Background to Boots UK 

In 2010, Boots UK, an established supplier of consumer goods, overhauled its national CCTV control room. The company’s surveillance equipment was degrading along with its ability to ensure its premises were safe. Veracity, in collaboration with our project partners, Total Integrated Solutions Ltd (TIS), intervened.

How was the solution reached?

Centralisation of disparate surveillance technologies.

Veracity were asked to be a part of the changeover from a disparate, analogue-based control room to one equipped with Veracity’s integration software. Consequently, Boots UK now benefits from the centralisation of its surveillance technologies, a cohesive workflow and from the capacity to add or remove surveillance applications with ease if security requirements change over time.

TIS and Veracity’s comprehensive, cost-effective solution.

Before the upgrade, Boots UK asked a number of surveillance technology providers to submit a prospective project plan, which allowed Boots UK to see which business could provide the most comprehensive, cost-effective solution. TIS won the bid; included in it was VIEWSCAPE surveillance software and installation service, which runs Command and Control, a surveillance application that streamlines the workflow of CCTV operators.

Visual improvements alongside spatial efficiency.

Boots UK’s pre-2010 control room featured 22 CRT display monitors. After the Veracity solution, this figure shrank to 8 – and LCD flat-screens were installed to improve the quality of displayed images. Control room space has thus been created. Because of the functionality of Boots UK’s new CRT monitors, Veracity has succeeded in improving the company’s operational capacity without increasing the day-to-day workload of control room operators.

Preparing for difficult situations.

Command and Control allows Boots UK to customise the display of videos and imagery in accordance with the needs of specific scenarios. For example, if a fire alarm in a branch store is triggered, Command and Control can initiate a preprogrammed response, such as notifying local fire services or displaying CCTV cameras close to the incident. Incident-specific display configurations ensure Boots UK is best prepared to mitigate against a range of security and safety threats.

Utilising existing hardware.

Not all of Boots UK’s surveillance technologies were overhauled. A main feature of the Veracity solution is its usage of existing surveillance equipment made by other manufacturers. By bringing together existing surveillance technologies, Boots UK was not required to purchase new CCTV hardware. The benefits of integrated surveillance can be enjoyed cost-effectively, as a result of reconfiguring existing hardware. Command and Control brought together Boots UK’s disparate surveillance technologies – CCTV cameras, an Intrusion Detection System, an Intercom and Access Control systems – to present them on a single, centralised display interface.

Boots UK benefits from a completely overhauled control room, with a customisable display interface, which can be used effectively not only to gather and record data, but to review it also. Management Reporting informs control room operators of the usage of surveillance hardware, so that infrequently used resources can be relocated.