Toni Polo
Sales director EMEA. SCATI
Nowadays, banking security is an issue of great importance due to the constant technological advances that have been introduced in the financial world. Therefore, maintaining the balance between security and accessibility of their services has become a constant challenge for financial institutions.
For most security managers, technological innovation in branch offices leads to a decrease in the number of incidents, allows them to improve procedures or optimize the performance of their staff, making them much more effective.
However, many financial institutions have taken advantage of the benefits that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Big Data bring to video surveillance systems to attract, measure and improve the experience of their customers, having a great use of these advances by the different departments of the bank, benefiting from commercial, or operational, intelligence in relation to what happens in their facilities.
As we have just explained, the challenges faced by banks are numerous and very diverse, among which the following can be highlighted:
CHANGES IN THREATS. Banks are on the front line in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. This means economic losses in the millions, as well as negative repercussions on the image of the financial institutions themselves. A reliable video surveillance system provides the necessary tools to protect against physical and cyber threats.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT. Upgrading to an intelligent video system represents a major investment involving many departments in the organization. The choice should lead to an optimization of tasks and times, a reduction of maintenance costs and a maximization of the profitability obtained with the system for each department of the bank. Increasingly, video systems are being sought that offer advantages for all departments of the company and not only for the security area.
THE POWER OF DATA. Video Business Intelligence allows you to process data from your CCTV system, providing you with a cross-cutting tool for business decision making. State-of-the-art video systems can provide them with information to reduce uncertainty and make good decisions.
The key lies in having a complete platform for the management of the current potential of video surveillance, which is modular, allowing each user to make use of those modules and features that best suit their daily operations. A platform that makes use of AI and big data, combined with a powerful VMS. This is what we call the “smart office” concept, which is implemented for two purposes.
The first is to further improve the safety of the facility itself, the people and the assets present there. Ensuring full coverage of banking facilities 24 hours a day, in addition to capturing all activity and incidents, it means that recorded images can even mitigate or prevent future activity, providing security personnel with alerts or analysis to record unauthorized activity outside of business hours. All these alerts facilitate a posteriori the forensic investigation, but also favor a preventive management, focusing on a concept of predictive security of the facilities. It is the anticipation that something may happen.
The second focuses on the collection of business data which, properly structured and processed, becomes very valuable information to provide operational intelligence to the different areas of the bank and thus improve operational efficiency.
Determine the number of customers waiting in line at the teller window or ATM, and how long they have been waiting.
Receive notifications when a customer has exceeded the acceptable waiting time limit.
To have statistical data on the number of clients visiting the different offices segmented by time intervals, gender or age.
Know how long customers stay in a specific area of the office, either at the counter or at the sales advisors.
Credibility and trust between banks and their customers can take years to build, but can be quickly shattered by the smallest detail.
Ultimately, the ultimate goal of AI in video surveillance within the banking sector is not only to keep customers safe, but also to ensure that they have the best possible in-branch experience while maximizing the bank’s profits.