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Super-Charged Via Video
September 18, 2008
Surveillance video isn't a new and exciting technology, but the impact it can have on your training program may come as a surprise.
By Matt Steinfort
Multi-unit and multi-location businesses increasingly are using their video surveillance cameras for more than just security. Progressive operators are viewing video of their locations in order to better understand what is really happening so they can get insight to improve their operations and their customer experience. This added insight helps store managers, operations, loss prevention, marketing, and training organizations to improve their performance and drive major improvements for the organization across a variety of different areas. One such area is training, where video from in-store cameras can be used in several ways with great effect. To take advantage of this emerging capability, however, businesses must deploy video systems that simplify the use and management of it across the organization or the use of video won't become a part of their standard operating procedures.
How can companies use video from their remote locations for training purposes?
Use video of actual events in your training materials. Companies already use video-based training today. In many cases, the video is produced or staged content that shows how a specific process should be implemented. This certainly enables the display of the exact steps that are part of the process in a very controlled environment. The key element of that statement is "controlled environment." An example would be a video that shows how the linebacker (the person who replaces the food bins while others cook the food and a separate group serves the food) in a fast, casual restaurant is supposed to be executed. In the test lab or the empty store in which the training video is filmed, there are two representative customers in line and two servers preparing their food. The linebacker quickly and unobtrusively replaces the lettuce and the chicken from in between the two employees and returns to the kitchen with the empty bins. This is a great representation of how it should happen in an ideal and controlled setting.
What it misses, however, is how this is done in practice when conditions are not so controlled. Imagine this same scenario in a restaurant that is completely full at lunch with dozens of customers in line and at the counter there are three to four people serving the food. The counter is completely covered as the servers assemble the orders and the servers are shoulder to shoulder. There is nowhere for the linebacker to set down one of the two items they are replacing so that they can remove the empty containers first to make room for the full ones. Lifting the empty containers out also may cause water to drip onto the food being prepared on the counter. How does the linebacker operate in THAT environment? With actual video footage from several restaurants, trainers and new employees can watch exactly how it is done in practice in several different situations. They can review best and worst practices by watching how people are handling the situation in the field.
Use video to provide richer training and coaching opportunities. Another application for actual video footage is to review individual or team performance. Companies already have access to significant data around how their stores and their employees perform. They can track the number of exception transactions that a particular manager or employee generates. They can track how long it took to prepare food or move people through a line. Without video, companies have to sit down with their employees with a report that may identify a potential red flag and have a fundamentally contentious conversation. "I see you had more late orders during yesterday's shift than normal. Can you tell me what happened and why you were so late?"
If the company was able to pull up video of the transactions that were late, the conversation could be a lot more collaborative. "I see we had a rough patch yesterday and had some late orders. Let's sit down together and review what happened so we can figure out what happened and how we can learn from that."
Use video to identify areas where more training is required. Companies also can use video to identify areas where they should be providing more training. Perhaps there continues to be an unexpectedly high number of certain types of coupons at a retailer. By examining the video of each of those coupon transactions, the operator may discover that several other promotions are incorrectly being entered into the point of sale system under the wrong code. It isn’t being done for malicious reasons; the clerks genuinely appear not to understand how to properly account for this new transaction type. Training can use this information to put together a quick training refresher on how to handle the various coupon types and immediately roll it out to the field.
So, if a company wants to start to leverage actual video for training purposes, can they start immediately? After all, most multi-location businesses have video surveillance cameras in some or all of their locations. The answer is most likely no. Traditional video surveillance systems were intended for security purposes and were designed to be used by security or IT resources in a single store at a time. This has resulted in only a few people in a company being able to use video and, even then, it only is used for very specific purposes, such as to investigate a potential issue. Using surveillance video for other purposes, such as training, introduces new requirements for both the video technology and for the people in the organization that will use and manage it.
Fortunately, video service providers have recognized the opportunity and are addressing many of these requirements. Innovative providers have developed a new video platform that eliminates much of the challenge of managing video across the organization and makes it so easy that anyone in the organization can use it. This new category is termed "Managed Video as a Service" (MVaaS) as the service provider "manages" much of the complexity on behalf of the customer.
From a training standpoint, MVaaS addresses the critical requirements needed to enable operators to add actual video footage to their training. Examples include:
• Eliminates many of the challenges that an IT organization faces in managing a large number of video systems that all need to utilize the company's broadband network.
• Utilizes a simple and easy-to-use Web-based interface that enables everyone from a marketing intern to the CEO to access video from any Internet-browser.
• Links video to business information, such as point of sale transactions, to allow immediate access to relevant events.
• Provides an efficient means of sharing video in a secure way across thousands of employees without having to e-mail large video files and potentially choking the network.
Progressive organizations can enhance their training capabilities by integrating the footage of actual business events into their training programs, enriching the content, and helping to create more effective processes and better trained employees. MVaaS turns this promise into reality by simplifying both the use and management of video to allow operators to focus on their business and not on the technology.
Matt Steinfort is president and CEO of Envysion. He is responsible for both the strategic direction and day-to-day operation of the company. Prior to Envysion, he was senior vice president of corporate strategy at ICG Communications. For more information, visit www.envysion.com.
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