Take some diverse business scenarios: A hotel manager guides his staff to provide optimal service on a hectic Saturday, but he feels like some guests are departing unhappy. Further down the street, a hospital doctor notices that emergency room wait times are stretching longer and longer, and she exerts herself to find a way to see everyone quickly. A retail clerk discovers that they are $300 short of their sales target even though the store is crowded. An exhausted bank security officer must maintain security by himself because his colleague called off for the night.
Each of these business situations have a commonality, according to Andreas Pettersson, company CEO. They could all benefit from a single solution: connected intelligent video surveillance. Arcules is a connected intelligent video cloud solution based in Los Angeles.
Digital Journal caught up with Pettersson to gain an insight into the emerging world of video as a service.
Digital Journal: What is connected intelligent video?
Andreas Pettersson: Connected intelligent video uses cloud technologies and artificial intelligence to generate advanced analytics, transforming enterprise video and IoT sensor data into actionable insights. Video is not always the first platform that businesses think of when it comes to IoT, but it is an extremely useful tool for decision-making. Video provides real-time data that can improve business security and maximize competitive edge.
DJ: Which types of business might benefit from this technology?
Pettersson: Connected Intelligent video capabilities can aid several industries.Video can improve both asset protection measures, as well as, optimize businesses for growth. The combination of video, IoT and advanced analytics enables the security industry to move from reactive to preventative actions. threats can be addressed with less human intervention, meaning that it can help a security guard identify a safety risk quicker than if he were monitoring screens alone.
Video can also act as a business optimization consultant. The technology can provide close observations that regular employees simply cannot, such as minute employee actions or customer interactions. These small detections are then aggregated and evaluated to find solutions for inefficiencies or obstacles that keep a business from maximizing productivity. For example, video surveillance can analyze foot patterns in retail stores and suggest where poorly selling products can be more prominently displayed. It can also suggest how to decrease wait times in hotel lobbies, or where low traffic paths are located within busy cities.
DJ: How does this technology fit with the Internet of Things?
Pettersson:The value in IoT comes from integrating multiple devices into intelligent systems. Everything is connected. But it’s video data that ties the insights from all devices into one comprehensive understanding of a space. Finally network connectivity as well cloud security and infrastructure are at a place where video can become the primary sensor in an IoT-enabled environment.
When IoT sensors are combined with video surveillance they can detect, predict and prevent problems or inefficiencies faster than someone watching multiple monitors or sensors on their own.
DJ: How about predictive analytics? What’s the link here?
Pettersson:Connected intelligent video abilities surpass the functionality of analog surveillance due in part to the potential of predictive analytics. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technology uses data to continually improve anticipated responses, and then recommend preventative measures for the future based on that activity. For example, intelligent video can track a bank’s busiest and most vulnerable times of the day due to foot traffic patterns and employee actions. It can also utilize predictive analytics to identify someone in a ski mask standing outside the bank and flag them as a threat. Once identified, IoT sensors can automatically lock bank doors and alert police and staff.
DJ: What types of inferences can be drawn from video data?
Pettersson:Video cloud IoT as a service employs powerful analytics to find correlations between video and IoT sensors data. Real-time analytics of cross-sensor data help companies move from reactive to preventative and predictive measures. Examples include loss prevention in retail. Intelligent video is able to detect shoplifting and “sweethearting” discrepancies sooner than a human monitoring video footage would. All industries have similar use cases that range from asset protection to business optimization across locations and geographies.
DJ: Is connected intelligent video compatible with cloud computing?
Pettersson:Cloud computing is what makes connected intelligent video possible. The cloud allows us to aggregate and centrally store captured data so users can see trends across locations and over time. Video in the cloud offers companies to scale and deploy rapidly, matching the needs of each company as their needs evolve.
DJ: How are data privacy concerns addressed?
Pettersson:At Arcules, providing full end-to-end security for our customer sensitive video data has always been a top priority. Our company is proud to say that we have joined the EU Cloud Code of Conduct to affirm our commitment to protecting data in the cloud ahead of the GDPR deadline.
DJ: Which types of companies does Arcules work with?
Pettersson:We work with enterprise customers across industries looking to better optimize their security and businesses, leveraging cloud technologies and advanced video analytics. Arcules provides transformative solutions to corporations with multiple locations. Each site possesses immense video footage, that when aggregated and analyzed offer improved security and smarter business decisions for growth.
