Industrial Automation Magazine India

Companies are increasingly willing to spend on anti-counterfeit technology

Published on : Sunday 01-05-2022

Lokesh Harjani, Founder & CEO, OnSpot Solutions.

How serious is the menace of counterfeit products and its financial implications?
The development and trade of counterfeit goods endangers consumers’ health and safety. Additionally, counterfeit products not only jeopardise a well-known company's brand and worth, but they may also have catastrophic, and even fatal, consequences for consumers. This implies that legitimate firms face rivals that steal their intellectual property (IP), while without paying taxes or following the same rules and quality standards as the former. Overall, the impact of counterfeit products spans legitimate industry, consumer, government and a country’s GDP by creating business losses, potential health hazards, extra expense fighting the grey market and a loss to a country’s revenue stream. Counterfeit sales have also been linked to help fund anti-social and extremist groups, a factor worth considering.

For similar reasons, counterfeiting may affect a country's prospects for foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as its ability to recruit and build significant innovation centres. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a critical channel through which advanced and developing nations may boost productivity and production development. In the same way as preserving intellectual property rights has been proven to increase FDI, a lack of IP enforcement has been demonstrated to reduce a country's ability to attract and retain FDI, particularly in IP-sensitive industries such as equipment manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

Are companies paying adequate attention to brand protection?
Most businesses are aware of counterfeit risks in their respective segments and are beginning to be more proactive in order to maintain their brand integrity, quality, and client interactions, all of which are critical nowadays. Because there are numerous knock-off companies entering the market that provide low-quality items at low prices, many consumers are duped and buy these grey goods, unaware that they are interfering with economic progress while creating risk for themselves. Companies are increasingly willing to spend on anti-counterfeit technology in order to retain customer transparency and confidence. To trace such assaults, several technologies are utilised, such as a QR code, which generates the ability to track goods from manufacturer to consumer. Companies are shifting to available technologies which provide and create paths to safeguard their products in the supply chain to open up communication channels or direct links to consumers.

How aware is the average consumer about brands and counterfeiting?
The average consumer knows that there is an issue of fakes in the market, but not to the actual extent, which crosses 30% in some industry segments. So, the soap that feels a little too gritty or the shampoo that does not foam as much, is thought of as a mishap from the manufacturer, as the consumer does not have the ability to distinguish between true and false. The overwhelming truth is the tarnish of brand equity. In the Covid era, people’s knowledge of counterfeiting has risen dramatically, especially with the huge amount of fake masks, gloves and even vaccines being reported globally. Consumers are now beginning to understand that there are easy avenues to check the authenticity of goods with the simple use of their mobile phones and a single tap. Customers and brands may take some time to accept and react to new technologies on a bigger scale, but most recent evaluations show a positive increase in consumer and brand awareness of counterfeit items. 

What are the solutions offered by OnSpot to help prevent this menace?
OnSpot’s product authentication and anti-counterfeiting system works with current barcodes and packaging, with minimal tweaks or add-ons such as QR codes and other types of overt and covert tracking measures, depending on the amount of tracking required. It avoids the need for significant adjustments to a brand's existing production manner. The technology is built around a simple smartphone app that enables product verification anywhere in the supply chain. It also provides a flexible system that allows for individual customisation and security improvements in response to the danger posed by counterfeiters.

OnSpot offers a multitude of security solutions for each stage of the supply and distribution chain of a brand. A multi-tiered level of security cosisting of QR codes, tamper resistant labels or in certain circumstances, RFID or other tracking beacons, grants opportunity to monitor the patterns of product movement from a factory or distributor down the chain. Further and more covert security features such as nano-sized taggants or invisible inks coupled to optic filters within the technology add to the security offering. The platform is active at each stage of the product lifecycle providing check and risk assessments along the way to the point of consumer scan in order to verify the product. The back end, software deployed at the plant and the mobile App work in tandem as a closed loop communication ecosystem.

How exactly do digital technologies today offer better solutions compared to the tech solutions of yesterday?
Yesterday’s solutions primarily engaged packaging design in the realm of brand visibility and security. At times, special labels or packaging materials were used to demonstrate authentic products, but counterfeiters were quick to adapt. As current digital technologies open a two-way communication channel in real time, it becomes apparent that the results can be unique and superior in checking authenticity. Many businesses are well into their digital transformation programmes in areas such as marketing, sales and customer experience, though it has taken time for these changes to permeate supply networks. The Coronavirus pandemic has helped uncover a plethora of supply chain problems that firms were previously unaware of, whether in their supplier networks, planning procedures, logistical systems, organisational maturity, or resiliency.

Digital technologies have also advanced as a result of greater customer awareness regarding trademark protection and a need for higher-quality items. It now has far higher accuracy, is faster and easier to use, and offers real-time information to both companies and customers, ‘On the Spot’.

Are these cloud-based solutions safe and secure from cybercriminals?
Risks are always present when it comes to the Cloud and cybersecurity, as the world has seen, especially in the banking system. Technology is always expanding and the security bar is consistently being raised, as is the need for any industry. As the OnSpot system is a closed loop system actively communicating with only registered parties in the value chain in a, ‘just in time manner’, the inherent level of security is native and multi-tiered. With additional security in the mapping and tracking features of the system coupled with constant and random security checks, the platform bears a high level of security, both in the cloud and on the ground. At the end of the day, we hope individuals will realise the importance of keeping everyone safe from the threat of counterfeits, it is a subject that everyone deals.

What would be your advice to enterprises keen on protecting their brands as well as consumers? 
As the world prepares to shift to a post-pandemic future, companies must keenly take the onus of protecting their brands and consumers. It will be an evolutionary and global process to make the world more aware that they finally have the ability to act on the adage, ‘Buyer Beware’, through the simple use of a mobile phone. As many consumers are not fully up to date on the nitty-gritty of emerging digital solutions, brands and governments face the challenge of consumer education and adoption of safe technologies. As a result, customers will adapt in order to protect themselves and their hard-earned money from the dubious grey market. There is an upside for consumers beyond being protected. Loyalty and rewards, product information, helpful tips, recipes, warranties, coupons and a direct feedback link to a brand are a few of the perks that OnSpot offers post the level of initial security. OnSpot offers a full approach for companies, consumers and government agencies to build great synergy while protecting and benefitting every interest…Track, Trend, Trust.

OnSpot solutions is a cloud-based digital platform for anti -counterfeiting, brand protection and product authentication.