The digital world is continuing to perfect the decades old capability of tracking assets to include Artificial Intelligence, real-time streaming of data and controlling of assets remotely under a single screen.  From rental car companies keeping eyes on the exact whereabouts of their fleet to safeguarding opioids and medications in hospitals, IoT and sensor technology that can be easily and affordably attached, providing real-time data that allows companies to monitor their business processes with handshakes and auditable trail to cut down on theft and product damage.

The potential for IoT-enabled asset tracking is enormous. Whether your IoT devices monitor vehicle fleets, locate shipping containers, track-and-trace stolen goods, or detect changes to environments, IoT asset tracking provides the tools to improve efficiency in a wide range of industries.

The cost of technology and immediate nature of activating IoT devices allows companies to track the location of their assets which could have been triggered by simple geofencing, damage indicators, or unauthorized usage.  The deployment of IoT in today’s solution is no longer weeks or months to deploy but can now be deployed in a single day with the activation of each device.  Clovity, Inc. for example has created a platform called CSensorNet that deploys in a single day with data streaming immediately onto dashboards and interactive maps.

For the retail market, an IoT solution for asset tracking is a game changer and large retail chains, grocery stores and brick and mortar chains as theft hits right to the bottom line.  Here are some brief statistics on loss prevention:

• Inventory shrink cost the US retail industry $46.8 billion. (Source: NRF Survey)
• The average shrink rate is 1.33% (Source: NRF Survey)
• 41% of retailers surveyed reported increases in overall inventory shrink. (Source: NRF Survey)
• The average cost per shoplifting incident doubled to $559. (Source: NRF Survey)
• The average costs of return fraud was $1,766.27, with a median of $171. (Source: NRF Survey)
• 29.3% surveyed said they were allocating new resources to technology, while only 17.3% said they were hiring additional staff dedicated to combatting ORC (Source: NRF Survey)
• 36.5% of shrink is external, due to shoplifting and ORC, outpacing shrink caused by employee theft, vendor fraud and administrative errors. (Source: NRF Survey)
• US grocery stores allocate only 0.36% of sales to reducing shrinkage. (Source: NRF Retail Study)

Combining the IoT ability to track assets from sensor devices with predictive and preventative modeling plus with the help of AI, Clovity’s platform can thwart off theft and provide actionable data for Companies to use in re-planning their business operations.  Controlling access to high value assets is a simple key in IoT’s capability but now it provides geofencing and real time alerting. Now companies have a security element to monitor not only the asset but also the users that come into contact with that asset.

Here are some brief statistics on retail crime:

• Organized Retail Crime (ORC) costs the retail industry approximately $30 billion each year. (Source: NRF)
• 91.6% of companies surveyed ORC in the last 12 months. (Source:NRF)
• 71.3% of retailers surveyed reported an increase in ORC year-over-year. (Source:NRF)
•  Only a little more than half (54.7%) of retailers surveyed believe that top management understands the “complexity and severity” of the ORC issue (Source: NRF Survey)
• More than half (55.2%) responded that none of their LP employees have ORC as their primary job responsibility. (Source:NRF)
• Robberies and burglaries are up 8.6% since 2016 (Source: D&D Daily)
• Reported value of ORC cases in 2016 exceeded $200 million. (Source: LPRC)

Today’s AI can integrate to perform automated tasks which can include disabling a running asset, such that the asset can no longer be operated at that moment and can be tracked for recovery.  AI is also interfacing with several types of sensors and has the ability to also interface with application end points.

Here are 4 recent improvements in theft and loss prevention made possible by IoT:

1. Beacons—These small Bluetooth devices, powered by technology, that send alerts in the event that anyone attempts to remove them from assets to which they’re attached and then warning of potential theft. With the use of AI, CSensorNet,  can use these devices to send location-based messages from operations to security.
2. Sensor-enabled smart tags and asset trackers—These battery-powered, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled wireless sensor devices are also used to keep track of the whereabouts of merchandise or assets in a building.  Asset trackers such as Clovity’s asset tracker, can keep a location on pallets, bins, and high value asset inventory.
3. Geofencing—A geofence is a geographical fence or barrier that can track customers in various locations of a building and notify store or factory security personnel when assets are taken out of a specific area. Geofencing is also used in maintenance operations so supplies and maintenance equipment can be quickly located and monitored for prevention of theft or damage.
4. AI notification—With CSensorNet, asset monitoring can be as simple as receiving a notification.  IoT-driven devices that notify a user of its location, health and/or authorized use can be the difference between a complete loss or 100% recovery.

Clovity has created an AI solution for asset tracking that aides in the prevention of theft by using GPS, geofencing and connectivity to the assets functioning systems at any scale.  Our solution CSensorNet can help operators remotely shut down an asset and provide statistics on trends as well as alerts hopefully preventing downtime, loss of production and or expensive repairs.  Our IoT as a solution is an easy entry point for our clients to have hardware, software, network, and support bundled into a single solution, with no upfront cost and a single monthly fee.

We take the complexity out of implementing, testing, and operationalizing IoT for companies interested in asset tracking and mitigation of theft or assist in recovery of assets.  A number of solutions require separate contracts for hardware, software and network provisioning which often creates barriers to IoT adoption.

In conclusion, the barrier of cost and implementation complexity of an effective asset tracking solution that helps to mitigate theft and assist in the recovery of high value assets, has been broken by Clovity’s IoT as a Service. By providing visibility to all assets and driving down theft through the use of real time location services, GPS and AI integration, we can give unflinching oversight to owners to protect their assets.

Get in touch with us

For more information regarding our services and IoT solutions contact one of our sales representatives at Sales@Clovity.com. We have IoT agents standing by that are available to help with your asset tracking needs. Also, feel free to fill out our contact form Clovity – Contact and one of our representatives will be in touch shortly to discuss how we can assist you.

By Cameron Starman, Director of Client Management @ Clovity, May 12th, 2021