Insider Only Techopia, Top Stories

Solink unveils new AI upgrades in quest to become global leader in video-surveillance software

November 1, 2024

It’s a question that’s surely crossed the minds of more than a few tech leaders who are embedding artificial intelligence into their products: is the corporate world ready to fully embrace AI?

Already an Insider? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become an Insider

It’s a question that’s surely crossed the minds of more than a few tech leaders who are embedding artificial intelligence into their products: is the corporate world ready to fully embrace AI? Kinaxis CEO John Sicard addressed the issue head-on in a call with analysts this week after the Kanata-based producer of supply-chain management software announced its third-quarter financial results. “I think that is becoming part of the norm … I suspect not only for us but for a lot of software companies that are talking about the potency of AI and the promise of AI,” Sicard said. “Before spending dollars, it’s like, ‘OK, it sounds fantastical. Prove it.’” A few kilometres north of Kinaxis headquarters on March Road, “prove it” is a familiar refrain to Mike Matta and his team at Solink when it comes to AI. Founded in 2009, Solink specializes in cloud-based software that allows customers such as restaurants, manufacturers and property managers to quickly search footage from digital security cameras and marry it with point-of-sale data to pinpoint specific events, such as when employees dole out refunds or a coffee shop runs out of baked goods. The goal is to help operators detect fraud and theft and spot inefficiencies in workflows. Solink sells the software on a subscription basis starting at around $150 a month. The firm has incorporated AI into its products for years to alert operators to anomalies or suspicious activity at their businesses. Now, Solink is upping the ante with a new suite of AI-powered product upgrades that make it even easier for customers to receive continuous real-time notifications and question the smart-security software about everything from which products are selling best to whether employees are adhering to dress codes. Launched Thursday, the latest innovation, dubbed Sidekick AI, lets customers receive updates based on natural language queries. For example, a retailer can ask the system to send alerts if a location opens late, a shelf is less than 50 per cent stocked or an employee isn’t wearing the proper uniform, simply by conversing with an AI agent in everyday language. According to Matta, the latest upgrades will help make businesses safer, more efficient and more profitable. Cameras are running 24-7, recording countless hours of footage, he notes. “Realistically, you can’t digest it all.” Sidekick AI streamlines the process, Matta explains, by parsing through the mundane, zeroing in on relevant data and instantly delivering insights to users. “The beauty of having video is that it is a form of truth,” he says. “The fact that you can then start asking an (AI) agent, ‘I want to know when certain discrepancies are happening,’ you can then start to multiply your eyes and ears across your entire business footprint. “We think AI will be kind of the next leg of the stool that will help all security practitioners or even operations teams be able to digest more information and have a better understanding of their operations.” Several clients have been testing the new AI product for the past six months. Matta says the response has been enthusiastic. “We’ve already seen those customers saying, ‘I need to be able to deploy this right away,’” he says.

Winning over skeptics

All of Solink’s customers now have access to Sidekick AI’s basic features, such as being able to ask an AI agent specific questions. Other features – such as receiving automatic real-time alerts when, for example, a department store’s main entrance is blocked or a bakery runs out of doughnuts – will cost users extra. Like Sicard at Kinaxis, Matta concedes there is still a bit of reluctance among some businesses to go all in on AI. But he says Solink, which has software connected to more than 350,000 devices in 42 countries, has a track record of success that has allowed it to overcome any skepticism customers might have about its ability to save them time and money. “I think it’s always been a cool party trick, like ‘Hey, let me go do a demo,’ and it's a fun demo to see,” Matta says of AI. “But I think now a lot of enterprises are asking, ‘So what’s the ROI? What am I going to be able to save or what I am going to be able to make as a result of instituting this?’ Luckily for us, there’s a very, very clear ROI, and there’s a lot of interest in what we’re doing because of that clear ROI.” Nearly 3,000 organizations now use Solink’s software, including Burger King, Little Caesars and Tim Hortons. The firm’s revenues have been soaring at a rate of 70 to 80 per cent annually, and its headcount has risen more than 40 per cent since the start of last year to about 325 employees. Matta says recent economic uncertainty has fuelled interest in Solink’s offerings. “As the economy starts to see tailwinds, you typically tend to see risk and crime increase,” he says. “When that happens, there’s a deeper investment in security. And you compound that with the fact that people are moving from on-premise to cloud-based (software), and we’re seeing a surge in demand (where) every quarter is bigger than the last.” After raising US$60 million in fresh venture capital in the summer of 2023, Solink will likely look at going public in the not-too-distant future, Matta adds. “It’s an inevitability as we continue to scale and grow,” he says. “It’s something that we’re going to have to cross that path soon.” But for now, Matta’s primary concern is taking Solink “from an Ottawa story to a global story” as it strives to become the industry standard in video-surveillance software. “That’s been a big focus for us: how do we become the market leader in our space?” he says. “We’re still at the tip of the iceberg of what’s possible.”