In 2015, Under Armour, a rapidly growing sports clothing and accessory company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, established a partnership with InstaKey Security Systems to implement a key control solution for 158 stores. The company recognized an opportunity for improvement in its key control to increase its ability to manage records more efficiently and to gain remote access to auditing of store key logs. Under Armour sought to partner with a business that could handle their continuous growth, scale efficiencies of service, and provide the ability to audit remotely.
Working Together on a Rapid Conversion
The Under Armour global store development, asset protection, and store maintenance teams worked closely with InstaKey’s program development team to create and execute a rollout strategy that would generate the least impact on stores with the greatest efficiency for the conversion. Each team clearly knew its role in the conversion process and worked diligently to achieve the end goal in mind: to keep it simple for the stores.
Under Armour converted a set number of locations per week, allowing for a structured and efficient rollout. Proactive communication and training with each location prior to its installation was key to the success. “The InstaKey setup was very simple to understand. There were no hurdles to jump through to start our relationship. Our teams worked cohesively to get the conversion accomplished in a timely manner,” said Robert Gibson, asset protection senior manager.
Mike Kujawa, asset protection senior manager, also added, “The conversion process was seamless. Converting to InstaKey was a no brainer for us.” With effective communication, training, and combined partnership resources, Under Armour was able to achieve an extremely efficient, accurate, and quick conversion of its 158 locations.
Successes Realized From Innovation
InstaKey’sKeyControl® Program has made a significant impact on the practices of Under Armour personnel. Management of locks and keys has become a worry-free process and are no longer a concern even when a security issue arises. In the event an issue does occur, there is a simple solution to rekey an entire facility with a turn of a specialized key. This “turnkey” process has resulted in significant time and cost savings for the company.
Asset protection maximizes value by use of the cloud-based KeyControl® Reporting Dashboard as compared to a previous paper records methodology. The dashboard provides real-time visibility to aggregated key control reporting in a visual display of a client’s global key control program. Clients frequently utilize the dashboard to determine a store’s active key series and current key holders, allowing for auditing to quickly define exceptions or possible areas of concern. They also use the data to review turnover metrics, cost savings, order turnaround, and future budgets.
Store managers also have access to a Digital Key Holder Update feature to change key holder assignments in real time, so they can track keys during employee turnover. This functionality gives the asset protection team an up-to-the-minute report of the store’s key control activity.
Robert Gibson referred to this feature as “smart access” versus “dumb locks and keys.” He went on to say, “Digital is the way of the future and where we all want to be. The InstaKey technology is essential to the health of our business.” Mike Kujawa summed it up best: “Great technology with a great partnership—that’s what success looks like.”
As Under Armour continues its growth worldwide in 2016, its InstaKey program investment shall continue to help provide safety, security, and cost savings to its locations. No matter which feature a retailer values, InstaKey’s programs are designed to provide simple solutions to key control challenges.
