In any retail environment, whether it’s a single small village shop or a huge company with an extensive chain of stores, the loss of goods can create a significant dent in revenue. Customers, employees and service companies can all contribute to shrinkage, so preventing theft is a complicated endeavor. To minimize these losses as much as possible, large retail chains like Colruyt have to invest in infrastructure to monitor merchandise and catch thieves. With more than 500 stores, in Colruyt’s case, a significant expenditure is necessary, both to procure the technology (cameras, network, servers, software) and train staff when new solutions are rolled out. That means protecting investments is even more important.
To safeguard company property — goods and buildings — Colruyt has been using video technology for many years. In the past, the video material was stored on DVRs and viewed on-site because devices could not be accessed from a central remote location. Eventually, though, numerous new branches in Europe and the diversification of the company — into freeway service stations, for example — highlighted the limitations of the existing analog systems.
Colruyt’s core management team in Halle, Belgium, directed its IT department to examine and evaluate alternatives, with a primary focus on a flexible approach that would support the company’s growth. Intuitive operation was a non-negotiable requirement, so as not to burden employees on the ground, including store detectives and management, with any more work than absolutely necessary. To further relieve staff, perimeter security for stores and office buildings was needed to be handled from a central surveillance point.
When it came to the search for the new video solution, the focus quickly fell on Octave Coda Video (formerly HxGN dC3 Video), which was recommended by a Belgian partner company. Colruyt largely does without external service companies for everyday operations, preferring to rely on its own resources. This applies to its workshops, vehicle fleets and properties, as well as the IT department, which has been spun off as a subsidiary and handles all the IT systems in stores and office buildings. As vendor- and platform-independent software, Coda Video fulfilled Colruyt’s wishes to remain independent; Colruyt’s own well-trained staff was able to implement and configure the new system in-house, with little operational downtime.
Coda Video also met the requirements of scalability and flexibility because it’s an IP-based solution that permits both the use of existing infrastructure and the efficient implementation of a centralized approach.