Front Lines
fraud intelligence
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
DATA MINING IS NOT ONLY HELD BACK ON COST GROUNDS.
ITS VERY NAME MEANS THAT IT OFTEN FAILS TO GET THE
ATTENTION IT DESERVES AT THE TOP TABLE BECAUSE IT IS
PERCEIVED EXCLUSIVELY AS A LOSS PREVENTION TOOL.
LOOK AGAIN, SAYS ANNE FROST DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING
AT ORIS GROUP
IT was in Romeo and Juliet full potential. in process see as a breach of the
that Shakespeare wrote the A case in point is Data • Spend time identifying the ‘psychological contract’
immortal line: A rose by any Mining. Staying with the right Data Mining solution where staff often justify
other name would smell as panto theme, it is the true for the business theft because of their lowly
sweet. This poetic image has Cinderella of retail Alternatively, what status within the
prosaically passed into technology. While seen as happens is that poor organisation or they have
popular use to mean that a delivering good return on understanding of the been overlooked for
thing is still of beauty or investment when it is technology leads to poor promotion. Therefore, in
real, whatever name you deployed, it is still perceived decisions and the costs of Iceland’s case, checking out
attach to it. to be too expensive and implementing the wrong the checkouts became the
In everyday life we all too limited by those who have system and keeping it up to strategic focus of the fight
often fail to recognise the not implemented it. In date become prohibitive. against shrink.
true potential of something reality loss prevention is too Coupled with not having With 740 stores in the UK
or someone because we often narrowly defined broader business buy-in, this data mining uncovered high
can’t see beyond the name, within the business so that creates the unfairly negative levels of internal fraud –
position or status it has been Data Mining is not fully impression of Data Mining between 30 and 50 per cent
given within an optimised. My argument is that some companies – with around £250,000 a
organisation. At the other that Data Mining, used to its currently have. week lost in voided
end of the thespian scale, it full potential across the However, when the three transactions, a mix of fraud
is rather like a failing soap business would elevate its points are observed, Data and process failure. But
star who has become standing, and that of loss Mining has achieved Iceland recognised that it
typecast to play that prevention generally, to a fantastic results in loss was not simply a matter of
character for ever whatever position of more influence prevention. A case in point is introducing the technology
screen or stage work they within the organisation. that highlighted in a recent – the culture of the
take on in the future. From Indeed, it would become the presentation from Ady organisation had to change
Polliakoff to pantomime, tool of choice for all finance Houghton, head of and board sponsorship of
they will always just be directors who would quickly corporate audit at Iceland reducing shrink at a
known as ‘that bloke from come to realise that Data Foods Limited. strategic level was adopted
Eastenders.’ Mining is not simply about Houghton has been across the business.
This failure to recognise analysing EPOS data. The Churchillian in his analysis of Re-engineering the
the inevitable wider technology that powers it the scale of the problems of business and training staff
potential is as much to do could equally be used to internal fraud facing on how to optimise the data
with modern life within analyse other, non-shop retailers saying: “Never has that the new technology
organisations and their over- floor functions including so much been handled by so could and would provide for
riding culture as it is about payroll, supplier accounts few, paid so little, managed the benefit of the business
the true value of people and and customer ordering and by those paid so much, who became key to the success of
processes. It is also a truism stimulate new efficiencies know so little.” its implementation. Having
that the visionary that will add value and In other words, the till loss prevention personnel
organisations are the ones profitability across the entire staff were the only people who had worked and
that don’t typecast tools or business. who handled every package trained on the tills, was also
pigeon-hole people. They To achieve this, they need in the business – all important as they
develop and empower their to take three simple steps: 26,829,268 of them – as well understood the tricks of the
people through training • Understand the as interact with every trade and knew what to
and, in the case of technology and what it customer, yet were paid less look for.
technology, they invest not can do and put the right and suffered the highest With such endorsement,
only on the grounds of quick people in place to make it staff turnover. why is Data Mining not
ROI, but also on how they happen There is an argument here more widely implemented,
can ‘sweat that asset’ to its • Involve the entire business for what many employees not just by other companies
12 • RETAIL FRAUD
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