Many businessmen would like nothing more than to keep an eye on business 24 hours a day and 365 days a year to make sure that nothing gets lost in their office or work site.

Closed-circuit television gives owners some peace of mind during normal business hours, but they have to keep watch the screens constantly and review the tapes if they want to catch a thief.

Most likely, they will still be left clueless as to what goes on inside the office after he locks up and heads home.

PLDT SME Nation has come up with a product that may help businessmen to monitor the office even through a mobile phone.

Called the PLDT Watcher, it is a video monitoring solution that will allow entrepreneurs to monitor their offices anytime from anywhere, through their laptops and mobile phones.

“You can be in Argentina and still know what your employees are doing,” says Kat Luna-Abelarde, PLDT SME Nation vice president and head. “This is a good way for business owners to keep an eye on what’s really happening in the office.”

“Small or medium-scale manufacturers can now keep an eye on their production line or most especially on their inventory warehouses where most losses occur,” she says.

“It’s a sad fact but direct or employee-assisted pilferage or theft of stocks still plagues these businesses. If it’s not actual finished products, separate components can suffer the same fate,” she adds.

PLDT SME says some of the more common incidents of theft in the office are left unnoticed, such as employees printing their children’s homework and using office items such as paper, tape and batteries for personal needs.

In certain cases, some employees either goof off or do other jobs while at work.

“Millions are lost every day for each case of undetected theft, arson, pilferage or employees simply goofing off instead of working,” the company says.

The PLDT Watcher is a video monitoring solution that uses an IP camera and bundled viewing software so that business owners can see their offices or sites through a laptop or PC connected by DSL or even a 3G mobile phone.

As an initial offer particularly for SME owners, PLDT has the Watcher 2000, a package wherein owners need to pay a monthly service fee of P2,000, an one-time installation fee of P500.

This package, which has a lock-in period of two years, includes an IP 737 IP Cam and viewing software.

The camera has a ¼-inch Super CMOS sensor, 640x480 lens: 4.0 mm, up to 30FPS; a built-in microphone; MPEG4 compression; and 802.11 b/g WiFi that is 3GP compliant.

The cameras are capable of sending three snapshots—pre-event, during event and post event snapshots—using the e-mail every time the motion detect feature is triggered.

PLDT SME says this motion detector is one of the key features of the PLDT Watcher. When activated, the motion detectors prime the system to auto-record video images and e-mail snapshots direct to the user.

Users can likewise monitor multiple sites in one viewing.

“Through PC or laptop connected by DSL or even a 3G phone, they can easily check on their businesses—no matter how many or where they may be located. And the best thing about it is that they can view multiple work sites in just one viewing,” Luna-Abelarde says.

PLDT SME says ideal business sectors for the PLDT Watcher include retail trade establishments, restaurants, hotels, corporate buildings, and condominiums.

Some business owners may even opt to include the system for their private residences, which may also double as home offices.

Other benefits of using the Watcher include saving money on loss prevention; gathering indisputable evidence in cases of actual theft; and improving the bottom line.

Watcher also addresses a major concern for most businesses, which is shrinkage.

“Be it shoplifting, employee or supplier theft or even through processes, shrinkage is costing retailers worldwide billions of dollars,” PLDT SME says.

“Retailers battle shrinkage to regain lost profit. Once the shrinkage stops, the profits rise. And with technological advancements, business owners can now win the fight against shrinkage through proven technology such as video surveillance, sales analytics and tagging,” the company adds.

PLDT SME officials say the Watcher takes surveillance a notch higher by making good use of wired and wireless Internet technology, enabling entrepreneurs to literally keep a close eye on their businesses. With editing by INQUIRER.net