New Service from ADT Helps Retailers with Secure After-Hours Store Deliveries

Sept. 23, 2006
ADT monitors unattended deliveries through integrated access control, video

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Sept. 25, 2006 – ADT Security Services Inc., a unit of Tyco Fire & Security, today introduced Unattended Delivery, a video-based service that provides a secure way for retailers to deliver goods after hours, reducing store delivery costs.

Utilizing an integrated access control and video monitoring system, ADT can remotely monitor the delivery of goods enabling retailers to schedule merchandise shipments during off hours and without the need for an employee to be present.

Rex Gillette, vice president of ADT Retail, said night deliveries can produce significant cost savings for retailers by allowing more deliveries with fewer drivers, freeing up employees to focus more on customer service and less on supervising deliveries and increasing sales as new merchandise can be stocked earlier.

"Every minute merchandise is not on the floor is lost revenue," Gillette said. "Early tests of the service with fast food and specialty retailers show a 60 percent decrease in delivery times. By leveraging existing video surveillance systems, we have found a way for retailers to realize the cost benefits of after-hour deliveries without compromising security,"

ADT's Unattended Delivery service consists of an integrated mix of technologies including access control, video surveillance, remote monitoring, intrusion detection and two-way voice to monitor after-hour deliveries.

With the service, delivery drivers are issued access control badges, which grant limited access to a retail establishment after hours. The access control system triggers a deliver notification to ADT's National Account Monitoring Center, where a specially trained monitoring professional can remotely monitor and record activities via video surveillance cameras installed in the store. Two-way voice capabilities allow the monitoring team to communicate with the delivery driver, if needed.

The access control component of the system runs on the ADT Select Entry Platform, a secure Web-based service through which security personnel can activate or disable access control badges in minutes remotely from a corporate or regional headquarters.

In an industry known for high employee turnover, this eliminates the need to confiscate access control badges or re-key locks after an employee departs, Gillette said.

"In Europe, where night deliveries are common due to congested daytime traffic and tariffs levied on delivery trucks at peak times, retailers have already benefited with increased sales and reduced costs," Gillette said. "Unattended Delivery is the missing solution to securing the premise during these deliveries. Intrusion sensors, video surveillance and access control work together to keep track of a delivery from the moment the driver enters the building until the truck drives away – with all activity monitored and recorded remotely."