The Digital Threshold Podcast: Recent Episodes
Evolv Technology
Welcome to the Digital Threshold podcast. We explore all the ways modern venues and facilities are reimagining their arrival experience.
Reopening any organization during a pandemic is complicated. Doing this task at an aquarium and a hotel is even more complex because of the logistics behind the job. Both facilities attract large crowds, and they must take special care to make sure customers stay safe.
Webinar host Neil Sandhoff, VP of North America, Evolv Technology, and moderator, Anil Chitkara, Co-founder, Evolv Technology, talked with Anthony Rivera, Vice President of Guest Experience and Hospitality, Georgia Aquarium and Todd Fasulo, Vice President of Security, Corporate Investigations, and Crisis Management at Wynn Resorts.
The group talked about the specific demands and challenges of reopening during this time. Rivera spoke about the innovation at the Georgia Aquarium, which has helped set the venue up for success during this critical period where visitor expectations are higher than ever.
They had to use innovative thinking to take care of their exhibits, and one of the most important aspects that customers might not think about is the water, itself. The aquarium holds 10 million gallons of water. During the pandemic and the reopening, they’ve had to figure out how to take care of it.
“It is a fun fact to say that the water we started with 15 years ago still exists today in the aquarium,” Rivera said. “95% of that water is still in circulation in our aquarium.”
At Wynn Resorts, where guests gather overnight, keeping guests safe during a pandemic presents a significant security challenge.
They wanted to make sure they created a safe environment for employees and guests, according to Fasulo. When it came to COVID-19 and figuring out how to operate the business during a constantly changing environment, it proved crucial to have outstanding leadership.
“It has to start at the very top of your organization,” Fasulo said. “The mantra that your CEO, your GM or your top echelon operations take is crucial to playing out the environment that everyone feels comfortable.”
During this period (and into the future, as consumer attitudes have changed for good), it’s critical to balance security with a hassle-free experience. Guests want to feel safe, but they also want touchless, frictionless solutions that don’t feel overbearing.
Venues also need to think about specific challenges related to COVID-19, such as temperature screening and social distancing.
Balancing all of this is possible, but it will require next-gen physical security solutions. In other words, the days of the metal detector are over.
Bilal Zuberi, Partner at Lux Capital, has heard a lot of ideas. What separates him from most is how quickly he’s able to separate the truly great and innovative ideas from those trailing a step behind the true leaders.
Zuberi said people are always asking him what’s next, and the answer is that, while he’s 100% sure Lux will be making more investments in exciting companies, he’s 0% sure what they’ll be.
What he can tell us right now is data and simulation are critical pieces to any new technology.
“There was a famous blog post written by Marc Andreessen a few years ago that was called ‘Software is Eating the World’,” Zuberi said. “The idea was that everything that used to be done in hardware is now being done in software, and software is eating up the world. I would say, if software is eating the world, data and simulation is helping rebuild it.”
Yet, while data and simulation are useful tools for many types of companies, Zuberi said none of it matters if what comes out of the process isn’t able to be analyzed in an intelligent manner.
“Typically, you would get a bunch of people, maybe a round table, together, and all the experts will get together. A panel will sit maybe for a month, they will have a whole bunch of meetings, and they will review all the technologies and review all the presentations made by experts,” he said. “And you'll come up with sort of a best guess plan. I think we may end up with drones attacking us with bombs, but what's the likelihood of that? I don't know. OK, let's not worry about that. Let's worry about somebody walking in with guns. So, let's have gun threshold security systems. That's how decisions get made today. There's got to be a better way.”
That includes utilizing simulation systems to plot out possibilities and also to use automation to analyze the enormous amounts of data coming in. In the case of Evolv, Zuberi said it’s possible to envision a world in which a security system remembers the user, letting people that regularly trip a traditional metal detector like an implant become known by the technology and able to pass on through.
It’s just one idea of many that can make a more connected, yet safer, world.
On this fifth episode of Digital Threshold, host Anil Chitakara brought together two industry experts to help him break down the state of risk assessment and security heading into 2021. Courtney Adante, President of Security Risk Advisor at Teneo, and Jonathan Wackrow, Managing Director & Global Head of Security at Teneo, spoke about how 2020 changed the landscape of workplace and venue security and how these changes would impact security plans and strategies for 2021.
Adante believes how security professionals worked, and the methods and solutions they provided in 2020 will continue to benefit clients in 2021. “Throughout the pandemic, day to day, week to week, we spent our time figuring out what our clients were going to need in terms of security advisory services,” Adante said. “We were learning every day based on public health guides and new developments with the pandemic.” Adante also said it was beneficial to have two pandemic experts on her team to help navigate Teneo’s clients' best solutions.
“All risk practitioners, at the close of 2019, as they started planning for 2020, had a blueprint laid out in front of them and how they were going to execute on that,” Wackrow said. Those plans were quickly thrown out the window as the pandemic began to take hold. “Those who were successful were those who were good at identifying the threats now facing their organizations and being able to pivot quickly into putting in short-term and long-term mitigation within their organization.”
While 2020 may be over, that doesn’t mean the problems and challenges are. The pandemic is still here, and there are myriad residual issues for businesses and organizations to contend. As these businesses begin to open back up, the additional risks before the pandemic are ones risk practitioners must also manage.
About Evolv Technology
Founded in 2013, Evolv Technology is the leader in human security solving the security screening problems of today with the most innovative technology and thinking. Evolv makes it possible for venues of all kinds to keep visitors and employees safe from concealed weapons, pandemic health threats and intruders.
Digital transformation is unlocking efficiency and value everywhere as organizations reimagine archaic processes and technology, better equipping themselves with interoperable and flexible capabilities. Within the Digital Threshold vision, venues and facilities can intelligently use data to create a frictionless experience for guests and employees. The result is an entry process that enhances the overall experience instead of diminishing it as it so often does today. Making weapons screening faster and more precise is part of the Digital Threshold vision, but it’s just the beginning.
The potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence in helping organizations and spaces reconsider their entry experience is vast – but it’s important to dive into exactly how those innovative solutions fit into the process of design and into real, actionable technology ready to make good on that promise.
On this episode of Digital Threshold Live, Dr. Mahesh Saptharishi, CTO, Motorola Solutions, joined host and Evolv Technology Co-founder Anil Chitkara to explore how AI is set to transform the future of
First, it’s helpful to define some terms. As Saptharishi put it, machine learning encompasses the core, algorithmic capabilities that power AI, with AI being the resulting execution. “Big data” can be thought of as the volume, velocity, and variety of data that hits an AI system, while analytics is the outcome of that data and its use to answer some fundamental questions.
In terms of entrance control and security, AI can excel in the same capacity it does across many applications – in doing mechanical tasks in a more efficient manner.
“What AI today is very good at is taking mechanical tasks that are perhaps complex in and of themselves, but really mechanical in nature, and being able to do it in a way that is more efficient than humans would be able to do,” Saptharishi said. “Think of it as counting the number of people who enter a building. It used to be that someone at the door stood with a clicker and kept clicking, counting the number of people who came in. That is something that's perhaps done more effectively by a sensor plus an AI solution of some sort.”
In optimizing the use of AI, humans can be freed up to accomplish more innovative and creative tasks, all while processes and operations become more efficient. It begins, Saptharishi, with “what-if” questions.
“Identify the bottlenecks, identify the inefficiencies in what is done today, take that customer journey, and optimize the job to be done through the course of design,” he said. “And, through the course of design, ask a set of what-if problems.”
About Evolv Technology
Founded in 2013, Evolv Technology is the leader in human security solving the security screening problems of today with the most innovative technology and thinking. Evolv makes it possible for venues of all kinds to keep visitors and employees safe from concealed weapons, pandemic health threats and intruders.
Digital transformation is unlocking efficiency and value everywhere as organizations reimagine archaic processes and technology, better equipping themselves with interoperable and flexible capabilities. Within the Digital Threshold vision, venues and facilities can intelligently use data to create a frictionless experience for guests and employees. The result is an entry process that enhances the overall experience instead of diminishing it as it so often does today. Making weapons screening faster and more precise is part of the Digital Threshold vision, but it’s just the beginning.
Erica Parker, Managing Director at the Harris Poll, joined host Anil Chitkara to discuss public opinion on critical issues and trends related to COVID-19 and the pandemic's effects on all aspects of society and business. Indeed, the future is not clear, so getting real data to share in these uncertain times is a valued commodity.
“We conducted a quantitative survey online from September 18th to October 3rd,” Parker said. “We interviewed a total of approximately 1,500 US adults across three key segments who have a key stake in the security screening process. In those three groups, we had approximately 700 parents of school-aged children, approximately 500 workers who work in large factories, warehouses, distribution centers, and approximately 500 folks who attended an event at a ticketed venue in 2019. This (survey) represents roughly 60% of the US population.”
One issue that is top of mind for everyone in the survey was the pandemic. But one of the other things that most concerned people was the risk of a mass shooting event. “We’ve seen a lot of interactions of different crises over these six months,” Parker said. “That’s important to think about that holistic environment that we’re operating in right now.”
Harris Poll launched a weekly tracking study at the beginning of the pandemic to share data about COVID-19 as a public service. “We’ve been tracking public sentiment on a range of topics as they come up,” Parker said. “Anything from the economy to healthcare, to jobs, and education, as the crisis continued to unfold.”
During the pandemic, fear remains a constant in the public’s mind, and it ranged from fear of the virus to fear over losing one’s job, with both concerns hovering around 52%. But the fear of returning to public activity is higher at 70%. “In the work that we’ve been doing across a variety of different industries, we speak with many businesses trying to figure out how to tackle this fear and help to restore public confidence in these particular activities.”
About Evolv Technology
Founded in 2013, Evolv Technology is the leader in human security solving the security screening problems of today with the most innovative technology and thinking. Evolv makes it possible for venues of all kinds to keep visitors and employees safe from concealed weapons, pandemic health threats and intruders.
Digital transformation is unlocking efficiency and value everywhere as organizations reimagine archaic processes and technology, better equipping themselves with interoperable and flexible capabilities. Within the Digital Threshold vision, venues and facilities can intelligently use data to create a frictionless experience for guests and employees. The result is an entry process that enhances the overall experience instead of diminishing it as it so often does today. Making weapons screening faster and more precise is part of the Digital Threshold vision, but it’s just the beginning.
In many ways, Hershey lives up to its billing as America’s sweetest town.
But bad things happen, even in a world built around chocolate and one that founder Milton S. Hershey worked to make sure would be just and enjoyable for his workers and visitors alike.
That’s why Hershey also has a team of security professionals, headed up by Jason White, Managing Director, Corporate Safety and Security for Hershey Entertainment & Resorts. White said the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made the company realize they needed to make guest safety more of a priority in an era in which security camera use was still negligible and no guest screenings were conducted at entry points.
“Once we, as a society, began to recognize these risks or threats, Hershey fell in line. We elevated our security posture over the year, and we have really tried to leverage technology the best we can to provide a safe environment while, at the same time, ensuring that the guest experience does not get diminished,” White said.
The coronavirus pandemic has posed a different challenge, with the park working to prevent the spread of the deadly virus while still providing something of an oasis during a difficult time.
The park’s requirements, which include face coverings and temperature screenings, go beyond local regulations, which means it’s critical for those regulations to be communicated clearly and in a pleasant way to make sure everyone is on the same page.
“It goes back to setting that very clear expectation for the guest of, if you want to come in and enjoy these amenities and have this fun time, these are the rules you need to follow while you’re here,” White said.
Technology helps in those areas, as well, whether it be software tools helping monitor crowd flow or utilizing Evolv units for a touch-free search experience meant to keep guests and employees safe and healthy.
About Evolv Technology
Founded in 2013, Evolv Technology is the leader in human security solving the security screening problems of today with the most innovative technology and thinking. Evolv makes it possible for venues of all kinds to keep visitors and employees safe from concealed weapons, pandemic health threats and intruders.
Digital transformation is unlocking efficiency and value everywhere as organizations reimagine archaic processes and technology, better equipping themselves with interoperable and flexible capabilities. Within the Digital Threshold vision, venues and facilities can intelligently use data to create a frictionless experience for guests and employees. The result is an entry process that enhances the overall experience instead of diminishing it as it so often does today. Making weapons screening faster and more precise is part of the Digital Threshold vision, but it’s just the beginning.
On the Digital Threshold podcast, industry leaders will provide insights regarding how modern venues and facilities are reimagining the arrival experience – and how innovations are elevating that journey.
In this debut episode, three guests with firsthand experience in reopening New York City for business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic joined host Anil Chitkara, Evolv Technology Co-Founder for a discussion on what they’ve learned from that experience and how those lessons might help craft future-proof best practices at the intersection of venues and technology.
Keith Prewitt, Chief Security Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lisa Schroeder, Director of Finance at Lincoln Center, and Thomas Slade, Senior Security Director at the American Museum of Natural History, help oversee institutions that account for about 16 million visitors during a typical year. That makes each extremely qualified to provide useful tips and strategies for engaging in a successful reopening.
The three venues were part of a cultural consortium of sorts that helped spread best practices and strategies that were working as the pandemic progressed.
“I think one thing we all feel in New York City is the strong sense of community,” Schroeder said. “We all want places to open, and we all want to be safe. We take a lot of pride in that.”
While each individual space required its own unique strategy for adapting to the constraints of the pandemic, one thing was shared – a need for agility. Many venues didn’t expect the pandemic to linger as long as it has, and that required continuous work to remain flexible in the face of a shifting environment and regulatory pressure.
Specific technologies have also played a role, from thermal scanners and contact tracing methods to enhanced entrance screening and more. One of the most critical aspects, the trio said, was to thoroughly vet vendors who might have rushed to market to capitalize on the pandemic and uncertainty.
About Evolv Technology
Founded in 2013, Evolv Technology is the leader in human security solving the security screening problems of today with the most innovative technology and thinking. Evolv makes it possible for venues of all kinds to keep visitors and employees safe from concealed weapons, pandemic health threats and intruders.
Digital transformation is unlocking efficiency and value everywhere as organizations reimagine archaic processes and technology, better equipping themselves with interoperable and flexible capabilities. Within the Digital Threshold vision, venues and facilities can intelligently use data to create a frictionless experience for guests and employees. The result is an entry process that enhances the overall experience instead of diminishing it as it so often does today. Making weapons screening faster and more precise is part of the Digital Threshold vision, but it’s just the beginning.