Park Avenue Bank standardizes on March Networks Technology
The vast improvement in the quality of evidence obtained from digital video recording (DVR) systems is helping security executives in the banking sector resolve more and more incidents of fraud and theft. Equally significant, says Larry Hale, assistant vice president of Park Avenue Bank, is the dramatic improvement in the speed of retrieving video evidence.
"Now, it's just a matter of typing in the date and time and selecting a camera. You don't have to sit there and study a VCR tape for hours and hours."
Optimizing the benefits of digital video also requires banks to navigate through a crowded vendor marketplace. Park Avenue Bank, which operates 17 branches and five loan production offices in Georgia and Florida, boasts first-hand experience with the trials and triumphs associated with evaluating and selecting DVRs.
Hale was introduced to March Networks technology after Park Avenue Bank had completed the first phase of its initial DVR deployment.
"When I saw the difference between the two systems, there was no question," he recalls. "March Networks became my sole source."
Having the ability to view video from multiple sites simultaneously and easily drill down to hundreds of cameras across the bank's branch network was one of the advantages offered by the March Networks DVRs. With the system the bank acquired from another vendor, Hale had to log out of all of the sites and then go back to the specific branch to review archived video.
Downtime
Switching to March Networks technology also helped to minimize downtime.
"If we have a problem with the March Networks systems, we just call a technician and it's usually just a case of removing a card or a hard-drive and replacing it on the spot," says Hale. "We don't have to worry about sending the unit away for repair."
Spectrum Financial Systems, the North Carolina-based security systems integrator that introduced March Networks technology to Park Avenue Bank, reports that customer complaints and issues have dropped significantly since it began supplying March Networks DVRs to its customer base of financial institutions in the U.S. Southeast.
"Of the approximately 200 March Networks DVRs we have sold, we have had only three problems and each one was resolved within 15 minutes of the technician arriving on site," said Spectrum Financial Electronic Security Product Manager Larry Fleet. "With DVRs from other vendors, we had to send away the unit for repair and use a loaner VCR at the customer location for the three or four weeks the DVR was out of service."
"Our experience with March Networks customer support is outstanding," added Fleet.
Based at Park Avenue Bank's operations centre in Valdosta, in south central Georgia, Hale can quickly and easily respond to reported incidents hundreds of miles away.
"I can sit here in my office and look at anything and everything that takes place - from Gainsville, Georgia, to Ocala, Florida, or from Statesboro across to Bainbridge." Local branch managers also have access to video from their own locations.
Remote access
If Hale is on the road visiting a branch or relaxing at home in the evening and there's a robbery, a hostage taking or some kind of unusual transaction, he is able to access live or archived video remotely from his laptop. He has yet to make use of the remote access capability, but it's comforting to know that he can access video from any of the bank's locations anywhere and anytime in response to an emergency.
All of the 16-camera 4000 Series March Networks DVRs are equipped with two 300 GB hard-drives, providing Park Avenue Bank with six months of video storage. Smaller four-camera units are used at the bank's remote ATMs.
Set to record 24/7 on motion detection, the DVRs deliver high quality video from cameras located at teller stations, bank vaults, lobbies, ATMs and parking lots.
"Every day there are issues that come up," notes Hale. "It could be someone reporting a fraudulent transaction with a stolen debit card, or someone passing a bad check."
In one case, a customer called his branch to report that his check book and personal identification number had been stolen from his truck. Hale called up the DVR to have a look, and sure enough, there was a suspect clear as day using the branch's ATM.
The proliferation of video surveillance in banks and other locations has not led to a decrease in the number of criminal occurrences, claims Hale.
"There are probably fewer robberies now, but we're seeing a lot more identity theft, so it's imperative to have a good quality surveillance system. Any bank that doesn't have a quality digital video recording system nowadays is missing the boat."
Next year, Park Avenue Bank plans to retire the handful of DVRs it acquired from another vendor and move to a single, branch-wide video surveillance platform based on March Networks technology.
