Video management software (VMS) with network cameras are being deployed across all of Paul Smith’s 45 stores as part of the UK-based retailer’s first company-wide IT refresh. Initially the new digital video system is being used for loss prevention but once it is fully in place worldwide by the end of 2015, Paul Smith plans to use it for business intelligence to assist retail operations management.

Paul Smith has been an early adopter of IP and cloud-based services. In 2001, it migrated to IP telephony, installing a Cisco IPT network. Embracing the latest IT management approaches, the company has been able to maintain a relatively small network services team despite growth.

Paul Smith has a retail presence in 35 countries. This approach means that when new IT challenges present themselves, Paul Smith’s Head of IT, Lee Bingham, pictured, looks for standards-based products that can be scaled up.

He specifies that new systems and services must last a minimum of ten years because he simply does not have the manpower or budget to go on replacements of devices and software.

Paul Smith’s legacy CCTV had grown organically as the group expanded. When the IT department was asked to take over running Paul Smith’s CCTV, Lee Bingham insisted that it must be moved to IP video and be visible on the corporate network.

“If it’s not IP then it’s not IT, and therefore it made no sense to move it from our Facilities Management team over to the IT department unless the CCTV system was going to be accessible on the network by authorized managers from their desktops.?

The company backed the IT department?s three-year global migration plan from CCTV-to-IP video. The installation and networking of Milestone XProtect Corporate software and Axis cameras is being carried out as part of a global IT upgrade, with new retail Point of Sale (POS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.[…]