Tags: analytics

10 Strategic Smart Enterprise Drivers for 2023

Posted by Josh Loinette on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Enterprise, Healthcare, Hospitality, Servers and Storage, Unified Communications Tagged , , ,

Businesses are currently weighing the impact of rapidly changing economic conditions, as well as disruptions in supply chains, and energy sourcing. Digital Transformation is recreating business models, changing the way customers and employees interact and altering entire industries. Making sense of such disruptive changes has never been so important in order to transform smartly instead of being left behind.

As an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) leader with over 120 years of expertise and experience, NEC is sharing its views on leading and emerging trends and technologies to help your Smart Enterprise anchor its strategic investments. Explore NEC’s Top 10 Strategic Drivers and discover how to navigate through the developments to simplify your organization, realize workforce efficiencies, deliver superior customer services, and gain a competitive advantage.

Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is key for enterprises to enrich their operations with innovative solutions that optimize business practices, drive workforce engagement, and create a competitive edge. Digital adoption and automation are key to operational excellence and indispensable for organizations to survive. Equipment, functions and processes becoming more and more software driven, makes them more responsive to changing requirements.

Ubiquitous Connectedness
Organizations are capitalizing on mobility solutions that enable employees to work from just about anywhere, at any given time, whether on-site, at home, between appointments, or while traveling. Technology ensures they remain fully integrated with their organizations, colleagues and customers. Work/life balance is enriched by the power of the smart-phone, serving both business and private communications.

Smart, Collaborative Workspaces
The traditional office is shrinking and working from home is fully accepted. With hybrid work being the new normal workstyle, tools that support a flexible, open and agile way of working, like Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C), are a mandatory part of running a successful business. Remote workers need to feel engaged and included in company culture. At the same time, Smart enterprises must adopt workplace management solutions that create environments for maximizing not only employee productivity and well-being, but also workplace safety and efficiency as some workers return to the office. Automated reservation and touchless check-in allow both workers and visitors to quickly and safely use office space as often as needed.

Driving Engagement
Companies are pushing hard to deliver connected Customer Experiences (CX) across media, channels, processes, and departments – making contact easy and pleasant, lowering thresholds, presenting options most relevant to the customer, and ensuring swift response to queries. Smart enterprises reinvent their customer engagement models to deliver customers a distinctive, personalized experience and ensure a long-lasting relationship.

The Return Of Cost Consciousness
Until recently businesses were predominantly focused on post-pandemic growth. Now, cost reduction and optimization will play a more prominent role in decision making in 2023. Rising interest rates and volatile labor, materials, and energy prices are forcing enterprises to revisit their balance sheets and cut costs by optimizing out of pocket spendings such as IT infrastructure and office space. Businesses that adopt pay-per-use and flexible models will be able to reduce upfront costs and pay only for what is currently needed, while also giving themselves the flexibility for future expansion. Customers will benefit from easier financial management and predictable overall monthly costs. Smart enterprises will embrace the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of month-to-month contracts with the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.

Cloud-Centric Optimization
Cloud computing has revolutionized IT and software delivery. Applications running in the cloud make it incredibly easy for users to signup, access, and draw on solutions available on demand and within minutes. Cloud-based deployments consequently adopt new functionality much faster and more easily than their on-premises counterparts, with new applications driving rapid innovation.

Securing The Data-Driven Enterprise
The power of capturing, processing, and analyzing data offers tremendous opportunities to drive better business intelligence, product development, and customer service. Real-time business processes and workflows also require swift retrieval of data at the moment of need. As data sets grow, storage solutions need to become more flexible and scalable as organizations find it increasingly complex to store, protect, and manage all collected information.

Business Resilience And Continuity
Today’s enterprises depend on reliable access to applications, information, and people to persistently operate smartly and compete effectively. This requires a robust communications and IT infrastructure capable of providing always-on availability that can also self-heal should potential service disruptions occur. Navigating these disruptions calls for a more holistic and proactive strategy with respect to sourcing and securing resources across a variety of key areas.

Extended Reality
Analytics tools have historically been focused on descriptive outcomes, but now their applications are shifting towards predicting future events and behavior and recommending how to react to outcomes. In 2023, AI tools will become widely available through cloud platforms and open-source software. Businesses will ramp up their usage to streamline efficiency for the organization and achieve new levels of engagement, drawing on elements such as emotion recognition and behavior analysis.

Smart, Sustainable Society
Important steps are being made towards building smarter societies – where information and communications technologies ensure energy efficiency, sustainable economic development, safety and security, along with wise management of natural resources. Connected processes and collaboration will save time and reduce costs, scope, and impact of physical travel and transportation. Digital technologies will support the incorporation of circular economy principles into businesses and society, facilitating the redesign of products and value chains.

By embracing Digital Transformation and enabling advanced approaches to how Communications and IT services are delivered and managed, NEC provides new ways for Smart Enterprises to thrive and grow.

To learn more, visit https://www.necam.com/.

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NEC Maintains Top Rank in 2022 NIST FRVT Report

Posted by Kathleen Kiernan on Posted in Analytics, Biometrics, Cloud, Events, Government, Law Enforcement, Security Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

NIST Ranked #1 Globally

  • #1 in Mugshot Identification
  • #1 in Border Security Identification
  • #1 in Mugshot Identification over age differences

At NEC Corporation, we take great pride in our legacy of creating the best technology in our field and our biometric authentication algorithms are no exception. Our #1-ranked National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) algorithms are trusted every day to provide accurate and secure results across sectors including commercial aviation, hospitality and the United States government.

Adding to this legacy, we are excited to share that NEC’s facial recognition algorithm earned the top ranking from NIST’s most recent Face Recognition Vendor Test across multiple categories.

NEC earned top recognition in the categories of Mugshot Identification both globally and in the United States, Global Border Security Identification, and Global Mugshot Identification over age differences, as well as Mugshot to Webcam Identification here in the U.S.

These rankings match the very real, positive impact our technology has on society every day. For example, U.S. CBP Deputy Commissioner, Troy Miller, recently shared in an interview1 that facial recognition technology, including our algorithm, has identified more than 1,000 imposters attempting to enter the country with false documents since 2018 – decreasing potential crime and creating safer communities.

For more than two decades, NEC has consistently surpassed competitors’ algorithms in the categories of accuracy and speed. This remains true even when demographic differentials including race and sex are accounted for and when subjects wear protective face masks. Our algorithm passed internal tests with a rate of over 99.9% in 1:1 verification when face masks of various colors and patterns were worn by individuals – ensuring security and supporting public health.

The latest NIST results showed NEC’s algorithm outperformed the entire field of 329 entries submitted from all over the world on mugshot identification. Our NEC-005 algorithm demonstrated a False Negative Identification Rate (FNIR) of just 0.0017 at a False Positive Rate (FPIR) of 0.001, respectively.

This same algorithm outperformed a field of 289 entries on Mugshot to Webcam identification with an FNIR of .0120 at a FPIR of .001.

NEC’s facial recognition algorithm is called upon by professionals across a diverse range of use cases in critical moments and is counted on for its reliable and accurate results. These use cases include criminal investigation, immigration, military security and national identification within the entertainment industry.

We have implemented more than 1,000 systems with our top-ranked fingerprint and face recognition technologies in more than 70 countries and regions around the world.

Our team works to create the most accurate and reliable product possible to ensure safe, accessible and enjoyable experiences for every person who uses our technology. While navigating access points can often be a hassle, we see a touchless and frictionless future made possible through our first-ranked biometric authentication algorithm.

To read more, you can access the full NIST report, here.

Learn more about our #1 ranked algorithm’s use cases here.

1. https://about.bgov.com/news/facial-scans-catch-impostors-at-border-as-agencies-embrace-use/

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NEC National Security Systems Showcases Digital Identity Solutions

Posted by Kathleen Kiernan on Posted in Analytics, Biometrics, Cloud, Events, Government, Law Enforcement, Security Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

NEC National Security Systems (NEC NSS) showcased its robust, cloud-native digital management platform, body worn solutions and iris recognition capabilities at the connect:ID 2021 conference, October 5-6 in Washington, D.C.

Enlightening Speeches & Future-Focused Conversations

NEC speakers presented and participated in illuminating interviews and discussions during connect:ID, including company leaders: Dr. Kathleen Kiernan, the newly appointed president of NEC NSS; Raffie Beroukhim, SVP and Chief Experience Officer and NEC NSS board member; and Kris Ranganath, Chief Technology Officer.

  • Dr. Kiernan delivered an opening keynote focusing on “Putting a Face on the Digital ID Generation.”
  • Ranganath presented “Decentralized Identity” during a summit speech regarding the benefits of decentralized identity management solutions.
  • As a board member of the International Biometric Identity Association (IBIA), Raffie participated in a panel discussion on key topics in advanced recognition for government agencies.

In addition, Allen Ganz, Vice President of Customer Experience, was interviewed on the topic of “The Future of Digital Travel.” Ganz, who has implemented biometric solutions in the aviation industry, shared information about the first curb-to-gate system for a commercial airline in the United States, which was unveiled at Atlanta’s Terminal F in 2019.

Authentication & Digital Identity Solutions

At the conference NEC NSS hosted a prominent booth showcasing their digital identity management and body worn solutions, that provide identity intelligence, by combining NEC’s best of breed matching algorithms with cutting edge wearable cameras.

They also displayed NEC Digital Platform, a highly secure and scalable digital identity management platform that effortlessly brings touchless experiences to countless use cases. The platform provides a unified experience for a variety of services and transactions by using a unique, multi-factor Digital ID based on biometric authentication and AI technology. It streamlines both physical and digital identities into a secure, privacy-driven ecosystem for a seamless, secure, more personalized, and intuitive customer experience.

Also featured was the new iris-face combo kiosk that seamlessly matches a user’s iris or face—or both modalities simultaneously—against an existing document. Using NEC’s proprietary eye detection technology and remote gaze detection, this solution provides biometric authentication under a variety of conditions.

To learn how NEC NSS provides vital biometric, AI and computer support to U.S. government agencies, please visit the website. You can also follow NEC NSS on Twitter at @NECNSSFed and on its LinkedIn page.

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NEC Announces Dr. Kathleen Kiernan as Permanent President of NEC National Security Systems

Posted by Raffie Beroukhim on Posted in Analytics, Biometrics, Cloud, Government, Law Enforcement Tagged , , , , , ,

Today the entire NEC family celebrates the announcement of Dr. Kathleen Kiernan as permanent President of NEC National Security Systems, our FOCI-mitigated subsidiary that provides advanced technology solutions to the federal government. Raffie Beroukhim, Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of NEC Corporation of America spoke for all of us when he said, “Kathleen is absolutely the right fit for us.”

Beroukhim went on to say, “In her almost three decades of experience in federal law enforcement, she’s seen it all and it’s that public-sector security expertise we want guiding us well into the future.”

NEC NSS was created to provide the world-class innovations of NEC Corporation in a specialized manner to the United States government. This mission has established the company as a leading provider of digital identity solutions and AI technology across defense, intelligence, law enforcement, homeland security and other agencies.

Kathleen KiernanWith Dr. Kiernan at the helm, we know NSS will continue to do all this and more.

While she has served as Interim President of NEC NSS for just two months, Dr. Kiernan’s combination of leadership experience and industry expertise has already proved invaluable to the company.

Dr. Kiernan is a 29-year veteran of Federal Law Enforcement and one of our country’s foremost experts in threat detection. Having previously served as Assistant Director for the Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), she knows firsthand what it takes to lead expert organizational strategy based in intelligence.

Her impressive resume reaches further, as Dr. Kiernan is also the Founder and CEO of Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH), a women-owned global consulting firm specializing in intelligence, law enforcement and national security. She is a recognized expert in strategic thinking, strategy development, and facilitating critical incident management exercises for senior leaders across public and private sector organizations.

You can see why she was our first choice for the position.

On making the transition to permanent President, Dr. Kiernan stated, ”These past two months at NEC NSS have been simply outstanding. Our focus on cloud-enabled digital identity management solutions and cutting-edge technology is being at the speed of need in the global environment, while also providing shared value to our communities is an unbeatable combination.”

As technology and our industry continues to evolve, visionary leadership that can see what’s coming around the corner and adapt as needed is more important than ever. In the years to come as NEC NSS continues to grow under Dr. Kiernan’s leadership you’ll want to stay up-to-date with news emerging from the company’s social media channels. You can follow NEC NSS on Twitter at @NECNSSFed and on their LinkedIn page.

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NEC at NRF 2020: Seamless Retail Customer Experiences with Greater Operational Efficiency

Posted by Allen Ganz on Posted in Analytics, Biometrics, Cloud, Customer Experience, Events, Retail Tagged , , , , , , ,

NEC was one of the early pioneers in biometrics technologies since the 1970s. Today, NEC is the world’s leading provider of biometric solutions to both governments and commercial entities, which include air travel, theme parks, stadiums, casinos and more. Next stop: retail, where we are leading new initiatives to transform the Customer Experience (CX).

Looking Customer Loyalty Right in the FaceAt NRF 2020, visitors to NEC’s booth got a glimpse of how retailers are using facial biometrics to deliver an improved CX and achieve tangible business benefits.

Several years ago, we deployed a Customer Experience initiative aimed at transforming the way consumers transact in physical spaces, from entering theme parks and stadiums, to boarding planes, accessing benefits and making payments, interactions that require security as well as streamlined convenience. Today, we see this visionary concept in several very high-profile implementations. And what we saw at NRF this year, is that the retail space is ready to embrace this trend, with facial recognition as the enabler for an item-of-interest to become an item-in-hand with minimal effort and delay. Our leading technology makes it possible to deliver on this promise.

Customer Experience Starts with Fast, Frictionless Transactions

To kick off their booth experience at NRF 2020, visitors self-registered by simply taking a picture of their face, creating a digital ID on our facial identity management platform, NEC I:Delight. This one time enrollment enabled multiple touchpoints and experiences throughout the booth, providing for faster, more secure transactions for applications such as loyalty and payment.

As customers progressed through the booth, they experienced our facial recognition enabled Self-Checkout solution. This self-checkout lane recognizes the items a customer has placed in their shopping bag via RFID, calculates payment and then activates the charge without the customer ever stopping or swiping a credit card. As they walk through the lane, the customer has the option of scanning a QR code on their device or using their face as the “method of payment." NRF attendees also had the opportunity to interact with NEC’s technology partner, POP ID, a Cali Group company. POP ID’s self-ordering kiosk makes recommendations based on past food orders for faster decision-making, reducing wait times, increasing customer loyalty and revenue opportunities. Customers simply register once on their mobile device, and then use the kiosk to choose items and pay without pulling out a wallet or device a second time. Available at numerous quick-service restaurant (QSR) locations today, POP ID’s “Face-pay” concept is enabling unique and memorable customer experiences and generating a fast return on investment.

Experience Advanced Analytics

NEC also showed how facial technology can be applied to enhance data analytics and assist retailers behind the scenes to improve business operations. By analyzing key aspects of the shopper population, either in-store or in front of a particular display, retailers are able to send offers or engage customers in real time based on their individual interests. These types of up-to-the-minute data analytics help retailers survive and thrive in this competitive marketplace. Reliable sales data enables tailored in-store offers to customers, plus aids in managing inventory and staffing.

Retail … the Next Facial Recognition Frontier!

Finally, visitors could see NEC’s next-generation, modular point of sale (POS) design. Our POS design includes a space-saving footprint that can transform from a manned-POS station into a self-service POS just by turning around the peripherals. The embedded facial recognition option enables seamless payment. Both single and double-display versions are available.

Which of these retail trends does your organization plan to embrace in the coming year? Talk to an NEC expert to hear more and engage in our Biometric CX Discovery & Strategic Planning Process as a first step in realizing your vision. Simply fill out the form below, and we’ll get in touch!

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