CLIENT CASE STUDY: AZENA
Smart payments for smart cameras
Azena, an IoT-based security equipment start-up funded by German engineering and technology giant Bosch, is revamping its digital payment strategy. flow’s Desirée Buchholz reports on its partnership with Deutsche Bank to improve the customer experience and meet the needs of a fast-growing B2B marketplace
W
here in the car park can you find vacant spaces? Which parts of a shopping mall attract the
most customers? How can manufacturing processes become more efficient and secure for workers? All these questions can nowadays be answered with the help of smart video cameras – and the Munich-based start-up Azena is working on delivering exactly these kinds of analytics to users of security cameras. Its customer list includes local transport operators who want to gain insights into passenger flows and retailers studying shopper behaviour to optimise product offering and placement. Azena was founded in 2018 under the roof of German technology company Bosch, a global supplier of mobility solutions, industrial technology, consumer goods and energy technology with total revenue of €71.5bn in 2020. Among the areas Bosch focuses on are solutions around the Internet of Things (IoT). This is where Azena comes in. The company has developed an open operating system for security cameras which runs on the cameras of Bosch and other manufacturers such as Hanwha Techwin and Vivotek. Based on this system, Azena launched a marketplace in March 2020 allowing software developers to sell their video analytics applications to the users of these video cameras. Users include the US professional hockey team the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are using AI to monitor crowding at their stadium entrances. “Our app store connects software
developers and the users of cameras, and we
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receive commissions for the sale of software licences that take place on our marketplace,” explains Michael Staneker, Azena’s Project Manager. Currently, the marketplace offers more than 100 video analytics apps from 30 software developers to registered customers in more than 40 countries.
Digital marketplaces require a new payment strategy
Business models such as Azena’s are currently gaining traction. “Companies are building digital ecosystems around their original product and service offering,” says Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Cash Management, Deutsche Bank. Automobile companies are expanding their offering horizontally with mobility solutions such as car-sharing, machine builders are ramping up their software development, and in the healthcare sector, manufacturers
of diagnostic equipment create vertical marketplaces to monetise new goods and services at scale, through a convenient integration of smaller medical suppliers. This growth is sparked by several
Our previous payment service provider was unable to fulfil all our requirements
Michael Staneker Project Manager at Azena
advantages that these marketplaces deliver to their participants. While buyers benefit from greater choice, faster delivery and cost reduction, sellers gain access to a larger number of clients at a lower risk. The company operating the marketplace can generate new revenue streams from fees on transaction volumes. These platforms also enable manufacturers to sell directly to the customer, thereby circumventing resellers and increasing their margins. “Owning the interface to the client is getting even more important as sales channels shift from physical to digital,” Matthiessen adds. Therefore, global sales conducted via B2B marketplaces are expected to quadruple from US$1trn in 2020 to US$4trn in 2025. The consultancy McKinsey even expects marketplaces to account for 60% of online sales by 2023 – or US$9.2trn – an increase of 22% each year compared with figures from 2019 (see Figure 1). The higher expected volume is because McKinsey also includes business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors such as retail, travel, media and entertainment as well as food and beverages. Yet building a digital marketplace is
challenging for several reasons. The benefits outlined above can only be delivered when all relevant industry players are participating. “Among the decisive factors for the success of marketplaces is a convenient, safe
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