Your surveillance system might be the chink in your armour. Make it fool-proof with AI Vision

Dozens of digital eyes peer at us today – guarding us from the moment we step out of our homes, and sometimes even before. We have surveillance cameras watching over our gates, our roads, and our offices, and even overseeing us in shops, malls, and ATMs.

Between Chennai, Hyderabad, and Delhi being among the top ten cities in the world with the highest number of CCTV cameras per square kilometre, and video surveillance buttressing Indian investigative agencies as they crack violent cases – these cameras have already proven themselves to be indispensable. It is, therefore, imperative to have cameras surveying your company’s premises, and to use them as the bedrock of your business’ security structure.

But these digital eyes are only as good as their human counterparts monitoring a feed. CCTVs’ watchful presence might prove to be a powerful deterrent, but their passivity results in complete reliance on external forces for intervention. These days, law enforcement too depends on captured footage to solve crime.

Things are changing, however, with  AI Vision (Artificially Intelligent Vision) – the tool that effectively marries computer vision algorithms with data-driven learning of Artificial Intelligence. Installing vision intelligence technology amplifies a company’s video surveillance system, transforming billions of hours of footage from an overwhelming wave of monotony into an organized database to apprehend perpetrators.

Here are six ways in which computer vision can help your company reduce security risks:

Identification

Cameras with AI Vision are significantly more adept at recognising and labelling objects – whether human, vehicle, or weapon. Installing this technology is an easy investment, especially considering most facilities are equipped with CCTV cameras.

This intelligence elevates an average camera, making it accurately identify a human presence even in the case of a partial capture. This process can even be widened to study people’s proportions and gaits, and can be trained to identify people based on these traits – even during less than ideal circumstances.

Automated identity recognition

The specificity that computer vision-powered cameras allow for, based in the technology’s pattern-recognition techniques, enables them to verify the identity of individuals based on extremely distinct features – like biometric identification through iris and retina scans. By extension, this technology allows for digitising all company documents since signatories can be corroborated through this highly precise process. These modes of biometric authorisation simplify and solidify security processes, and consequently reduce the scope for fraudulent activities.

Future forward

With the possibility of analysing movements and recognizing suspicious behavior in real time, and immediately notify authorities. Something as minute as a deceitful glance can be captured. From ringing alarms exactly when an item is shoplifted, to alerting authorities, vision intelligence turns CCTV cameras into a proactive part of cracking crime. Computer vision can also identify contextually dangerous behavior – such as a worker showing signs of fatigue and dozing off while operating high-risk equipment.

Outside of security concerns, these AI Vision capabilities can track behavior to provide detailed insights into what stakeholders and business partners respond to positively and negatively on company premises. Just tap into the data AI Vision gathers on your organisation’s performance indicators – from customer satisfaction to client retention rates.

Omnipresence: Computer vision can monitor all visitors on the premises, and alert security teams in a fraction of a second if an attempted robbery or security breach is occurring. The response – such as locking down the area – can be immediate. This promptness, along with hyper-specific discernment, enables security teams to share access privileges on an individual level, and allows them to even track miscreants through vision intelligence.

Furthermore, critical assets can be surveilled in real time – whether they are highly valued technologies or cash. Cogniphi’s AI Vision collection of historical data and pattern-learning capabilities can even offer a guide to where human resources need to be focused to strengthen the company’s security structure. And in case the crime has already occurred, security personnel can rely on the database to sift out relevant information within seconds – whether that detail is a man in a blue shirt, or a license plate. Computer vision – through a technique called “generative adversarial networks” – even offers the ability to enhance and recreate images, providing security teams more valuable visual details around critical incidents.

Safety measures: The midst of a raging pandemic, Vision Intelligence-enabled cameras can ensure that employees and workers socially distance on the premises. This technology can also alert workers who are dangerously close to hazardous equipment, or toxic substances.

Computer vision’s deep learning faculties can also understand manufacturing and standard operating procedures, and make sure materials and processes are being handled safely on the factory floor.

Similarly, Cogniphi AI Vision can track statutory compliance and make sure the company adheres to rules and regulations including the Factories Act, Shops and Establishment Act, and even Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act.

Quick training: Newly hired employees can receive access privileges based on their scope of work. AI Vision’s expanding database can also serve as an exhaustive resource when it comes to training workers on standard operating procedures, and areas that need the focus of increased human resources – for instance, deploying more security personnel at risk-points.

Computer vision capabilities don’t replace human resources, rather they enhance and augment manned security systems. AI Vision’s surveillance offerings can predict critical security instances before they occur, prevent them from happening through a real time warning system, and protect you and your company’s valuable assets. This is an irrefutably reliable way to make your security systems proactive and fortified.

A new era for Retail Stores

A new era for Retail Stores

Retail is probably the one business that has undergone the most transformation and faced most challenges in the past few years. At the same time it is also the business where the most opportunities have opened up for the months ahead.

Whether it is super market chains, convenience stores, restaurants, electronic stores or food delivery service, the need of the hour is to be prepared for disruptions, and equip yourself to be able to pivot quickly to new ways of delivering products, services and customer experiences.

And, for that you must ensure you have the right technology to adapt to change. The time to think fresh, accept new concepts and experiment is Now.

Changed consumer behaviour has driven a multi channel approach

Shopping online has created a whole new world of shopping habits. The routine and practices of shoppers have clearly changed a great deal. Many customer habits have in fact changed forever. This has created the need for a major transformation in how retailers respond to an evolving situation.

An online shopping platform has become unavoidable to any large or medium retail business. But it has several challenges in cyber safety, infrastructure and supply-chain management, sporadic peaks and lows in demand, and the enormous issues involved in home delivery services.

Those who have weathered the storm are typically the retailers who have taken the hybrid route, being able to meet consumer needs irrespective of where the shopper is, whether it is in the physical store or online. Not that this approach is devoid of practical problems. It is not rare that an online sale has happened and the product ordered is out of stock.

An integrated technology solution is what successful retailers have adopted to manage critical operational functions in a hybrid model: tracking overall inventory in real time, keeping tab on the customer journey and preferences, making personalized offers and communications.

Click & Collect models (ordering online and pick-up at the store) are not only popular but also encourage more in-store visits and larger baskets.

Promoting and selling specific products based on preferences through social media is also a booming trend since it helps you find new customers.

Alibaba’s Hema supermarkets in China now run as a combination of a physical store, a restaurant and a fulfillment centre, with more than half the sales done via the app and picked up from the store.

Hence, the name of the game is to Go Hybrid. Technology and Artificial Intelligence will help you work with the right data and keep alive a connected software solution to seamlessly drive the multiple-channel business and transform your profitability.

Retail experiences will mostly be at a safe distance

While personalised experiences and engagements will continue to be key elements in retail, self-service concepts like contact-less check out will become the norm increasingly. Latest advances in Point of Sale technologies, like mobile PoS that can close transactions at wherever in the Store the customer is, are replacing traditional billing counters.

Vision Intelligence will play a huge part as the most popular technology in cashier-less outlets. You will soon see ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors enabling the shopper to buy and leave without having to scan and pay. Contactless payment, being quick and convenient for the shopper as well as saving space for the retailer, is expected to become common sooner than later.

Retail processes will, without doubt, in the near future be driven by adoption of more and more technology.

 

Streamlining product lines will make for an easy shopping experience

The number of product options in a retail store is bound to reduce, which may be a boon for the shopper who may have got used to the search and filter service in online browsing and would prefer to walk around less and take quicker decisions. This would also be a welcome move for the retailer who can look now at a smaller and selected inventory.

Understanding the customer becomes a crucial factor in determining the choice of inventory. Garnering contextual data and utilizing artificial intelligence solutions will be key to keeping pace with customers’ wants.

Real time Data and Analytics will aid in finding new opportunities

Retailers must invest in technologies to move ahead with digital transformation to upgrade their capabilities and stay ahead of competition. Many retail businesses would have closed down during the pandemic if not for running their IT in the Cloud. By helping them make full use of data to get invaluable and actionable insights, advanced analytical tools in the Cloud also proved more than just useful in understanding clients and predicting demand.

Demand forecasting technologies using AI becomes absolutely essential to spot trends and patterns. Predictive tools that use AI and ML will be the most widely used ones to keep pace with change. The most accurate predictions though will come with a combination of the machine’s analytical abilities and human ingenuity and the awareness of external factors.