A couple of years ago, we published a post on “The Key Components to Move a Pilot to Production” that featured fellow St. Louis technology firm, Blue Line Technology. Blue Line has an industry-leading capability in intelligent facial recognition security solutions.
One of their customers in Yakima, Washington made them aware of how their Blue Line solution was successful in not only preventing a robbery, but also possibly preventing human injury. Here is a video link and ownership comment on this event. It’s a short story, but it has a powerful message.
I’m happy for this store owner and for Blue Line’s ongoing success. In fact, just last month, Blue Line received their patent on their technology.
But my purpose in sharing this story isn’t just to highlight the result. What I love about it is that it shows practical use and the success of deploying technology in automation solutions.
When digging into the facts behind the video’s story, we see that most of the components involved were actually decades-old technologies and products – cameras, door locks, networks, databases. etc. What made this solution unique was applying a new layer – Blue Star’s facial detection and recognition capabilities – and turning the whole approach into an automated solution that was still practical – but also met current needs.
An automation solution has three primary goals:
- Reduced effort and time to accomplish a task
- Provide cost savings in operation or with end results
- Improve the outcome quality / reduce the risk surrounding the task
This automation solution met all three of these goals:
- It was able to recognize and address a threat with the combined use of old and new technologies applied in a unique way.
- After the initial low cost to implement the solution, it could operate without human attention.
- It was 100% successful in stopping the robbery – with no physical risk to anyone.
We are proud of the similar benefits of automation that we have delivered to our mobilePLUS customers over the years. We’ve been able to help many organizations streamline their operations and save money. One organization actually saved hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses, dramatically improved their work force operations and addressed a growing list ongoing reporting and compliance requirements.
Congratulations to Blue Line Technology on your continued success in delivering unique capabilities to the market. As a fellow small business and St. Louis-based technology company (and a friend), I wish you a bright and successful future.
_______________
Wes Haubein is the President of HL Group, Inc., a premier provider of mobile asset inventory management, RFID and supply chain solutions. He writes regularly about management, solution integration and technology.
If you have an interest in how HL Group has successfully delivered automation over the years, please visit our solution stories to learn more about our solutions and customers.
