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VERTICAL MARKETS PHOTO COURTESY TYCO INTEGRATED SECURITY IT'S GO TIME IN RETAIL Massive change is afoot in the retail sector as legacy standalone technologies give way to the cross-functional uses offered by networked systems. Gaining a keen sense of how organizations are evolving, and what challenges and needs confront them, can create problem-solving opportunities. By Rodney Bosch SSI recently traveled to San Diego to attend the annual National Retail Federation (NRF) Loss Prevention Conference & Expo and convened with several system integration and technology providers to learn about trends, challenges and opportunities in the retail sector. When discussing the state of loss prevention, it becomes eminently apparent that the market landscape continues to undergo a dynamic evolution despite years of economic hardship. Among the disparate variables driving the transformation, networked systems and fscal restraint are hastening the end of siloed technologies across the enterprise. For instance, video surveillance is no longer solely the domain of physical security and life safety. IP-based systems, coupled with analytics and other electronic devices, are allowing organizations to not only protect brick-and-mortar locations, but also optimize retail processes and improve business efciencies. Tis type of cross-functionality is providing a compelling ROI case to organizations while allowing the 60 / SECURITYSALES.COM / JULY 2013 cost of a solution to be shared among multiple departments. Of course, such a scenario introduces new players to the decision-making table. For systems integrators, this means they have to forge new relationships and speak new departmental languages if their sphere of infuence is going to expand beyond the singular rapport they have traditionally fostered with a security director. Let's hear more details and insights from the market experts we met up with at the NRF conference. THE EVOLUTION OF LOSS PREVENTION Dramatic may be an understatement to describe the arc of security as a discipline in the retail sector. Distilled to its most essential form, safeguarding a store and its assets has been mostly twofold. It has long been about making sure that if there was a break-in afterhours, the police would be dispatched. During business hours, loss prevention would eventually become a driver in combatting employee theft and shoplifting. As security technologies and services have