Video Analytics Key To Building Safer, Smarter Cities: Atul Rai
In an interview with BW Businessworld, Atul Rai, Co-Founder & CEO of Staqu, spoke about the various applications of Video Analytics and how it can be leveraged in India to help the manufacturing, security, and retail industries.
Excerpts:
How can video analytics be leveraged in India?
Video-based AI has gained rapid traction in recent times as more and more organizations understand its potential and benefits. In a nutshell, AI-enabled video analytics can be leveraged to enhance safety, streamline business processes, increase operational efficiency, optimize costs, and drive growth.
For instance, if we take the manufacturing industry, safety is paramount on a daily basis. At this juncture, JARVIS, our proprietary audio-video analytics system, can be deployed for things like automatic number plate recognition, fire safety, intrusion detection, smart conveyance, safety gear detection, and facial recognition to ensure top-notch security.
On the other hand, if we consider how businesses can increase their revenue, let’s take the retail sector. It has evolved significantly over the years. But despite online shopping becoming popular, in-store shopping remains a preferred choice, making it vital for retail businesses to enhance customer experience. With video analytics, we can conduct footfall and demographic analysis, heatmapping, queue management, and customer journey tracking to minimize cost, convert footfalls to sales, and boost revenue.
Finally, in government processes/the public sector, video AI ensures safety and transparency. From deterring criminal attacks to identifying suspicious behavior, facial recognition, SOS detection, and crowd detection, video analytics is being put to various uses. Staqu works closely with the Indian government to ensure robust security and allow civilians to go about their lives peacefully.
How can AI integration redefine the mechanism of the retail industry in 2022?
Retail is an ever-evolving, fast-growing industry that offers a goldmine of potential. And given that video analytics is no longer limited to surveillance, it provides several intelligent solutions. With AI-enabled video analytics, CCTV cameras can identify and collate data based on the events at the store. The technology analyzes the footfall the store receives, conducts occupancy checks, heat mapping, staff productivity checks, demographic analysis, as well as the safety and security of the premises. Through such state-of-the-art features, retail businesses can benefit from optimized costs and resources and increased revenue. The AI technology can simply be integrated into CCTV cameras, and the rest will be taken care of by the video analytics solution.
Do you think AI-enabled cameras in public areas could bring significant improvement in security concerns in India?
With more and more people migrating to urban areas, the population in these regions is skyrocketing, creating room for untoward incidents like theft, pilferage, violence, etc. And with video surveillance and analytics, we can monitor the streets and every movement. In fact, during the peak of the pandemic, video analytics technologies were leveraged to ensure that people adhered to safety protocols and avoided crowding. The smart surveillance will stay alert 24x7, identify any out-of-the-ordinary incident, and alert authorities immediately, quickening the process of authorities arriving on the scene to take the necessary action. Video analytics, without a doubt, is the key to building safer, smarter cities.
How is AI helping the manufacturing sector scale up in India?
Besides providing safety, AI-enabled video analytics increases operational efficiency in the manufacturing sector. For instance, it automates the process of constantly monitoring conveyor belts. Otherwise, companies will have to invest in additional manpower for monotonous tasks. The AI technology will detect whether the pallets are empty or full, sending real-time alerts for damaged goods to help segregate them from the rest of the products. With this kind of enhanced efficiency, the manufacturing sector can boost revenue and grow. Other automations like ANPR(Automatic Number Plate Recognition) enhances operational efficiency, detection of safety gear compliances reduce the auditing cost, Fire/Smoke detection reduces post event loss and many more helps the manufacturing sector boosts revenue and grow.
