Almelo building meets the demands of a busy mixed-use environment. Authorised employees can use offices and warehouse spaces they need; shoppers only access the retail areas of this new Witzand superstore.

“This building is our showroom and must come with a modern access control system: SMARTair™ is the right system for us,” explains Kevin Hoitink at Witzand Almelo.

Flexible rights management made easy

With SMARTair™ wireless access control, Witzand facility managers tailor the precise security levels they need for different areas of the building. It’s easy to manage and amend access rights for every site user, to ensure authorised employees come and go freely, while everyone else is kept out.

The Almelo installation runs via an Update on Card system, which is ideal for premises with medium to high daily user traffic. With Update on Card management, administrators can set time-limited access rights and order audit trails when needed. Strategically located wall updaters provide a link between the software and the SMARTair™-protected doors.

It’s easy even for non-specialists to manage a SMARTair™ installation with the bundled, full-featured TS1000 admin software.

Witzand’s new flagship building was awarded a score of 56.6% by the Dutch BREEAM sustainability certification program*. Its employees, customers and valuable stock are kept safe by SMARTair™.

About Witzand: Witzand has been a renowned supplier of wood and other building materials since the 1890s. For more information, visit www.witzand.nl.

*: see www.breeam.nl/projecten/nieuwbouw-uitbreiding-witzand-almelo-0

Safety boost for Berlin’s “traffic light man”

London, June 2018 – The Ampelmännchen (“little traffic light man”) from the former GDR is a cult figure around the globe. For tourists, the shops of AMPELMANN GmbH in Berlin are a big draw. Branches are spread over the entire city, and to reduce the burden of employee and staff key assignment, the company sought to optimize access rights management. At the same time, branch security needed to be state-of-the-art. The CLIQ® access control solution from ASSA ABLOY met all these requirements with flying colours.

Founder and owner Markus Heckhausen sought a locking solution for eight AMPELMANN GmbH branches and a 2,200 m2 logistics centre, to meet the needs of a decentralized branch organization. This creative company, which manufactures and sells a wide variety of products under the AMPELMANN brand with the Ampelmännchen, did not want a complex system suited only to large companies with thousands of employees. It should be practicable and fast for a company with around 150 employees, yet still able to secure branches reliably.

Easy administration, maximum security

Small and medium-sized retailers face the same access control challenges as their large competitors. Employees need access to the store, warehouse and offices — but not every employee should have the same authority. Branches must be accessible to customers during opening hours, yet sufficiently secured after closing time against unauthorized access. Key management is often an elaborate, time-consuming process, even more so when keys are lost or stolen. In such cases, all locking systems must be replaced, which requires more effort and significant costs.

AMPELMANN GmbH in Berlin also faced these issues. Its eight branches are located in the best shopping areas in Berlin, each staffed by several employees. External service providers such as cleaners also need access to the building. A large staff roster and significant distance between branches create a major key management workload.

eCLIQ ensures branch security

Together with the Berlin locksmith Hinz, AMPELMANN owner Markus Heckhauen found a solution in the flexible, decentralized and reliable electronic locking system from ASSA ABLOY.

Uli Hahn, Managing Director of Hinz, has been providing security in and around Berlin for more than 50 years. He says: “The eCLIQ locking system is very powerful and safe compared to conventional systems. It is easy to handle and to assemble. Above all, it enables quick and easy administration of access authorizations, making it the perfect choice for medium-sized companies such as AMPELMANN.”

eCLIQ comes as a “plug and play” solution and is ready to use immediately after installation. The system works without cabling, so the extremely compact eCLIQ cylinder can be used in a wide variety of doors at any location. Power is supplied by batteries in each programmable key, which can be changed easily and without tools. A built-in chip makes every electronic key unique. Keys can be programmed directly on the cylinder, remotely or with easy-to-use eCLIQ Manager software.

In addition to compact design, the system is characterized by robust, durable and safe components. An integrated lubricant reservoir ensures the cylinders remain maintenance-free for up to 200,000 cycles. A high-quality processor protects the locking system against manipulation and intelligent attacks. Keys are also highly resistant and waterproof (IP67). eCLIQ cylinders and keys are VdS-certified (BZ +) and comply with the DIN EN 15684 standard for electronic locking systems. A wide range of different cylinder types makes the system suitable for many applications — from the company’s entrance gate to securing alarm systems, elevators, doors and cupboards.

Convincing solution

“Decisive in our choice of eCLIQ was that we could control access authorizations easily and flexibly at any time,” explains Markus Heckhausen. “If a key is lost, we can easily deactivate it and disable it.”

eCLIQ even makes time- and location-limited authorizations easy — for example, to allow cleaners to enter only at certain times. The allocation of access authorizations can now be coordinated conveniently by individual branch managers, within a system that ensures maximum security for all AMPELMANN GmbH shops.

For more information, please visit https://campaigns.assaabloyopeningsolutions.eu/cliq.

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a&s Adria – professional security magazine for providing total security solutions is a monthly circulating publication and a licenced representative of Messe Frankfurt New Era Business Media for Adriatic region, which consists of following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.