Authenticity, trust and collaboration

How the most effective risk management tools can be found… in the dictionary…

Eight weeks in and I’m lovin’ it, lovin’ it, lovin’ it!

My new role as Group Managing Director at ASEL is certainly challenging.

However, without doubt the most enjoyable part of the role is the great people I get to meet. And reflecting on those meetings, and what goes on in them, confirms my long-held beliefs that relationships are everything.

Speaking with a number of retailers I am struck by how often the words ‘trust’ and ‘integrity’ come into the conversation. ‘Transparency’ too. Times have changed. Once it seemed that the most important attribute of any supplier used to be simply ‘price.’

I remember reading (I think in one of Geoff Chaplin’s articles, when he was UK MD of WIS International) how galling one writer found the fixation on price. He quoted a retailer as saying about Geoff’s competitors when being asked to change supplier “If it is cheap enough then it’s good enough.” Oh, how times have changed…

I don’t think I would be straying into controversial territory to say that some parts of the security industry have not necessarily covered themselves in glory when it comes to transparency. And that was why it was so important to me to demonstrate live, on the Retail Risk – London main stage, how ASEL works with real time data by having a presentation involving just that. Not all pre-recorded and controlled. LIVE!

‘Authenticity’ is the new watchword. And people get that authentic people are not going to be perfect, shiny, infallible individuals. They are going to come, warts ‘n’ all. However, authenticity is preferable to ‘perfect… but fake.’

Thinking back over the last few weeks, the other word that springs to mind is ‘collaboration.’

I sense that the industry is more concerned with authenticity and trust than ever before because of a need for effective collaboration by virtue of the rise of ORC, the need to do more with less and the cost/shortage of qualified people to do work.

You cannot get the benefits of scale with technology, people or organisations unless you are able to throw your lot in with them. You have to commit. And you won’t commit where you have this nagging suspicion in the back of your mind that perhaps you are not privy to the full picture. So, authenticity and collaboration are the key words.

The day before Retail Risk – London I was invited to the Retail Crime Advisory Group meeting. It was hosted by Retail Knowledge in the same venue as the conference.

RCAG was formed in 2020 inter alia “to inform the strategic direction of crime prevention activities, through the sharing of strategic trends affecting retailers.” Around 100 people attended the closed afternoon sessions, comprising of around 50 retailers, 30 police and a dozen key suppliers.

Round tables of 10 people, from mixed professional backgrounds, were each asked to produce answers/observations about a structured set of questions, with a facilitator tasked with drawing conclusions from the debate. These conclusions then formed the key outputs from the event. Then at the next event (just before Retail Risk – Leicester) there would be an update on what actions had been taken based on the previous input and a new set of questions posed for discussion.

It was a brilliant exercise in bringing people together to share their experiences, expertise and insight in order to better utilise resources with a view to improving law enforcement. I know that those fortunate enough to attend got a great deal out of that day and were buoyed by what could be done with such a focus on collaboration.

Since RCAG and the London event we have continued to work at ASEL to combine private security, technology, retailer insight and police resources to better serve our retail community.

We have the very best people, technology and processes I know of (but I would say that wouldn’t I!). But without trust, none of it counts for anything.