As the roles of facilities managers, security managers and IT staff increasingly converge (as I wrote just last week), we are already seeing IT departments playing a bigger role in security operations.
More results from a survey carried out by the Centre for Retail Research have been revealed this week and they show that almost 50% of UK retailers see their IT department as ‘the key’ to them being able to get the full benefit from IP surveillance.
Nearly three quarters of UK retailers have held back from moving to IP cameras citing a lack of collaboration with IT and an absence of a clear return on investment, according to the survey.
The survey was commissioned by Axis Communications – who of course specialise exclusively in network surveillance cameras – and, somewhat unsurprisingly, the firm are keen to underline the potential applications for IP surveillance beyond security.
The latest set of results follows on from an earlier report that 60% of retailers think CCTV has had a direct effect in reducing theft.
Atul Rajput, retail specialist at Axis, said: “Surveillance is usually seen as the security department’s responsibility, used to protect the premises, staff and customers as well as against theft. However, as the technology evolves, IP surveillance is capable of so much more than security and safety, offering business intelligence as well as flexibility in the way that footage can be accessed and analysed.”
The survey revealed that retailers understood that networked surveillance systems could be used for more than loss prevention when integrated with business intelligence systems.
Around 80% understood that it could be used for people counting, 65% for dwell time analysis and 60% for queue management.
Cloud-based surveillance applications
Mr Rajput continued: “IT can play a pivotal role in facilitating cross department collaboration between security, marketing and operations, to unleash the true potential of IP surveillance systems and allow retailers to maximise the ROI on video surveillance spend.
“With IT departments currently exploring cloud based applications and services, embracing network video today will also ease integration into any future deployments of video based Cloud applications (VSaaS).
“Although the survey revealed that only 21% of respondents were considering deploying Cloud-based video solutions, as the respondents were primarily from loss prevention, it perhaps reinforces the view that collaboration with IT is the key to unlocking the full potential of IP video surveillance.”
The view that loss prevention experts are not planning on utilising VSaaS because they haven’t successfully managed to link up with their IT departments runs counter to a recent info4security article where Glenn Fletcher recognised that bandwidth limitations were the biggest stumbling block for VSaaS.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, from the Centre for Retail Research, sums up the reluctance of retailers to quickly migrate to IP surveillance systems.
He said: “This survey has highlighted how retailers are embracing technology and recognise the role that surveillance can play, but there is still some resistance, due to collaboration between departments, that is hampering the adoption of IP surveillance technologies.”
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Hi Rob Adding to the salient points that you make here, it’s also interesting to note the results of the British Retail Consortium’s latest Retail Crime Survey (for 2012). This year’s survey is the most comprehensive since it began – attracting responses from 44 retailers employing 1.4 million staff and representing 58% of the retail sector by turnover. The cost of crime has risen significantly again this year, increasing by 15.6% to an overall figure of £1.6 billion. The number of incidents has also risen in the majority of offences with the exception of robbery (which has remained stable) and violence… Read more »