Bonjour, new guests from small-town India
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Companies in the AI-based CCTV (closed circuit television) space, such as Staqu Technologies and Vehant Technologies, have been catering to traditional customers such as State police, who used their services to nab criminals and traffic offenders, and for monitoring purposes in prisons.
Thanks to Covid, however, these firms have found promising new business areas — in the food sector and in factories.
Use of AI-in-CCTV in transport to detect masks gains traction
AI software is now used to zoom in on chefs and other kitchen staff who do not wear caps, gloves, masks, do not wash their hands frequently and use mobile phones (as phone surfaces are also carriers). Food outlets like Travel Food Services, Rebel Foods, several juice stores and cafes are using such technology.
Pandemic accelerated global firms to adopt AI tech
Staqu, which provides AI software that can run on existing CCTVs, has bagged customers in hospitality including Travel Food Services, which operates outlets at airports and Rebel Foods (which operates brands like Faasos), to single out the unmasked and unhygienic, Atul Rai, Co-Founder and CEO, Staqu Technologies, told BusinessLine.
Earlier, this checking was done by managers, who could be biased and/or go soft on some unmasked offenders. But AI does not differentiate between humans, which makes owners prefer such solutions, says Rai.
Also, factories like Piramal Glass that makes bottles for perfume and for the pharma sector, and Marico are newer customers for Staqu, where its AI software keeps an eye on bottles per package and quality of copra as well. In factories, AI-based checking is much faster than human checking, points out Rai, whose company has also bagged a cement factory as a client.
Similarly, Vehant Technologies is providing its services to a company in the food space that operates juice chains and another that runs a chain of cafes. Owners prefer such AI-based systems as they help them attract customers in the post Covid era, says Kapil Bardeja, CEO and Co-Founder, Vehant Technologies.
In fact, these AI-based systems help send alerts and periodic reports to owners and/or higher managers reflecting Covid-19 inappropriate behaviour or other violations. Food outlets have become more sensitive to norms of Food Safety and Standards in pandemic times, says Bardeja.
For both these companies, larger clients traditionally have been State police and traffic police, among others. Staqu, which provides face recognition and AI-based software to State police departments and prisons, has Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab Telangana and Haryana as customers. “If there is a theft (say, an ATM, or a factory), the realisation of the theft comes much later. And scanning through 10 days of CCTV footage from several cameras is impossible,” says Staqu, whose face recognition camera now comes with sound/voice sensitivity as well ability to red-flag an out-of-normal incident. “Most of the people being masked also makes it difficult for security personnel to capture offenders,” says Rai.
Vehant Technologies, which drew traditional customers from traffic police, has seen demand from malls and retail outlets for checking for masks, social distancing, and detecting and managing crowds in the post-Covid era.
The companies work on a software-as-a-service model, where their customers pay a subscription fee for the service. They see growth potential in companies outside of India, including from Europe, and Saudi Arabia.
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Citroen’s first vehicle sports a novel design and European interiors. It is also meant to be as comfortable as ...
The pandemic is only the tip of the iceberg that the country’s cash-poor airlines — both regional and national ...
The government is yet to specify the framework of its recently announced old vehicle scrappage policy
This Women’s Day, we discuss the features of a few financial products that aim to help you save, get insured ...
Sensex, Nifty 50 make a strong bounce-back, but test resistances
Avenue Supermarts (₹3,286.1): Makes fresh all-time highIn October last year, the stock of Avenue Supermarts ...
The exchange-traded fund ticks all boxes as an efficient tool to track gold prices
A cop, a poet, a wedding planner, an outraged wife: On International Women’s Day, a look at diverse stories ...
India’s privacy law must balance the rights of children with online safety
Muriel has put our names down on a list to get the Covid-19 vaccination because — hurrah! — the age limit has ...
They are the health warriors who battled the Covid-19 pandemic on the ground, and are now the face of the ...
Comfort, convenience, value, safety — and not necessarily the colour pink — but do brands deliver?
Why and how marketers have used camels, and left us thirsting for more
Start-up SALT wants to break feminine stereotypes around money, and is asking women to reassert agency
It’s that time of year again when brands suddenly start paying obeisance to women power. From sentimental to ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor