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Security for Bank Facilities
The first recollection that individuals who grew up during the early seventies have of seeing a video surveillance in use was most likely on their local evening news program. Numerous still frame camera images would typically appear sequentially over a short period of time. However, clear pictures were not produced by this time-lapse recording procedure. Pictures were not well-focused and were usually black and white.
Banks and possibly casinos were just about the only two places using video surveillance systems, back in those days. This is due to the fact that video surveillance was commonly affordable by only these two industries.
In fact if you were a competitor on the "The Family Feud” (a popular game show), and the host of the show asked you the question, "identify an industry that uses video security technology," without a shadow of a doubt, banks would have been one of the top two answers available.
Catching a Crooks with Modern Security Technology
Nowadays, people might probably answer that question in the same manner. On the other hand, if the question were asked a in another style, "specify an industry that utilizes the most high-tech video security devices," banks would not be an acceptable answer. Financial institutions, by and large, are still playing catch-up as opposed to an industry that uses the most state-of-the-art video surveillance.
The reality of the situation is that as an industry, the surveillance technology used by the majority of American banks today lags far behind the technology that can readily be found in many local utility shops. On the other hand, a division of Fidelity Financial Services called Fidelity Integrated Financial Solutions may just redefine how banks envision and utilize video surveillance technology for the coming decades.
The Fidelity Company was successful in developing TellerPlusTM. This proprietary bank teller application provides for the banking industry in much the same way that a point-of-sale cash register system serves the vending marketplace. In essence, it provides administrative tools for all account activity and transactions that take place between a bank and its patrons. As expected, bank teller software is a vital part of every local branch's daily routine of procedures. Not to mention that it also has been a critical tool used in law enforcement facilities.
Assisting Law Enforcement Personnel
During the recent years, the federal security laws implemented post 9/11 have started to place pressure on banking institutions to improve their ability to provide quick and detailed data on doubtful account operations. Governmental organizations with a counter-terrorism agenda are increasingly asking for help from financial institutions to supply them with financial transaction records of known terrorist individuals, including their contacts, associates, friends, , as well as businesses and charities they frequent deal with. It is absolutely critical to provide such data especially under the Patriot Act. Technology is the main element that can decide the degree and speed to which a financial institution is able to provide such information. Relating suspicious account transaction histories to the genuine video of the individuals involved in those transactions is clearly very advantageous.
Representatives from Fidelity Integrated Financial Solutions responsible for the development of the bank teller software began contacting several digital video surveillance manufactures, in October 2005, in an attempt to locate a company willing to create a joint venture software interface. Once concluded, the effort would create a new product capable of relating a digital video clip with the application interface.
According to the TellerPlus development manager with Fidelity, Locating a company who was even willing to talk to them about the possibility was more difficult than they projected. After a long tireless search, American Sentry Guard seemed to have both the required technical staff and interest necessary to carry out what they wanted to accomplish.
Continuing on, the software team needed a way to create video records incorporated with electronic data records of all bank teller operations and tied to together with a single faultless utility. Obtaining the technological capability to retrieve real-time video of a particular peron as he or she enters the bank and relating that person's video to an actual transaction while inside the bank, is something law enforcement agencies have always been aspiring for. It has become even more important, especially after the 9/11 tragic events.
That process is incredibly labor intensive to say the least especially with all the current surveillance systems and bank teller systems out there today. According to the director of windows and platform development for Fidelity, locating the account transaction in their bank teller software was easy, however, the real concern lies in getting the corresponding video to go along with that transaction. This tedious process entails having to sort through hours and hours of visual media. Obviously, it just wasn't an effortless process for the majority of banks to implement. They were sure that there had to be a better way to carry out this procedure. This is precisely how this whole ordeal got initiated.
Initiating the Process
The production of a working module required that they maintained their joint effort for about three months. The model is currently being tested by Fidelity at a test branch facility in a close by state.
Until now, the only positive responses were received. They soon realized that the further they have this device in its true-world surroundings, the more practical applications they begin to generate
The notion of incorporating patron transaction history with visual media has been a mark of the digital video surveillance revolution among retailers for quite some time now. The capability of observing how sales associates operate with customers has yielded major shares to training departments of corporate retail corporations all over the nation.
Does anyone really think the dividends could be any less especially with banking institutions? Think about the worth of being able to sort customer transactions when coupled with live audio and video of the incident.
Assume a patron believes a mistake was made by the banker in counting the amount of money involved in a deposit or withdrawal. A protest emerges. But how does the bank act in response to it? Without a proper security system the bank’s hands will be tied. However, a live video of the transaction allows a response to be quite effortless. All what they have to do is simply pull up the transaction and replay the original transaction as it occurs to find out what exactly went wrong. You see, cameras don't hide any information. Not to mention that employees and customers sometimes make mistakes all the time.
If you ponder for a minute you will realize the value to bank of losing one account where the average deposit is several thousand dollars if not more. These are the kinds of accounts banks can't manage to fiddle with.
Furthermore, no one really knows how those customers are being treated when they first come into the branch or the transaction of a specific patron went. Anything could happen while the boss or manger is not watching or present at the facility
Observing Everything
When people think that someone is watching they do more good and less bad. One or two employees might be urged to be on their best behavior, even when the boss isn't there especially after realizing that the boss has the ability to pull up virtually any type of transaction an employee has been involved in, as well as see and hear exactly how they carried out their daily duties. Due to the way a particular customer is treated or not treated large accounts are lost every day in the banking industry.
Like all businesses, banks, function in a very competitive industry. When customers come to withdraw their money they all give out the same dollar. A bank offers its customer does not offer to its customers any proprietary or patented products. In any industry almost every announcement, television or radio advertisement tries to promote the idea that “the customer is not just a number at in our business”. It is obviously that the way people are treated while in the bank makes a huge difference on the reputation of the business as a whole.
Banks have a powerful tool that can help them do what they do better especially with video surveillance fully incorporated into bank teller software.
On top of the enormous amount of training and customer service benefits, but it also can aid banks in streamlining their back end management procedures.
The people on the back end that get paid to watch, verify and audit that the people on the front end bank clerk are doing their job correctly, sincerely and mistake-free make up a large part of the banking industries costs . The average customer does not usually see these people. However, their role is vital in any bank.
The bank’s officials believe that this new teller/DVR product has the potential to significantly streamline a bank's efficiency in many areas and from many aspects.
At a recent meeting with a group of about 200 managers they played a short and quick demo of this product to show its most prominent features. The video was actually a very small, sort of supplementary part of the meeting, however after it was played nearly everyone wanted additional information, had inquires or wanted to know when this device might be obtainable."
The term "banking on security" may take on a whole new meaning for financial institutions in the coming years due to the early level of interest established by the Fidelity Company. Like so many other industries, the banking industry, is realizing a new actuality: a business's can push revenue and profits to a whole new level by adding digital video surveillance as a management tool, alongside with its more traditional use as a security and asset protection tool. It is similar to having cash in the bank; in fact without this technology all the cash could be gone.
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