Now, more than ever, retail loss prevention teams need to leverage all data available to them. Each day, they receive this data from internal reporting systems and outside solution providers. The more information brought into one central place, the more informed strategic decisions can be made.
Your Business Intelligence Platform
At ThinkLP, our platform allows our clients to gather data from everywhere. It starts with our store portal system that allows our clients to use existing templates or customize their own. These forms can be filled out by personnel within the stores or locations on any device, including mobile.
These incident forms may include theft reports, employee injuries, customer accidents, etc. You, the client, decide what information you want to capture. For example, several of our clients have leveraged this in gathering health screening data during this pandemic.
We at ThinkLP understand that every client is different, and there are many segments of retail and nonretail. Each client may or may not be involved in various sales mediums, such as e-commerce, BOPIS, or curbside pickup. Each LP department may have different responsibilities, such as safety, compliance, operations, HR, ORC, or brand protection. Every client is different and needs a unique business intelligence platform.
Intelligent Audit Working for You
Another way to gather actionable data is through the Intelligent Audit Platform at ThinkLP, which is truly just that—intelligent. Based on the location profiles created, the system will “automagicaly” know if this question needs to be asked, at this location, or what is the correct amount of X for this location. No more having to check multiple locations and systems to answer these questions. The intelligent platform can also provide the history of each question for that location. For questions deemed not in compliance, you have the option to type in an action plan or pull up one you have already generated for that question.
Sometimes, we may focus on the word “audit” and lose sight of how effective this tool can be.
Any type of checklist or review can be conducted within the ThinkLP Audit platform. You may have specific high‑risk merchandise that gets checked multiple times a day. Locations may be required to conduct opening and closing checklists. Stores may have any number of self-assessments they conduct. In addition, field personnel outside of LP may conduct assessments in their stores, distribution centers, or warehouses. Audits could even be used for vehicles to address driver safety. All of these examples allows for the capture of more data, which can be leveraged to make data-driven decisions.
Customized Dashboards
All dashboards should be based on the specific position and span of control for each individual. Also, when any field representative enters a store location, the person should have all available data for that store and in a dynamic dashboard. By looking at the entire store’s or location’s metrics and then drilling into those outliers, you ensure they are focused on the right metrics in that specific location. This allows more time to address these opportunities, get to the cause, and develop plans to address them.
Compliance Is No Longer a Pain Point
Loss prevention departments typically have many responsibilities related to compliance. ThinkLP affords our clients the ability to stay up to date on all compliance-related tasks by automating most of these functions. A great example of this is our OSHA integration, which has helped our clients remain compliant while also increasing productivity. The more we can automate and streamline business practices, the more effective our clients can be.
Overcoming Challenges Together
Recently, we participated in a solution‑provider summit for a prospective client. This summit let the retailer hear from its solution providers about new technology to assist in the retailer’s efforts. In addition, the purpose was to learn from each other how we could help the client by working together and integrating solutions. As solution providers we may compete in some spaces, but we all want what is best for our clients. The more we can work together to tackle challenges, the better we all become. Working together has certainly been challenging during this pandemic, so we look forward to more in-person client interactions and trade shows where we can collaborate on further innovation in the LP space.
At ThinkLP, we already integrate with many solution providers and are in discussions with others. This, again, allows our clients to see all their data at one time. A perfect example of this is our big data analytics platform—we have our own but integrate with several others to ensure our clients have options. The more data we can bring into the ThinkLP platform, the more our clients can dramatically impact their total retail loss efforts.
Unlimited Possibilities
This article only scratches the surface of ThinkLP’s capabilities. We have not even touched on workflow automation, team and task management, alert rule builder, or auto AI data discovery, to name a few. Also, our clients continue to find creative ways to leverage our platform, which was on full display during our recent user forum. From linking the ThinkLP portal directly to their main website for direct customer data input, to conducting ORC tactical store visits within the ThinkLP Intelligence Platform, there are no limits to what ThinkLP can help you accomplish.
With the amount of data that’s available, it is more important than ever to have it all in one place for that “single source of truth.” This then converts the data into actionable intelligence or information with a purpose, which is needed to make strategic decisions.
Come take a look at ThinkLP’s award-winning software for yourself. Reach out at ThinkLP.com/contact-us to schedule a free consultation and demonstration of what ThinkLP has to offer and why we are leading the industry in innovative LP software.
Loss prevention departments typically have many responsibilities related to compliance. ThinkLP affords our clients the ability to stay up to date on all compliance-related tasks by automating most of these functions.
With the amount of data that’s available, it is more important than ever to have it all in one place for that “single source of truth.” This then converts the data into actionable intelligence or information with a purpose, which is needed to make strategic decisions.
