Proof of ROI propels technology transition
ORLANDO, Fla.--How do you sell a company on moving to an updated technology platform? For Louis DeFalco, corporate director of safety and security for ABC Fine Wine and Spirits, he had to show senior executives that the change would provide "a massive amount of ROI."
When DeFalco joined the company, it was nearly a "half-billion per year company at the time" and they were still using VCRs. After spending time running security and surveillance at hotels and casinos in Vegas, DeFalco knew what technology could accomplish, but there was resistance.
"I really had to revamp the whole infrastructure and create new policies, procedures and protocols from scratch," he said. "This company is family owned and at the time was very old school. They were not open to the changes but I knew I needed to show some significant changes in their shrink and overall business practices."
DeFalco broke down situations to prove the benefits of upgrading the surveillance platform. At that time, investigators had to travel in some cases up to six hours if law enforcement requested video footage from a store, adding up to a bevy of loss time and fuel costs for ABC.
This is just one example of DeFalco's strategy, which also included tightening inventory and cash controls, but today, ABC, the largest privately held wine and liquor merchant in the United States that has 153 retail stores in Florida, runs Verint's Nextiva Specialty Retail Solution. This video management system, which is integrated with its IBM POS solution through customized integration, enables the security staff and managers remote access to stores and provides them with the ability to search logs for specific events by employee, date and ID.
"The amount of savings just on gas, man hours and efficiency is huge, not to include the relationship we now have with law enforcement agencies around the state. They can now call me, request video and I can have it sent to them via e-mail in five minutes."
Now, if a glass break alarm goes off in a store -- ABC monitors its alarms in-house and employs its own security technicians -- DeFalco can view that video immediately and tell law enforcement if a burglary is happening and what the criminal is wearing.
"That I can go to this live and tell officers that the guy is wearing a grey hoodie is priceless." he said. "We have caught so many bad guys across the state because of this technology. And the quality of the video blows law enforcement's mind."
Matt Tengwall, senior director of retail solutions for Verint, said ABC also recently asked Verint to track shipments that come in via their own delivery trucks. As each box is unloaded, it is scanned and the information is transmitted wirelessly to an access point in the store. The data is then relayed with the video at the back of the store and transactions can be searched just as they would be at the POS system.
The company is also using the system to track trends and the flow of traffic in its stores. It uses video footage to conduct internal training on shoplifting, fake IDs, check and credit card fraud and counterfeiting.
Mariann McDonagh, senior vice president of corporate marketing for Verint, said the video surveillance firm advocates the practice of using traditional security products for purposes beyond surveillance. She said video should be viewed just as any enterprise data and not siloed so that it can be used for a variety of purposes.
DeFalco, who spent 25 years in law enforcement before moving to Las Vegas surveillance, said it is difficult to make arguments for new technology in the retail sector.
"Coming from Vegas, I had the best of the best. A lot of casinos were using VCRs but the software applications were very advanced. In Vegas, if you need it and it makes the job better, do it."
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