Networked surveillance allowing sweet dreams.
Never to be accused of lying down on the job, Dreams plc is living up to its title as 'Britain's leading Bed Specialist' by installing a Wide Area Network to connect each of its 100 plus stores. As Britain's fastest growing retailer, they were looking to maximize their investment by implementing solutions such as IP telephony and IP surveillance. Absolute Networks
Limited worked closely with Dreams plc to develop a cost effective
IP surveillance solution, fulfilling a number of different
requirements.
Using an IP solution implemented by Absolute Networks in conjunction with their Distributor Gardiner Security, the system does more than meet Dreams' requirements for security surveillance by also monitoring customer foot-fall (people-counting) using the recorded video image data and highlighting training requirements.
"We had challenges with the security of our stores. For example, we had recently introduced a range of smaller items such as pillows and duvets, and found that theft of such products was occurring. In order to protect both our stock and our staff from would-be thieves, it became clear that a dedicated solution was required. As we worked with Absolute Networks and learnt more about the capabilities of the Milestone Xprotect product and PiXORD IP camera, we identified a number of additional benefits that could be gained from this solution, such as customer foot fall analysis," reports Claire Harrison, Major Projects Manager at Dreams plc.
Dreams are now able to analyze the customer foot fall for each of their stores, then compare it to sales figures for any given day or week to assess the conversion ratio of their sales staff. This allows the management team to identify areas where business development is required, and improve service levels for their customers.
The system also enables the group to provide remote training for staff, along with the surveillance for every store, with the advantage of being scalable to grow in line with the group's plans for 200 stores.
A networked monitoring console is deployed at each of the Dreams stores nationwide, with the PiXORD IP cameras recording locally to preserve network bandwidth during critical business hours. The XProtect software has a built-in web interface that provides visibility of the camera footage in remote locations, with the option to view both live and recorded images. The XProtect motion detection log files are transferred across the Wide Area Network to a central repository during non-trading hours, where they are processed to produce the footfall data using additional software specially developed by Absolute Networks Limited (www.absolute-networks.co.uk).
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