Success Story: Retail Security in the Cloud
The Jones Group Inc., a designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories, maintains production, distribution, and retail facilities throughout the US and around the world. Some of its more recognizable brands include Jones New York, Nine West, Stuart Weitzman and Anne Klein, among others.
“We wanted a remote, web-based system that would enable us to control multiple locations at once,” says Brian David, Security Manager for The Jones Group. “One of our goals is to unite all of our brands by creating a strong and secure global badge — a consistent form of identification throughout the company.”
To accomplish this, David chose to move the access control system into the cloud. The Jones Group began installing ACS WebService from Brivo in 2008 and now has cloud-based access control installed in six of its New York City facilities, a facility in Pennsylvania, and another in California, among others.
“The web-based system allows us to minimize the number of personnel we need devoted to security,” David says. “In turn, that enables us to be a more efficient and secure company.”
The Jones Group uses the system to manage approximately 225 doors, a number which will increase substantially as other buildings are brought online. In New York City alone, the company relies on the service to secure 25 floors in several different buildings.
The system enables David and any of The Jones Group’s management team to run multiple reports to view all activity in the company’s facilities, and to look for patterns which may suggest something is amiss.
The remote, “always on” system, allows them to manage one facility or hundreds around the world, while unifying all personnel under a single credential managed through the system interface. They create and manage hundreds of user groups — each with different access privileges.
Additionally, the staff uses the system’s alert feature to notify them about temperature fluctuations, power failures, and other critical events for which they want immediate information.
The company has plans to expand the Brivo access control management system to include its office facility in White Plains, NY and a number of distribution centers as well; and, The Jones Group also plans to integrate video surveillance into the system in the near future.
