Key contact: William Ross, Group IT Manager
Sales Manager: Richard Flenley
Locations: Exeter, Plymouth, Truro, Taunton
System before SEiNG: Legacy PTZ analogue cameras and DVR
Mercedes-Benz South West operates four dealerships across Exeter, Plymouth, Truro, and Taunton, offering new and used Mercedes-Benz vehicles, servicing, and aftersales support. Their focus is on providing an exceptional customer experience, while managing high-value stock and ensuring secure, safe environments for staff and customers.
As an early adopter of SEiNG, Mercedes-Benz South West have now been a happy SEiNG customer for over 2 years.
Mercedes-Benz South West was relying on a security system that had served them well for over a decade, but time had caught up. Their PTZ analogue cameras struggled to capture clear images, particularly at night, and low resolution made it difficult to monitor activity or review incidents.
William Ross, Group IT Manager, explains: “We were constantly battling poor nighttime footage and grainy images. For a car dealership, that’s a real problem. Our stock is high value, and we need to be able to investigate incidents quickly, whether a car is accidentally damaged on the forecourt or someone tries to gain unauthorised access.”
This was challenging both for the team, and the 3rd party remote monitoring service used to keep eyes on the site 24/7.
Alongside the outdated cameras, the team struggled with inadequate access controls. Weak passwords and a lack of defined user roles made it difficult to manage who could view or access different parts of the system. This posed a cybersecurity risk to the business.
Retrieving footage from the legacy DVRs was equally frustrating. Staff often had to scroll through hours of low-resolution video, just to find a single incident. This time-consuming process slowed investigations and increased the risk that important events could be missed.
Being a multi-site dealership, these challenges were amplified. Managing security consistently across Exeter, Plymouth, Truro, and Taunton added complexity, highlighting the need for a centralised, modern solution that could provide visibility and control across all sites.
William turned to Sales Manager Richard Flenley for advice, having gone to him for security solutions for almost 2 decades.
Considering the challenges faced by William and his team, a new system would have to:
“Given the challenges William and his team were facing, it was clear they needed a modern, flexible platform. SEiNG could meet all their requirements – from multi-site scalability to robust access controls and streamlined monitoring. Arranging a demo was the obvious next step.”
Richard recalls “William was immediately at ease with the system, so we prepared to get it live”.
Implementing SEiNG across the four dealerships was straightforward and efficient.
Whilst SEiNG is compatible with legacy cameras, the low image quality and night vision issues meant new cameras were required. Richard therefore oversaw the installation.
“Instead of the legacy PTZ cameras, we selected static cameras with built in infra-red technology. These cameras provide the dealership with a wide view that can be drilled in for quality, plus night vision.”
A plug-and-play SEiNG gateway box was used to connect these new cameras to the Cloud.
“The small gateway box provides Mercedes-Benz with some buffering, as an added layer of protection against network failure, whilst transmitting footage to the Cloud for analysis and storage.”
As a fully managed VSaaS, SEiNG handled the onboarding process, including setting up user accounts and training.
“This took a huge load off our IT team”, explains William. “We didn’t have to worry about configuring accounts or learning a new system from scratch as it was all ready to go from day one.”
The system was also fully integrated with the third-party remote monitoring service, including voice-to-site capabilities, ensuring that any out-of-hours incidents could be addressed immediately.
The combination of a centralised platform and high-quality cameras gave visibility and control across all sites from day one.
SEiNG addressed Mercedes-Benz South West’s security challenges by providing a modern, cloud-managed platform that simplifies monitoring, improves footage quality, and centralises control across multiple sites.
SEiNG allows all four dealerships to be monitored from a single, intuitive dashboard. Management can view live and recorded footage from any location, streamlining oversight and reducing the complexity of multi-site monitoring.
“Being able to check all our sites from one platform is a game-changer. We no longer have to log into separate systems for each location, which saves time and gives us confidence that everything is covered”, explains William.
Where previously, the team juggled weak passwords and had little control over who could see what, SEiNG provides tight access controls and Single Sign-On (SSO). This enables William to easily manage who can view or access specific areas of the system. As such, cybersecurity risk is reduced and compliance with internal policies is ensured.
The platform’s AI-driven analytics enable intelligent filtering and rapid search, allowing the team to pinpoint specific events quickly. Whether investigating incidents or auditing activity, the system highlights the most relevant footage, reducing hours spent scrolling through legacy DVR recordings.
Richard notes “The AI filters are incredibly powerful. They let staff find what they need in a few clicks rather than spending hours reviewing footage, which is exactly what a busy dealership needs.”
SEiNG seamlessly integrates with the third-party monitoring service, including triggers, outputs, and voice-to-site capabilities. Monitoring staff can instantly challenge intruders or respond to alerts in real time, enhancing security coverage after hours.
As a cloud video surveillance solution, SEiNG automatically updates its software, ensuring that the system stays secure, compliant, and equipped with the latest features - without adding burden to the IT team.
“Knowing that the system updates automatically gives our IT team one less thing to worry about”, acknowledges William. “We can focus on day-to-day operations rather than managing software patches.”
SEiNG goes beyond just recording by analysing all footage in the Cloud for meaningful events. Alerts can be set up for certain scenarios – for example, an individual crossing into the forecourt out of hours – so the Monitoring team can respond faster. This makes the dealerships safer during unstaffed periods.
When incidents occur, SEiNG’s case management tools allow staff to efficiently track investigations. Using the ai-backed filters, security footage can be quickly located and saved as a Case. Relevant personnel can be assigned to the Case, along with any tags, labels, or notes. This makes it easier to stay on top of investigations and provides a clear audit trail.
This was useful when, soon after installing SEiNG, a car reversed into a post at one of the sites at night. Thanks to the new infra-red cameras, the footage was clear. SEiNG’s video management system could then be used to locate the relevant footage and track it through cases, so the relevant action to be taken.
Beyond solving the challenges of their old CCTV setup, SEiNG also provided unforeseen benefits and features.
Before SEiNG, the Sales team had to be physically present on the forecourt to support potential customers and keep an eye on activity. With the new, high-quality camera footage, William saw an opportunity to streamline this process and keep the team productive in the office with a SEiNG video wall.
A video wall allows a tailored view of live security cameras to be shared or streamed via a secure link. In this instance, William could live stream the forecourts directly to a screen in the Sales office.
He explains: “With the video wall, our Sales team can see what’s happening on the forecourts without leaving their desks. It ensures no opportunities are missed, customers are supported immediately, and staff can focus on their work safely.”
The result is a more efficient, safer way to monitor activity, giving the team real-time oversight of the forecourts while keeping staff available for other important tasks and ensuring no customer opportunities are overlooked.
Transforming Multi-Site Dealership Security with SEiNG
Since implementing SEiNG, Mercedes-Benz South West has seen tangible improvements across all aspects of security and operations:
Reflecting on the impact, William notes: “SEiNG has transformed the way we manage security. Investigations are faster, monitoring is easier, and our teams can focus on what really matters – supporting our customers.”