Avigilon Video Analytics Product Manager Quits
With the VideoIQ acquisition complete, Avigilon has made a significant hire to product manage their video analytics portfolio. Instead of promoting / moving someone from VideoIQ, they have a hired away a SAP veteran who managed business intelligence.
Here's a short demo of SAP's business intelligence approach:
Notice this is similar to retail video analytics but much different than security ones.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves as 'data mining' and 'number crunching' have been far less popular solutions for video analytics in surveillance that tripwire / perimeter violation and other alert focused actions.
Update: the manager has now quit.
Man, it seems business analytics and video analytics have very little crossover. In the intro video embedded above, there is no mention, not even a hint, of video.
I suppose at some point data is data, but doing video analytics right and understanding the challenges behind it are really specialized.
This may be a great hire, but plumbers don't typically make good electricians or vice versa.
I welcome this marriage. VideoIQ was expert as using VA to improve security. Maybe a fresh perspective can help identify where else VA can provide value. With any luck, this team may hit on a host of new applications that have tangible ROIs for VA, unlike security. Good luck to them!
SAP being a leader in enterprise data management, I can definitely see how this can be a plus, particularly if Avigilon develops an application that will allow customers to interface the data from the VideoIQ appliance with SAP and other ERP tools so it can be manipulated and actioned easily.
They'll be able to bring immediate value to an A-list of well established, and usually large clients, as well as allow them to generate very interesting cross-selling opportunities for their other products.
What would be an example of a practical application where you would 'interface the data from the VideoIQ appliance with SAP'? I ask because I am not aware of any other analytics vendors doing such integrations. If you know of specific implementations, please share.
This comment reads like something Dan Dunkel would write.
Alain, no offense intended, but it does not appear you understand what SAP (and like systems) do in the retail world.
The best example is auto replenishment and analysis. A store sells 100 of X widget in a day. The store only sells 100, on average, in a week. The SAP system automatically adjusts that stores next delivery from the DC while also adjusting the order from the manufacturer. It also flags this to the buyers and compare X widget sales across sister stores to identify any type of trend they may be able to get a jump on. This information is also shared with merchandising, operations and marketing.
Given this scenario, how do you think video analytics would add any actionable intelligence?
What you're refering to are agregate sales, inventory, and order management. Those are only a few of the many things SAP and other ERP systems can do for a retail business.
With traffic analysis, which SAP can also handle through the BI module, you can actually get down to how many customers walked into the store and when, how many of those walked by the display where those widgets are and when, how much time did those customers spend in front or in the area of that display, when was each unit sold, was there a promotion on when it happened, was that promotion for those widgets or something else that may or may not be a considered complimentary product, how many of those widgets were actually in the display when those walk-bys happened (were they out of stock or not), was there enough/too much/not enough staff to serve them at the time the customers walked by the shelf where the widgets are located so that the sales could/couldn't be closed, and so on.
Assuming all of that data has been captured using the proper tools, video analytics potentially being one of them, this is all extremely useful information for a retailer to have in order to manage its operations when you're able to put it all together so that it makes sense.
With traffic analysis, which SAP can also handle through the BI module, you can actually get down to how many customers walked into the store and when, how many of those walked by the display where those widgets are and when, how much time did those customers spend in front or in the area of that display, when was each unit sold, was there a promotion on when it happened, was that promotion for those widgets or something else that may or may not be a considered complimentary product, how many of those widgets were actually in the display when those walk-bys happened (were they out of stock or not), was there enough/too much/not enough staff to serve them at the time the customers walked by the shelf where the widgets are located so that the sales could/couldn't be closed, and so on
Customer counting / walk bys is the only item here that video analytics can do that cant be gleaned from the POS data. The store already knows how many they have on hand, and how many they sell and if there's a sale. What the widget is determines whether the customer needs assisitance, whether its answering a question or unlocking a case.
But as mentioned none of this is applicable to the SAP model. If it was, the Germans would have brought it into the fold long ago, as they did with RFID for inventory logisitcs
But as mentioned none of this is applicable to the SAP model.
I think SAP is very aware of the challenges retailers face, and as I pointed out earlier their BI module can already be used to address this.
The single widget example oversimplifies those challenges. Most retailers have hundreds, if not thousands of products to keep track of, spread across dozens of aisles or departments, and hundreds of customers who come in every day and who's needs they need to try to meet. Because when they don't, those customers are very likely to go somewhere else and those are lost sales.
Online retailers have been on top of their customers' buying habits, such as when they buy, what they buy, and how much time they spend shopping on their sites, for a long time simply because they have access to a lot more detailed information about them.
Brick-and-mortar businesses are just beginning their journey.
Net/net, Avigilon bought a security focused video analytics company for $31 million, hired a product manager whose experience is in a totally different market that is unproven for security/surveillance vendors to succeed in, and Avigilon dealers are excited...
Their new hire's experience extends way beyond retail. In fact, I don't even think she has retail experience. That's just the example we've been focusing on on this thread since yesterday.
Having someone from the outside, with a different skillset, doing this will probably could have more benefit than might be apparent at first because she's likely to be asking questions insiders might never have considered.
"Having someone from the outside, with a different skillset, doing this will probably have more benefit than might be apparent at first because she's likely to be asking questions insiders might never have considered."
In related news:
"Phil Jackson was hired as the head coach of the Denver Broncos today. GM John Elway declared, "What we really need is an outsider who can ask questions us football people have never considered. Knowing the domain one works in is overrated, as Michael Jordon's successful transition to baseball proved to us all."
"Just hire some electricians to design and install your surveillance system. Their lack of experience is a big plus."
It seems pretty clear Avigilon wants to diversify its business beyond conventional security/surveillance and into other applications so that they can stand out from the pack.
And if I'm not mistaken, they've been saying this for a long time.
Evolution doesn't happen without risk taking. It's not as if they're throwing their security/surveillance expertise out the window.
"... as Michael Jordon's successful transition to baseball proved to us all."
But then you have guys like Deion Sanders, and a few other good multi-sport athletes. (Notice Micheal Jordan didn't make it into actually made that list ;) )
Update: Less than a year later, Avigilon's analytics product manager has quit Avigilon to join an HR 'datafication' startup.
Update: Avigilon has a replacement for the analytics product manager, Steven Mueller, who previously worked in computer networking.
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