One of our integrator members, Fouet, shared his predictions on the evolution of access control technology and considerations on how current video surveillance solutions serve to promote Digital Marketing.
Fouet Mexico SA de CV is an integrator of security solutions with a trajectory of more than 20 years in the Mexican market. Hence, he has a very formed vision of the market, in addition to having developed adaptability strategies to keep up with the changing requirements of the market.
Then, in an exclusive interview with Security Sales Magazine, Ricardo Carrasco, the director of Fouet, addressed two interesting points regarding the security market. The first is the global future of access control; as second the current potential of video surveillance devices to be a source and support of Digital Marketing.
Access Control Trends: Goodbye Cards
Since Fouet has a consolidated offer in integration of access control solutions, we wanted to address what are the trends that come in the future against this technology.
In response, Ricardo indicated that currently worldwide there are two marked preferences, firstly biometrics and, second, the use of mobile devices as an access card; The first phenomenon he said was a consequence of the pandemic, a situation that increased the need and accelerated the installation of contactless biometric solutions. While the use of mobile phones streamlines access control, by avoiding card production costs and delivery times, as well as reducing the environmental impact of this. In addition, nowadays you can forget even your wallet, but not your smartphone.
"In the future I think biometrics will reign because cell phones will end up becoming some kind of wearable device. I believe that in about 15 to 20 years cell phones will no longer exist as we know them and, therefore, they will not continue to be used as an access card. On the other hand, biometric data such as fingerprint or face now have very impressive levels of development that make me think that technology will continue to develop in that place."
On the other hand Ricardo also addressed what has become an inconvenience. "Right now the problem that I analyze is the debate around data protection in developed countries. People don't want them to have their face, but when you go to get a document like a passport, when you go in and out of any country, you're already identified."
Electronic security as a digital marketing strategy
Another point that Ricardo addressed was how security solutions can be used as a complement to other needs in companies such as digital marketing.
According to the expert, the camera you are using in the access of your store, serves several purposes. The first is to keep an eye out for potential attacks by criminals entering the space, hence the use of blacklists. But also, the security device can help you get demographic information, such as gender and average age. In addition, if you have that person registered and an application for the management of the information, you can obtain data about the profile of that buyer and use it to offer products through digital signage.
That is, a buyer who is registered enters, is identified by the system and that makes where this person moves information related to their tastes or related to last products purchased that they might already be needing, such as toiletries, including special promotions.
Ricardo added that "that is what we promote. As a friend says, we are evangelizing users that they can put their video system to better use with the current possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics. This results in security, which is seen as a cost, also being dimensioned as a business generator within the same company, because of the information and metadata they are getting from AI."
This business model, according to the explanation of the director of Fouet, has the advantage that the retail sector allows it to better understand the route that its customers usually make, the points with the greatest movement, (that is, the so-called heat maps) and in this way it can afford the price for the shelves with greater visibility of customers, the points with the best location for product advertising and better plan the installation of digital signage.
Another prediction of the future focused on cameras
Finally, Ricardo pointed out another prediction for the future and is that he considers that cameras are going to resemble computers more and you will be able to load software, so that they exercise functions, update themselves and in that sense it will not be necessary to change them so frequently. "Although in our industry, all equipment is made to run 24 hours 365 days a year, then we can say that its durability is already high overall."