The true cost of traditional case management software

Case management alone no longer meets the needs of modern loss prevention leaders, as they address the vastness and complexity of Organized Retail Crime (ORC) and recidivist offending.

The price of not addressing these threats is serious, and the negative impact spans stakeholders. In addition to meaningful financial impact on businesses, there are other costs of traditional case management software that many may not consider.

In this post, we’ll examine those costs with supporting insights and recommended solutions.

The old way

Case management software had its moment and certainly served its purpose. Just as technology advances though, the problems it’s supposed to solve do as well. An outdated and siloed approach – without collaboration and proactive intelligence – simply can’t outpace the problems of today.

The difference between the old way and new way is based on the “systems” themselves. Case management is purely a system of record, as opposed to a system of intelligence. With a system of record, you’re essentially reporting the news and manually choosing what to act on and how to act. In fact, some case management software tools still being used today are built on outdated CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management).

With ORC on the rise and the mounting volume of events retail leaders must address, this approach can’t come close – it’s too slow, disparate, and manual. To illustrate this, consider the fact that there were over 1.6 million events reported within the Auror platform in 2022 alone. Managing (and acting on) that amount of information within a system of record is nearly impossible. With case management, there is no dot connecting or cross-location collaboration. There is no secure information sharing and network building. And importantly, there is no situational awareness for the frontline at scale.

Assessing the true cost of the old way

Safety and experience for the entire retail community is truly what’s at stake when it comes to assessing the cost of traditional case management software.

Repeat offenders are 4x more likely to cause a safety event.

The risky reality of traditional case management software is that it doesn't empower teams to reduce the impact of repeat people. Retailers can’t outpace ORC and recidivist offending by simply reporting the news – there must be proactive, actionable intelligence and a growing network effect to stay ahead. When retail leaders and law enforcement agencies can’t stay ahead, the cost could be safety.

When it comes to safety and specifically the frontline staff experience, there are three problems we typically see with the old way:

1. Case management software is not designed for prevention.

The root of this problem is clear and simple. Traditional case management software is unable to quickly intake and aggregate data. With a system of record (the old way), events are reported and rely on humans to move forward from there. These systems are end-to-end manual for teams. They’re reactive, not proactive. As retail leaders shift their focus from apprehension to prevention, environments that don’t make this shift are not empowering their frontline staff to remain safe and safely reduce loss.

2. Teams under-report and there’s a lack of visibility.

When the frontline teams don’t see action or intentional investment, they are less encouraged to report events altogether. This creates an obvious lack of visibility across the organization, as well as further vulnerability to ORC and recidivist offending. Without disruption, this connected chain of events will repeat and grow, negatively impacting your store safety.

3.  Critical information is siloed.

The old way of doing things is siloed, slow, and unorganized. In multiple directions, information from one part of the business can’t make it to other parts of the business in a secure manner. This is especially true (although improving across the industry) with information about incidents being limited for frontline teams. When information is blocked at the corporate AP/LP level, for example, frontline staff members are left vulnerable to violent and threatening behavior without any intel to guide their decisions.

There’s more to this story of course, and that’s how retail crime impacts the financial health of organizations. ORC and recidivist offending is a $100B problem globally and the conversation around its effects has gone mainstream across channels. Single retail businesses are reporting hundreds of millions in dollars lost as a direct result of these threats. The stakes are high for these bottom-lines – the world is taking notice of the ORC and recidivist offending problem.

The total value of events reported on the Auror platform increased by 110% from 2021 to 2022.

Retail Crime Intelligence

With Retail Crime Intelligence, case management is just the beginning. Retailers and police who adopt the new way have access to a securely collaborative data network that empowers the community across roles and organizations.

Where the old way was siloed and reactive, the new way is connected to a larger, intelligent data picture. This allows AP/LP teams to deploy data-driven strategies and more precisely address the 10% of offenders causing 94% of their unrecovered loss. And when it comes to safety, Retail Crime Intelligence empowers the frontline with real-time alerts and insights on repeat offenders, so they can understand the full picture before taking action.

At the heart of the new way is collaboration. A Retail Crime Intelligence platform enables AP/LP professionals to easily and securely share their detailed reports with law enforcement – working together on investigations and closing more cases, faster.

In Auror, the average time from first incident to case closure is 13 days.

Did someone say “collaboration?” The new way’s value is amplified by The Retail Crime Intelligence Hub, Auror’s connected ecosystem.

Connected ecosystems are integrated groups of solutions that can function as a unit. Auror’s vision with The Retail Crime Intelligence Hub is to serve as a central integration point for the different tools retail and law enforcement leaders use – unlocking their respective power and empowering each other.

Another way to look at the cost of case management software is to flip the perspective and ask, “What results are missed out on by not choosing Retail Crime Intelligence?”

Sharing customer wins around the world is something Auror has always focused on. Recently, one success story from a large North American retailer captured the community’s attention.

Here’s a small highlight reel of their year-one results using Retail Crime Intelligence:

• $126.5M in prevented loss by focusing on repeat people and ORC
• $12.5M saved in hourly wages on incident reporting
• 54% increase in reported events
• $15.5M in additional recovered dollars

Is my organization ready for Retail Crime Intelligence?

If your team has a regional or national store presence, and experiences two or more of the following characteristics, then get in touch with Auror for a free consultation on how it can reduce theft-related loss and harm in your organization.

• Store teams under-reporting incidents
• Takes more than 10 minutes to report a detailed incident
• No or limited ability to connect the dots
• No or limited ability to distribute real-time intel on threats to teams
• No or limited ability to allocate guards where and when needed most
• No or limited visibility on the impact of theft-related loss
• No or limited engagement with law enforcement

The true cost of traditional case management and legacy loss prevention software is missing out on better outcomes – for the frontline, bottom-line, and every experience between.

Don’t just manage cases, resolve them. Learn how.