One of the most exciting and powerful additions to our application is the introduction of tags. Both video clips and reports may now be tagged for use in augmented searching. Once a video clip or report is tagged, a user can easily search for all tagged clips or reports using our new search syntax. The Next Generation of Envysion also includes two new layouts. The first is a two-camera view that can be used to observe two different camera angles for a particular transaction. This is very helpful when examining possible foul play where multiple individuals may be involved. We have also added a 16-camera view for our customers with larger store footprints and multiple cameras. Additionally, our team has developed more robust search syntax, allowing for faster and more accurate searches.

Behind the scenes, we rebuilt the system from the ground up – streamlining the Envysion application with a new code base. By refactoring the application’s code (altering its internal structure without changing its external functionality), our application is more stable than ever before. This also means our development team can design, develop and release new features more quickly than in the past, taking full advantage of SaaS innovation cycles. Finally, the code refactoring will provide better and faster overall performance. Many customer locations will realize significantly increased performance, and those with lower network bandwidths will realize a small performance gain.

In the months to come, I look forward to hearing about how our revamped application has benefited your organization, whether it’s from reduced training time, increased efficiency or from enhanced views of your business in ways you had not previously thought possible.

Today we released our Next Generation application and it is immediately deployed and available to all of our users.  Unlike traditional video surveillance providers, Envysion’s Managed Video as a Service (MVaaS) application applies the Software as a Service (SaaS) model to video, meaning every Envysion user has instant access to new features designed to increase productivity and profit impact of video the moment we deploy them. Since the application lives in the cloud, we eliminate the IT burden of software and equipment upgrades prevalent in traditional video surveillance products. Our users simply log into our web-based application to access the most up to date version of the Envysion application. Envysion’s MVaaS is also capable of rapidly scaling to thousands of users and locations, overcoming the challenges of managing an enterprise-wide video system.

As a SaaS company, we give these thousands of users an accelerated development cycle. We are able to take customer feedback, translate it into feature requirements, develop new features and elicit additional feedback to continually improve our application. In many cases this entire cycle can occur in as little as a few weeks. Given that our customers are not just using video for security, we receive tremendously differentiated feedback. By focusing on solving customers’ problems with video – whether the problem exists in loss prevention, operations, marketing or somewhere else in the organization –  we’re able to develop and deploy impactful solutions at a very fast pace.

With the clear benefits and innovations possible with SaaS, it’s no wonder we’ve seen a lot more companies taking a SaaS approach video. A word of caution: a lot of products in the marketplace today are marketed under the guise of being MVaaS or SaaS when they really are not; so customers are forced to buy model year products that quickly become outdated. Envysion’s MVaaS application, on the other hand, resides entirely in the cloud, and as a result we are able to constantly innovate and add new features to meet customer demand.  Envysion’s MVaaS solutions harness the scalability and accessibility of SaaS – our MVaaS does not restrict video access to only one location at a time or only enable users to access a sub-set of features via the web. On the contrary, the Envysion application enables a customer to view live and recorded video from any of their locations with corresponding business systems data in one easy-to-use window without having to download software.

We created the MVaaS model and continue to provide innovative MVaaS solutions because customers need to be able to rapidly and efficiently find and use the video that matters to them. In designing the next generation of Envysion, our goal was to build an application that new users could quickly begin using to drive operations and profitability improvements in their organizations, and we believe we have done just that. We’ve assessed and addressed overall usability to provide a more intuitive navigation, minimize mouse clicks and help increase the productivity of our customers.

More tomorrow on specifics of the next generation…

Got some very exciting news last week while presenting at the Red Herring 100 event in Hollywood, CA – Envysion won the Red Herring 100 North America award along with 99 other of the top private technology companies.

Envysion’s award was based on our leading innovation in bringing the SaaS model to an entirely new segment, creating the MVaaS market, and for driving material and measurable financial results for our customers.  You can read the official press release here.

This recognition is a great testament to the talented team at Envysion and the disruptive technology and services that we are delivering for a rapidly growing customer base.  It also serves as a strong validation for our customers and prospects that have embraced Envysion as a partner and MVaaS as a strategic management tool to bring video-based business intelligence to help improve their operations and profitability.  While I can’t honestly say that the traditional video market players and incumbents fully realize yet how disruptive MVaaS is to their markets, this award and the customer traction that we are gaining are clear evidence that customers and outside industry observers continue to get it.

My thanks go out to all the people at Envysion that have worked hard to get us to this point and to all of the early adopter customers that saw the initial promise and potential and have helped us to turn it into a reality.

The fun is just getting started!

Now that the dust has settled and we are back to our regular routines, I thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect on the 2011 MVaaS Summit.  75+ participants from across the country came to Boulder Colorado for the event and our team and the sponsors put in a lot of time and energy and the payoff was a strong couple days getting issues on the table and enabling connections.  Both days were well-attended and included some impressive speakers and panel participants.  Speakers included Jason Mendelson, Managing Director at Foundry Group and William Rhoades, Research Analyst at IMS research with panelists from a solid set of MVaaS and hosted providers as well as ecosystem players. 

Over the two days we surfaced many opportunities and issues but I’ll provide a top four:  disruptive value delivered by MVaaS & Hosted, channels, nomenclature, and partnering opportunities.  I’ll provide some context here and then follow with additional posts that deep dive.

1. Disruptive value.  Its clear from the market, the case studies we reviewed, and the customer panel that MVaaS and Hosted solutions can do more than deliver an improved TCO vs. traditional solutions.  Key is value delivered beyond traditional security and in marketing, loss prevention, risk, operations.  It changes the game and we are just at the beginning of what is possible. 
2. Channels.  Really interesting discussion as we exmained challenges and successes in going through integrators, central station & security services providers, and telco channels.  There was no consensus and it is clear that we are still early days.  My own observation is that if you believe #1 above then changes to the ‘legacy’ channel model are required.  Change can be tough to make happen and of course can frustrate the establishment. 
3. Nomenclature.  Post summit we relected on this back at Envysion and we firmly believe that the providers in the space need to more firmly declare how the space should be defined.  We heard some perpsectives at the summit that may confuse.  As an example managed/hosted definitions based purely on where video is stored.  I don’t see benefit of defining our space this way.  Given our focus on MVaaS, at Envysion we have a strong POV here and Matt our CEO is planning to post on this shortly so I won’t steal any thunder.
4. Partnering.  Lots of good partnership examples and dialogue.  Reflects a maturing space and acknowledgement by ecosystem of the market opportunity at hand.  Lots of interesting partnering models including service providers leveraging managed video for monitoring and loss prevention services.  As you might expect there were hardware and managed providers as well - specifically we heard from and about EMC & Axis AVHS and Sony & Envysion.  It was good to see this emerging partnerships and to see many potential partners attending.

I got lots of feedback from attendees and we’ve dug through the follow-on survey as well.  Of course the most important starting point is ipnut and survey responses that the event was worth people’s valuable time.  Unanimously yes.  The case study format, channel deep dive and exhibit opportunity for sponsors was very well recieved.  Looking forward to next year I heard a number of suggestions that will enable us to build on what we have developed.  First, we need to balance the size of the show and speakers with dialogue from the attendees – specifically we’ll look to do some breakouts and engage in audience Q&A earlier in the panel discussions.  Secondly, we’ll continue to work on getting a greater diversity of panelists and participants.  

I want to extend a big “thank you” to all attendees. I hope you share the same excitement I feel about the opportunities ahead and the impact we can make together in the MVaaS space. I look forward to seeing everyone at the 2012 MVaaS Summit and together making it even better.  Please nominate the speakers you’d like to see and reach out to me with your ideas and comments.  Lets make this industry event a source of energy to feed our growth and accelerate the momentum that is already building. 

Thank you to all who attended, sponsored and contributed to the second annual summit this past week! 

The second annual Managed & Hosted Video summit was held this past week with over 75 participants from across the space in attendance in Boulder, CO.  Hot topics included value delivered to end customers, customer testimonials and experiences with MVaaS solutions, and channels to market.  New this year was a well recieved case study format for managed & hosted providers and exhibit space for sponsors. 

For those who attended, please let me know feedback and what you would like to see next year.  We welcome your suggestions and nominations for speakers (including customers and partners) for next year’s event.  More to come on Envysion thoughts and perspectives on topics and areas we dug into.

This is the last in a series of guest blogs from Mike Knievel, Executive Vice President at King Rogers Group Analytics (KRGA). As an Insight Marketplace partner, KRGA uses Envysion’s MVaaS platform to provide loss prevention audits to Envysion customers. Through use of Envysion’s video integrated exception reports KRGA’s veteran staff can also investigate trends and behavior patterns and pinpoint operations and training improvements needs at our customer’s locations.  

E: How do you leverage the Envysion platform when performing loss prevention audits for Envysion customers?

MK: We often rely on exception reports to resolve cases of fraud for our customers. However, while exception report data may point to fraud, it could just as easily indicate a programming error in the POS system, a cashier error or a training issue. In many cases, video can be the key to quickly ruling out multiple invalid possibilities.

Our goal is to use the latest technologies and techniques to efficiently discover occurrences of theft. One area that has historically consumed a great deal of time for Loss Prevention personnel, both inside and outside the organization, is the video review process. Often LP personnel must travel to individual stores to download video.  This can take hours or even days in response time. In some cases, a video feed can be accessed remotely via dial-in, or limited bandwidth networks, but these methods also have limitations. These scenarios are extremely time consuming and prone to human error when reviewing hours of video footage.

This is why we are so excited about working with Envysion. The Envysion solution allows us to view multiple locations at once with complete on-screen flexibility from anywhere with an internet connection. In addition, Envysion’s video integrated POS exception reports directly translates into time and money saved because we are able to focus on only cases with high probability of theft or operational issues. By narrowing the scope of our investigation we can rapidly determine if there is an instance of actual theft, if an employee is making a repeated error due to lack of training or if a transaction is only suspicious on paper.

E: What tips can you offer to an operator who wants to use video to improve operations?

MK: From an operations standpoint, if something can be seen with a camera, it can be audited and reported on. Some common areas we target for operations improvement using Envysion’s solution include the following:

Quick Service Restaurants (QSR)

o             Line length during peak periods

o             Speed of table clean up

o             General sanitation in the dining and prep areas

o             Proper use of safety apparel

o             Management interaction with customers during peak periods

Convenience Stores (C-Stores)

o             Speed of customer service

o             Employee presence in the checkout area

o             Stock levels of self-service food sections during peak periods

o             DSD customer interference during peak periods

o             Slip and fall conditions during inclement weather

General Retail

o             Customer line length

o             Promotional display compliance

o             Promotional signage compliance

o             Store closing procedures compliance

o             Door control procedures

o             Dress code

o             Excessive employee inactivity