Hi all
As mentioned on a previous thread, i have a live retail deployment (my wife's shop), so thought it might be useful to share some of the use cases for us over the last year - bear in mind i work for Meraki so there will be some bias - but comments welcome 🙂
Deliveries - We unpack new stock on the main desk, and have had instances where the packing slip does not match the contents. Being able to quickly and easily record the footage and email it to the supplier has allowed a much quicker resolution! My wife is non technical, so she needs it to be Meraki simple to use.
Opening times - We can tell from the analytics when the busy times are throughout the day / week etc. This has meant we can adjust our opening / closing times. Based on this data, the shop is now closed on Mondays and half days Wednesdays during the winter season. I'm considering pointing a camera outside purely to gather more analytical data.
Lack of an NVR - Space and power sockets are an issue for us near the till, so one less box to deploy and water is a definite advantage. We use a (fan-less) MS220-8P for the MV''s / AP / Till.
Troubleshooting - We have a camera right above the till screen. One sunny Saturday my wife and i went on a day out and left the shop with a member of staff, who managed to lock themselves out of the till. We were able to talk them through the logon process by seeing what was on the screen in real time via the the app (as a passenger in a car) and get the system back online.
Wide browser support - Being able to view footage on pretty much any device we own, means we can be more mobile around the store (eg comfort break / making a cup of tea) and still keep an eye on things. Also useful if the alarm goes off in the middle of the night to see if its a real break in or not (reset the alarm and go back to sleep, without leaving bed)
If new use cases come along i'll add them to this thread 🙂
