Image Vault is an Essential Component in VERC's Loss Prevention Strategy
Released 4-27-07
The Challenge
VERC Enterprises, recently named one of “Massachusetts’ Fastest
Growing Private Companies,” by the Boston Business Journal,
is a convenience store/gasoline station retail group that operates 20
different facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, mainly along
the Interstate 495 corridor. Started 31 years ago by the Vercollone family
of Duxbury, Massachusetts, the company has grown to the point where it
is currently one of the largest independent, family-owned convenience
store businesses in the region. VERC Enterprises continues to expand,
at a rate of around three-to-five new store locations opening per year,
with attendant increases in employee and customer volume and of course,
internal shrink rises as the number of locations grows as well. As
Barry Ahern, Director of Operations and HR at VERC Enterprises, explains, “We
have opened some city stores that tend towards a tougher clientele than
our off-highway locations, and a significant operational challenge for
VERC’s managers at our very busy locations is simply completing
all tasks while also keeping an eye on product and customers at the same
time.” In other words, VERC needed to reduce internal shrink, while
at the same time, location managers simply can’t spend a great
deal of time - at least 1/2 hour per day - reviewing surveillance tapes
to spot shrink or even to properly perform investigations where shrink
is suspected of occurring, rather than doing other crucial tasks required
for day-to-day operations.
Solution
As VERC launched an initiative to improve its facilities in 2006, it
wasn't afraid to employ technology to solve some of its challenges. “We
wanted a digital video surveillance solution that interfaced with
the Point-of-Sale (POS) and allowed us to search for specific events
(refunds, voids, etc.) generated at the POS,” commented
Ahern. After a comprehensive search and evaluation process,
VERC Enterprises selected FireKing Security Group’s Image Vault
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) product to reduce shrink and provide safety
at its many locations. The Image Vault solution deployed by VERC incorporates
digital video storage that allows particular images to be retrieved
(as easily as opening a file) based on criteria such as date, time,
location, camera number and - in the case of interfaced CCTV
and POS systems - by specific transactions. Image Vault can
read non-encrypted serial ASCII data from a variety of cash register
models and other serial data devices such as the NKL Autobank Cash
Handling Safes, access control systems, ATM’s and even some alarm
panels. The problem with conventional VHS based surveillance
systems is that POS data is overlaid onto the video, making it difficult
to see and impossible to search. Image Vault receives the data
as data, keeping it in a cross-indexed database.
The Results
With the VERC Enterprises installation, Image Vault has exceeded expected
results. In reviewing the results of the Image Vault installations,
Mr. Ahern explains how the system has benefited their business.
“The simple management and ease-of-use of Image Vault allows us
to view hours worth of footage in a given day in less than half the time
it took us before with a VCR. Also, having POS interface with an
event-based audit trail allow us to focus in on things like voids, refunds,
no sales, etc. Our managers greatly appreciate the new system;
as they are required to watch at least 3 full shifts of their associates
per week, and with Image Vault cutting that time in half, they can now
spend more time doing other more important, less tedious things.” Another
attribute of Image Vault lauded by Ahern was FireKing’s “ability
to really tailor the system to the needs of our specific chain.”
With regards to bottom-line positive changes in the business, Ahern
noted that “there have definitely been some decreases in shrinkage
since the Image Vault system is in place, we have also noticed that there
has been an increase in productivity with our associates because they
know that we are able to easily access what they are doing during their
shifts.” Most notably, the difference has been in “our increased
ability to catch some not-so-honest employees by focusing on specific
events captured in our event based audit trials.” This is seen
as a positive benefit by the vast majority of VERC’s employees
who are honest – they know they are not going to be blamed for
any shrink.
According to the University of Florida’s 2005 National Retail
Security Survey, the average employee theft incident costs over $1,032.
For VERC Enterprises, the very reachable target is to reduce shrink by
just 1/2% per year, which translates into full ROI for the Image
Vault system in only two years.
About VERC Enterprises
VERC Enterprises is a privately held, 31-year old retail convenience
store/gasoline station group operating 20 state-of-the-art facilities
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire along the Interstate 495 corridor. Current
locations include Nashua, NH and in Massachusetts – Andover,
Kingston, Duxbury, Plymouth, Pembroke, Stoughton, Dorchester, Danvers,
Lynnfield, Westford, Berlin, Boxboro, Raynham, Allston and Framingham. Many
VERC Locations are open 24/7 and most include a Dunkin’ Donuts
franchise on site. Additionally, the company owns and operates
three car wash facilities in Norwell, Marshfield and Plymouth, MA.
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