Homeland Security Helps Monitor Ara Spaces

Colombia. Seguridad Nacional, a company that provides surveillance services and makes electronic security installations, shared its experience providing solutions for Ara stores, a chain of grocery stores that is among the largest in the Colombian territory.

With a presence in 250 Ara stores and three distribution centers of this same chain, nationwide, the service provided by Homeland Security is projected to cover between 30 and 70 more stores, within a year.

At the moment, National Security is in charge of most of Ara's establishments, which are located mainly in the territory known as "the coffee axis", which occupies the departments of Risaralda, Quindío and Caldas. But it also includes locations in Cauca, Nariño, Cundinamarca (with presence in Bogotá), as well as part of the Atlantic Coast.

Start of the commercial relationship
The project to provide security to this supermarket chain began in 2013 with the design of a solution for the first store opened by Ara in the city of Pereira. At that time, the client's needs were identified, which were to ensure and reduce the risk of loss of the store's goods, in addition to complying with Colombian regulations for this type of establishment.

This situation required the installation of the fire detection system, an alarm system and obviously the video camera systems, said Daniel Hernández, national project director at Homeland Security.

"We started with hybrid video surveillance systems, between analog cameras and IP cameras integrated into the same recording system. The advantage was that as the project was conceived thinking that in the future it should be completely migrated to IP, then all the wiring was installed thinking about that type of camera. That first 'good practice', although it demanded a higher investment from the client, has subsequently allowed changes in the camera system, "said Hernández.

Solution Specification
The CCTV is of the Geovision brand, because to considerations of National Security, who had the role of integrator, offers benefits such as the decrease in consumption of video transmission bandwidth, when it is sent to the monitoring center. A service of vital importance for the customer, because it is the one who directly manages the security of their stores.

In that order of ideas, the integrator revealed that he found a very interesting quality / price ratio, "they are systems that offered very good quality". Now, in terms of alarms, the brand chosen was Digital Security Controls DSC, for its worldwide recognition as one of the best in the subject of intrusion. Finally, "at the level of fire detection systems we installed Edwards, a brand that has a great track record".

Specifically, for this project Geovision IP camcorders of 2 and 4mp are used, reference GV-ADR2702; the DSC Neo panel and alarm system.

Time of pandemic
Of this project, Hernández says that although during the pandemic there were difficulties with the importation of devices, the advantage was that, at the same time, there was a pause to the installation of new stores and their opening. In addition, as a company they had an important stock to cover the needs of the client at that time, so that time was not especially traumatic for the delivery of solutions.

On-site service and technology needs
"We are in the development of the project in each of the stores, since it is in plans. To better explain our work I must say that we show the client how the location of the different equipment and different systems will be, then the installation is carried out and an induction is given to the staff. First of all, to the employees who work directly in the stores, because they will be the ones who activate and deactivate the entrance alarms. As well as the security personnel, who are ultimately going to manipulate the security systems."

Of the cameras that make up the closed circuit television, it stands out that the installation covers specific areas of the supermarket. For example, we have a camera designed to cover only personal care products, because it is what is most stolen in this type of premises. The same goes for liquor and entering the store, the latter as a strategy to register all the people who enter and be able to better identify those who are part of criminal gangs.

"We also located a monitor, where the warehouse is seen globally, as a deterrent strategy for the offender to realize that the area is guarded and that there is already a record of his entry. But also as support to the guard to have an overview of the entire supermarket. That is, the monitor gives space to visualize and identify the most vulnerable points."

To understand the scope of the solution provided by Homeland Security, it is necessary to know that on average there are about 20 cameras for each store (in total about 5,000). While the distribution centers require around 200 terminals for each. Complementary to this, in what has to do with support staff, it went from the figure of 300 people and this rises as they continue to respond to the provision of security services in new headquarters.

In that sense, Daniel Hernández explained: "we continue to grow hand in hand with the customer due to the good experience we have had with Ara supermarkets. There has been something very nice and it is the issue of trust with them, because we started with a verbal agreement, there was no contract at that time, they presented themselves as a client ensuring that they were going to open two thousand stores in Colombia and we bet on believing in their dream. That leveraged the relationship we have until today, hence our role in their needs at the national level."

Finally, it can be concluded that this success story, which has been extending its scope for 12 years, owes its success in the first place to confidence in the client's potential, but also to the understanding of the client's needs.

*This success story will be published in the next edition of the journal