The Global Retail Theft Barometer reported that petty crime, such as shoplifting or employee theft, made up more than 70 percent of global shrinkage in 2009.
With further industry reports for 2009 noting that shrink grew significantly across the board with a staggering 50 percent of worldwide retailers experiencing an increase of shrinkage*, retailers - in the most most price-sensitive market are often struggling to allocate funding for security systems.

Indeed, most retailers know the benefits but simply cannot afford available solutions. In many cases, the cost of all the security equipment needed surpasses the entire security department’s budget. However, as prices for IP-based equipment continue to drop, the market is now seeing increased adoption and with the added benefits of network solutions (people counting, customer flow analysis, store planning / evaluation etc), systems which can bridge gaps between available technology, its capabilities and the general retailer’s awareness about the effectiveness of advanced loss prevention are looking to be the way forward.

Intrance's Orion3 application is a point in case and has been utilised across a number of key sectors including retail and most recently financial, where it underwent something of a transformation to meet a specific set of criteria for use in cash management operations for a major security services supplier.

Businesses are benefitting from ready-made applications with added functionality that enable them to minimise loss, improve merchandising, effectiveness, increase staff security and improve the bottom line.

If you'd like to learn more about Orion3, visit our product page or if you'd prefer to talk to us direct we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Call us on +44(0) 114 270 2478 and let us help you manage your shrink.

 
*Frost & Sullivan

Hot on the heels of the recent release of our Mailbeanz email marketing solution, we'd like to remind you that we've also created a new mobile optimized version of Mailbeanz that gives you quick access to your reports on any Mailbeanz campaigns you’ve sent. Although we announced it a little while back to our Twitter followers, we thought we’d let you know about some of the features you can expect to see on Mailbeanz mobile.
Essentially, the new mobile version will give you quick access to your reports on any Mailbeanz campaigns you've sent. It's fast, looks great (wouldn't you agree?) and is available now. Just head to your account on any popular mobile device like an iPhone or Android and the mobile version will be shown by default. You don't need to install anything, because it is a web application, not a native phone application.

Focus on reporting
When deciding what functionality to include in the mobile version, we decided to focus our efforts on the most popular section of Mailbeanz accounts - namely; reports. Added to this, more than 95% of all our mobile visitors come in on an iPhone or iPhone variant, so we decided to put a lot of work into making sure the experience was perfect on these devices in particular.

Launch it like a real application
One great thing about the iPhone is that you can launch web applications just like a traditional app you might've bought from the App Store. By heading into your account with Safari browser and adding it to your Home screen, you have a dedicated button that will grant you access to your latest Mailbeanz reports with a single click (we even provide a nice mail-envelope-thingy icon and loading screen for you while the latest stats are downloading).

Easy switching
While the Mailbeanz mobile version is all about your reports right now, you can still switch to the full version of Mailbeanz and access all its functionality with a single click. At the footer of every page is a link to switch to the corresponding page in the full version of the app.

We hope you like our mobile version, but as ever - it's always a work in progress, so please let us know over at Mailbeanz.com what else you might like to see in future updates.

Is it time to replace that website of yours?

With web coding standards moving to HTML 5, and browsers evolving to meet these new specifications, many companies might well be taking a look at their current websites and wondering 'Should I take this opportunity to make some changes?' Indeed, new technologies can cause the appearance of older websites to be altered, resulting in users not seeing what quite what is intended.
As any business moves forward, their website should reflect this. With the advent of social networking and mature blogging, there's even more pressure to keep online presences fresh.

Why then, are companies often resistant when it comes to rebuilding their websites?

Investment
A fully functional website, which might encompass everything from e-commerce to blogging and social networking can be a costly proposition for any business. However, a website should be considered an investment, and with any investment, it is the return that gives it value. A website is there to attract customers, and bring them back for return business.
After such an investment has been made, it is sometimes very hard for companies to take another look at the site at a later date. It is human nature to resist replacing something that will involve a large investment of time and money, even if just adding to it would cost more. The idea that spending more money to try and fix something that is not working as it used to, even if it is not exactly what is wanted, is easier to accept than writing it off and starting from scratch.

Look at it this way...
What if your kettle stopped working, and the repair would come to £20, but a new one would only cost £15. No question, buy the new one, yes? However, a third kettle is available, this one has a shorter boil time, has a price tag of £25 AND matches your toaster. Would you have the old one repaired, or would it be worth the extra to get the new features you want along with the manufacturers warranty?
It is the same with websites, older sites are increasingly harder to maintain and it can be difficult to add new features. A patch may be cheaper initially, but turn out to be a more expensive decision in the long term.

Where do you go from here?
Take a good look at your website, does it still do what you need it to do? If not, what would make more economic sense? An update or a replacement?

Formkraft jumps for charity! We recently received a thank-you letter for our support of Formkraft's recent charity skydive, along with some pictures of the big day. Raising a grand total of £1870 which I'm sure you will agree is a fantastic contribution to their Safe @ Last and Amy's Retreat charities.
Well done to Dale, James and Sarah at Formkraft!

If you'd like to find out more about these charities, please visit them here:

Safe@last and Amy's Retreat.

Work is well underway for London's glass 'Shard', designed by Renzo Piano, one of the most respected of living designers and chief architect for the Qatari-backed development.

Having shot shot to international prominence in 1977 when, together with Richard Rogers, he designed the Pompidou Centre in Paris he has since gone on to deliver a sequence of highly acclaimed buildings around the world, notably the Kansai International Airport terminal, built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, Japan and, at 1.7km long, one of the largest buildings ever constructed - and the masterplanning of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin - the symbolic new heart of the reunified German capital.
Indeed, having initially come up with the the concept and the dramatic form of the Shard in a few seconds (reportedly, on the back of a restaurant menu in Berlin itself), the Shard will be a tower like no other, both architecturally breathtaking and technologically advanced.

"The shape of the tower is generous at the bottom and narrow at the top, disappearing in the air like a 16th century pinnacle or the mast top of a very tall ship. The architecture of The Shard is firmly based in the historic form of London’s masts and spires".

"The tower is designed to be a sharp and light presence on the London skyline, and to be sustainable from every point of view: human, technological, energetic and economic".

"I foresee the London Bridge Quarter as a vertical city, for thousands of people to work in and enjoy, for hundreds of thousands more to commute to from all over the region, and for millions to take to their hearts".
- Renzo Piano

Follow the project at: www.shardlondonbridge.com (and download the excellent brochure pdf for more insights and interviews with Piano)

Together with Chelsea Barracks and One Hyde Park, Qatar certainly seems determined to provide a counterbalance to the turbo-charged skyline of Dubai with the latest property masterplan. Set atop London Bridge station and with not a car park in sight, Piano's utopian vision of a mixed-use vertical 'city' looks stunning and has the right environmental credentials too.

We like it, what about you?

Our e-mail marketing software 'mailbeanz' launches today!

Honed to perfection, we've created the perfect online marketing solution for companies that want to take their e-mail marketing campaigns to the next level and maximise their returns.

With customisable templates and bespoke designs also available you can easily add your own content, subject line, email address and then preview your email live.
Easily import your databases, filter your subscribers or manually enter email addresses. We'll handle the business of unsubscribes and bounces automatically and even add sign-up forms (for newsletters etc) to your website.
Real-time results as people open your e-mail and click on your links. Measure the success of your e-mail campaign (compare the effectiveness of subject lines, messages and links) and see who has opened which links and when - track subscribers, links and clicking habits to plan targeted email marketing campaigns.

With new research predicting that e-mail marketing likely to be one of the top areas for business investment this year, its clear that the global business community regards the web as one of the single most marketing channels available; one that no serious business can afford to ignore.

If you like to find out more about mailbeanz, visit our product page here or visit www.mailbeanz.com to sign up for you free account.

Recently, we've been busy updating our own e-mail management software system and have had time to listen to some of our customers views on their e-mail plans as we see more and more businesses abandon direct mail in favour of email marketing.

Whilst new tools such as Twitter, Blogging and RSS are being touted as "the new e-mail" its become apparent that they actually haven't supplanted e-mail but are instead, increasing its importance.
With e-mail acting as the 'hub' of our digital lives, hooking web apps back into this hub makes it more likely to be used than not (and all the while increasing e-mail's standalone importance), so we've taken our e-mail management system to the next level and will shortly be launching it alongside our other core products as an easy to use, fully manageable, end-to-end e-mail marketing solution.

Watch this space (and those little guys!)…

Straight out of Asimov, architects at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have a plan to build a massive digital cloud structure above London's skyline.

The Cloud, which has been shortlisted in a competition to build a tourist attraction in the Olympic Park with a lasting legacy, would feature 400 foot-tall mesh towers topped with solar powered plastic bubbles that show images, data and highlights including a "barometer of the city's interests and moods" outside (that latter bit comes courtesy of the group's partnership with Google).

As if that wasn't enough, the whole thing also promises to be funded entirely by micro-payments from the public (which would also determine its final size), and be completely self-powered as ramps, stairs, and lifts carry tourists to the top of the cloud. Once inside the structure, viewers would have a sweeping view of the city below. Despite displaying a constant stream of data, the cloud wouldn't take any power from the grid. Instead, it could generate all its own energy from a regenerative braking system and solar cells located on the ground and in the plastic spheres.

Even if the Cloud isn't chosen as the winner in the city's competition, the MIT designers are determined to build it. To that end, they have launched a fund-raising website in the hopes that millions of people will provide small donations. Want to help make the Cloud a reality? Check out the site at www.raisethecloud.org

Orion³ anyone? From people 'forgetting' to pay for goods to employee fraud, stores are using sophisticated software to target and deter shoplifters, says The Guardian.

Read the article online here

This cracking short movie from independent brand agency Moving Brands sure is a a timely piece and as the London Design Festival kicks off this week, catch up with them over at movingbrands.com

Quality stuff.

Over at well-formed.eigenFACTOR.org one can see the amazing and thoroughly mesmerising visual patterns brought on by representations of the ranking and mapping of scientific knowledge.

Based on the Eigenfactor^™ algorithm, which corresponds to a simple model of research in which readers follow chains of citations as they move from journal to journal. In effect, mapping the relative influence of individual scientific journals and patterns of relationship amongst the various academic disciplines.

Borrowing methods from network theory, eigenfactor.org ranks the influence of journals much as Google’s PageRank algorithm ranks the influence of web pages. By this approach, journals are considered to be influential if they are cited often by other influential journals.

Download an example citation pattern (the emergence of neuroscience) here (1.1Mb)

For more information visit eigenFACTOR.org

Is the Eigenfactor^™ score the new impact factor for Scientific, Technical and Medical journal publishing?

Seen as though we're celebrating, how's about a round of applause for our new site design and more importantly, our undoubted star of the show; the resolutely Euro-centric and blissfully solid typeface that is 'Helvetica' - it just IS!

Check out the New York trailer for the indie film 'Helvetica' typography, graphic design and global visual culture.

More about Helvetica and the film here

Just upgraded our Audio Visual exchange software at Derby General hospital, they can now access 40 cameras in theatre!!

Here's a few shots of the install under way...

Allows doctors and students to view live operations from separate training rooms while letting them speak live to those in the theatres through high-tech microphones. Facilities for record, playback and 2-way communication; all handled by rather nifty mobile cabinets!