Retail Crime Intelligence vs. AP/LP Case Management

When it comes to industry innovation, two basic categories generally emerge – the old way of doing things and the new way of doing things. That may be oversimplified of course, but there are many different tools and tactics that live under each category (old and new).

For loss prevention professionals, the old way of doing things is AP/LP case management, and the new way of doing things is Retail Crime Intelligence.

Traditional case management software served its purpose. As technology and networks advance though, these old tools are no longer good enough to meet the ever-changing needs of modern AP/LP leaders and law enforcement agencies. Organized Retail Crime (ORC) networks are vast and complex, so a siloed approach without collaboration and proactive intelligence is no match for the challenges of today.

So what is the answer? As we’ve mentioned, Retail Crime Intelligence is the future of preventing loss and violence in stores, and its positive impact is rooted in collaboration and connectivity.

Let’s take a closer look at why this distinction and innovation are so important.

Data networks unlock & empower

As Auror and its Retail Crime Intelligence Hub scale, the platform provides AP/LP professionals and police more and more insights to act on. This is a powerfully simple concept commonly referred to as a data network effect. In our case, Retail Crime Intelligence offers a data network effect for addressing crime.

Where case management is reactive and siloed, Retail Crime Intelligence is securely collaborative and connected to a larger data picture.

"At the end of the day, traditional or legacy case management systems just aren’t architected to do what Auror is doing, which is solving the anonymity problem – across systems, across stores, across retailers – and enabling collaboration with law enforcement." – Tom Batterbury, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Auror

As Tom mentions above – a highlight from Auror’s connected ecosystem webinar – Retail Crime Intelligence brings the hidden to light and empowers all staff across the chain of command.
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Connected ecosystems unify & scale

Connected ecosystems, such as Auror’s Retail Crime Intelligence Hub, refer to an integrated group of solutions that can function together.

Connected ecosystems are a key difference between Retail Crime Intelligence and case management software because they (connected ecosystems) enable cohesion and data network effects between systems – and between groups of people.

This point is simple; case management software can’t offer a connected ecosystem.

"You actually can’t have a Retail Crime Intelligence Hub with traditional case management…traditional case management is ‘reporting the news’…You could feed that data in from different sources but it’s just going to be more work for your investigators – for your AP team – to sort through." – Bobby Haskins, VP of Retail Partnerships at Auror

Did someone say “more work?” Not with Retail Crime Intelligence.

With a connected ecosystem, data is collated from the otherwise disparate solutions and accessible from a single point specifically designed to use the data. So, you go from many individual data points with no connection, to a full set of all data points showing the real, full picture of their offending – including their accomplices, vehicles, stores impacted, products of choice, and importantly their potential to harm.

System of intelligence vs. system of record

Retailers often have disparate system coverage in their stores. For example, high-risk locations may have more priority for detection and prevention systems. This stops crime in those locations, but something we’ve actually observed at Auror is that people will simply move their crimes to a different store.

With Retail Crime Intelligence, retail leaders don’t have to prioritize one location’s safety over another’s. Every time an event is published or an entity profile is created, each team member at each location will see the same information, even “low-risk” stores. Situational awareness is important for store safety, and by having a system of intelligence – rather than a system of record – retailers are able to have the same situational awareness across the board.

As you may have gathered, the other side of this is a closed system of record, traditional case management software. It’s reporting the news without an intelligent, actionable takeaway.