COPENHAGEN – 22 November 2007. Milestone Systems, a world-leading developer of open platform IP video management software, has now released version 2.5 of XProtect Transact, an integrated solution for managing shrinkage through combined surveillance and transaction data. Retail, banking, transportation, hospitality and other industries are looking to optimize the handling of shrinkage due to fraud, errors and theft. In the retail sector alone, both shoplifting and employee theft is a well documented cause of major financial losses. The 19th Annual Retail Theft Survey recently quoted that in the US, the average shoplifting case involved $128.71 in lost goods. Furthermore, one out of every 27 employees was found to steal products with an average value of $851.00. Over half a million people were apprehended in these cases with a total of $116.00 million in stolen items. Across the Atlantic, the UK has reported that ‘the retail industry as a whole is estimated to be losing around £2 billion per annum through fraud and theft.’
To help reduce this, the combination of digital video tapped into transactions is proving to be a solution that enables detection of suspicious incidents. The results are measurable. The US study, for example, showed that $56.6 million was recovered from employee theft apprehensions. Improved procedures in hiring, training and monitoring - specifically the use of Point-of-Sale exception reporting software coupled with video surveillance - has helped. |
