Genetec™, a manufacturer of unified IP security solutions announced that its flagship security platform, Security Center, now supports the Prism analytics package from Prism Skylabs, to provide cloud-based, business intelligence tools for retailers.

By integrating Prism with Security Center, retailers can extend their existing video surveillance camera system to provide valuable in-store data and metrics to monitor store traffic reports, monitor customer shopping trends, and remotely inspect store merchandising and brand displays.

Retailers currently rely on video management systems (VMS) to mitigate theft, protect their patrons, premises and employees, and collect video evidence to resolve claims and incidents.

In the past few years, new analytics tools have become available as separate systems to assist retailers in gaining new insight on shopping patterns and behaviors.

When used with Genetec Security Center, Prism allows retailers to leverage the video data from their existing security cameras to generate retail analytics while ensuring the safety of their customers and premises.

By leveraging a unified security platform across their operations, retailers can to improve their customers’ shopping experience, while maximizing their investment in their video surveillance system.

“It’s our goal to bring next-generation analytics technology to new classes of devices,” said Prism CEO and Founder Steve Russell. “Genetec is one of the best video management systems in the world, and together we offer a powerful solution for retailers.”

With built-in masking features that ensure shopper privacy, Prism analyzes video camera data to generate visual activity patterns and maps.

Real-time store traffic reports are also generated by Prism to help store managers determine appropriate staffing at peak periods.

System-generated heat maps analyze where customers are shopping and spending most of their time to optimize shopper engagement with store merchandise and promotional activities.

This helps store managers determine ideal locations of in-store displays and promotions, while mobile access to the Prism web client enables retailers to remotely view stores to ensure that operational and merchandising guidelines are followed.

“Security Center is built on an open-platform specifically to welcome software partners like Prism Skylabs to extend the features and functionality of our unified IP security system,” said Jimmy Palatsoukas, senior product marketing manager at Genetec. “With their focus of providing insightful business analytics and intelligence tools to the retail community, we can help our customers in this vertical maximize their security investment by enabling them to optimize in-store sales, marketing, and operational activities,” added Palatsoukas.