Five reasons your business needs AI-enabled pest control cameras

Picture this: it’s midnight in your business. A rodent comes out in search of food or shelter. No one’s there, so it goes unnoticed. In fact, in the time it goes unnoticed, the mouse manages to cause significant damage and health hazards, including contaminating products and damaged wiring. But what if you had eyes in every corner, monitoring for pests 24/7?

That’s where PestConnect Optix comes in. These AI-powered cameras have been designed especially for the challenges you face with monitoring rats and mice. They use sophisticated machine learning to automatically detect, identify and alert our highly trained technicians of pest activity earlier than ever before. Combining this innovative technology with our expertise ensures proactive responses to potential issues before they escalate, assuring you that your premises are protected.

Scroll on to discover how PestConnect Optix can benefit your business.

1. 100% more visibility in hard-to-reach and unmanned areas to uncover hidden pest threats

Pests often hide in the most unexpected places where humans can’t easily get to. To help tackle this, PestConnect Optix gives pest control technicians 100% more visibility of pests in hard-to-reach and unmanned areas. This means they can monitor for pest activity on your premises where human eyes can’t easily go. Imagine being able to easily and continuously monitor areas like deep into ceiling and roof voids, wall and floor voids and under chillers or racking where these furry invaders can nest and multiply undetected.

With PestConnect Optix, pests don't have to enter devices before we're alerted. Instead, cameras monitor the environment to detect rodents. With this unparalleled visibility, we can detect pest threats earlier and then resolve them faster and more effectively.

2. 24/7 monitoring for continuous protection and peace of mind

Rats and mice are most active when you’re not, overnight, during weekends or in low-traffic areas. However, this next-generation device is always on watch, so you don’t have to be. The cameras are fitted with a passive infrared (PIR) sensor that detects rodent movement. The sensors are sensitive to changes in infrared radiation, making them ideal for identifying even subtle movements of warm-blooded pests, such as rats and mice. When the sensor is triggered by rodent movement, the camera system is activated and captures an image of the area. The system, therefore, monitors your premises around the clock.

3. AI-driven pest detection to prevent pest problems earlier than ever before

PestConnect Optix uses AI to detect pests faster and more accurately than we’ve ever been able to do so previously. The integration of AI with these cameras has introduced next-generation capabilities that can benefit your business. Machine learning in the cameras can automatically identify and label pests from pictures taken and even raise alerts on pest activity. The system can distinguish between a rodent and a harmless shadow,  for example, ensuring high-accuracy detection that automatically filters out false positives and raises activity alerts for our expert technicians only when necessary, which can help you save time and money in wasted visits.

A Quality Assurance Manager at a global fast-food chain shared, “It’s such a benefit to identify any pests so quickly, and it allows for a quick response from Rentokil to solve the issue and remove any entry points for the pests, helping to give us peace of mind and keep our sites protected.”

With nearly two million images already processed, this trusted, proven system can help you save time and money by reducing unnecessary visits. Technicians no longer need to visit and check empty units. Instead, they’ll be notified when a camera has detected a rodent and can then respond accordingly.

And don’t worry, your privacy is protected. Andrew Taylor (Head of IoT Vision and Apps at Rentokil) states

“Our camera solution is GDPR compliant and compliant with global privacy laws. Throughout the development of our camera technology, we’ve worked with our global privacy teams using a ‘data privacy by design’ approach and adhered to data privacy regulations.

Images generally won’t contain any personally identifiable information (PII), which is what privacy laws apply to as we’re focusing on obtaining images of pest activity. However, in the unlikely event that an image does capture a human face, an image-processing pipeline using machine learning automatically blurs this.”

4. Seamless integration with Rentokil’s digital ecosystem for full efficiency

PestConnect Optix is part of our PestConnect system of wirelessly connected pest-control devices. As part of the Rentokil digital ecosystem, it enables more informed communication between our experts and the connected devices at your premises. These devices send our technicians a near-real-time alert along with visual evidence. These images give us a confident understanding of the pest activity at your site, and with cameras enabling earlier rodent detection, this can lead to faster and more effective pest control resolutions to help protect your premises and brand.

5. Keeping you informed with myRentokil

PestConnect Optix integrates with myRentokil, our online customer portal. That means you’ll have clear visibility of pest activity on your site along with photographic evidence that’s been captured by the device. This gives you the transparency you need to stay informed about what’s happening on your premises, offering better control and peace of mind.

When asked about recommending Rentokil’s camera technology to others, the Quality Assurance Manager from the fast-food chain responded, “Yes. It’s a new era in pest control.” They continued, “Once it's implemented, you instantly see and feel the benefits. When you see the images come through that the cameras capture, you can just trust Rentokil to solve it.”

Experience tomorrow, today with PestConnect Optix

Whether it’s midnight, a quiet weekend or a bustling weekday, you can trust PestConnect Optix to continuously monitor for pests and rest assured that our experts can resolve any issues if a pest is detected.

Ready for next-generation pest control that’s always on watch so you don’t have to be? Speak to our experts now on 1300 306 148 to learn more about PestConnect Optix.