With Playtime Solutions, Coles created a centralised repository for CCTV footage from across their national network to help validate and expedite liability assessments.
Challenge: Streamlining the Insurance Claims Process
Coles faced challenges in efficiently managing insurance claims related to incidents across its extensive network of stores, distribution centres and warehouses. The insurance liability assessment requires Coles to retain video footage for review as required. However, the absence of a centralised repository for Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) footage hindered prompt validation for the liability assessments. In many cases the footage was stored across various storage mediums such as USB and DVD in separate locations, lacking a secure, unified system for easy access and retrieval. Additionally, the lack of permissions management and accountability posed risks to compliance and limiting audit trail capabilities for managing activity within the file.
“Any footage that’s lost or corrupted would impact us making decisions on liability, so it’s important to have all the relevant information as soon as possible.”
– Raajeev Ramanathan, Business Analyst – Insurance, Coles
Solution: Innovative Centralised CCTV Application
To address these challenges, Coles partnered with Playtime Solutions to create an enterprise-wide cloud storage application on Microsoft Azure, media services platform. Triggered by the incident management system within Coles, the solution provided a centralised repository for all relevant CCTV footage, enabling secure, easy access across devices through the existing single-sign-on system. Role-based logins gave controlled access and greater permissions management on files and ensured an audit trail for compliance purposes. The solution also supports various media types and the ability for video footage to be catalogued with metadata, simplifying file searches.
Playtime Solutions worked closely with the Coles Microsoft engineering team to ensure efficient delivery of the platform. As well as connected work with their cloud engineering team to get data across the Coles network.
“Swift access to footage is crucial when claims are made. Claims can sometimes be made 5, 10, or 20 years later, and the footage could be lost if not stored correctly, so this platform his critical for us to store it efficiently and securely.”
– Raajeev Ramanathan, Business Analyst – Insurance, Coles
Outcome: Enhanced Efficiency and Accuracy
The implementation of the new CCTV storage system brought transformative outcomes and significant efficiency increase.’ The Coles’ insurance team is now able to proactively save, organise, manage, and report with viewer permissions on relevant footage in the centralised application. The application can handle a significant volume of data, with an average of 500 incidents saved weekly. This streamlined process drastically improved decision-making efficiency and efficacy with time to accessing data going from weeks to “a matter of seconds” – Raajeev Ramanathan, Business Analyst – Insurance, Coles. Swift access to video footage empowered Coles to make informed decisions for liability assessments, providing video evidence to ensure a fair and just outcome for all parties.
“Determining liability is crucial when something is arguable. It is very difficult without footage, so having video evidence and being able to easily find it, has been the real value for us and our customers.”
– Reed Powney, Delivery Manager – Insurance, Coles
What’s Next: Expanding Usage and Integration
Building on the success of the CCTV application for customer incidents, Coles has plans to extend its usage to cover workplace incidents internally. This expansion will be strategically tested through targeted pilots to ensure seamless integration for broader user groups. Coles’ commitment to innovation and efficiency enhancement continues as it leverages technology to drive further improvements in its insurance claims processing and throughout the wider organisation.
Playtime Solutions has had an ongoing relationship with Coles for the last 2 years. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Coles as they continue to enhance their competitive edge through technology.