Sports retailer uses software to join up data

CCTV and suspicious transactions tallied with new software

Retailer Streetwise Sports is using software to automate the integration of till data with CCTV camera footage.

The sportswear chain, which has 30 stores in the UK, is one of the first to use this software to match unusual transactions to footage of sales at the till.

‘We had an incident in one of our stores and the police requested a copy of the CCTV footage,’ said Terry Crookes, Streetwise IT manager. ‘We were able to find the incident and send it to them within a day.’

The retailer is using Integrated Control System (Winics) software from Panasonic, which acts as a digital interface between data taken from electronic point-of-sale (Epos) systems and footage taken from security cameras.

‘Traditionally CCTV footage sits on tape, but with hard drive recorders, IP connections and broadband, we can see the details of each transaction recorded,’ said Crookes.

The Winics software allows the user to study suspicious till activity using existing Epos data search tools, and go direct to the relevant CCTV recording.

‘You don’t just see a copy of the transaction receipt, you see detailed footage of the transaction,’ said Crookes.