Getting to Know PACOM—Advantages for the Retail Market Part I
PACOM’s GMS and Unison products have been operating on a global basis for decades. The vast majority of the largest banks in the world rely on PACOM for their access control and intrusion security. However, the many features and benefits of a PACOM system fit remarkably well to other vertical markets. Richard Joslin, Senior Director – Global sales for PACOM lays out the case for why PACOM is the choice for many top retailers as well.
What are the biggest pain points for large retailers with multiple locations? In any retail environment, the most challenging security and loss prevention issues don’t necessarily involve customers or shoplifting. The biggest source of loss is usually employee related, referred to as internal shrink. Internal shrink can take many forms including under-ringing, sweet-hearting (giving things away to friends/relatives), inventory fraud, or simply taking articles out the back door or from the loading dock. Compounding these issues, key management and alarm codes can be challenging to manage particularly for organizations with many locations. A recently terminated or disgruntled employee with access to a store can become a major source of vandalism, fraud, and loss. Opening and closing procedures are often delegated to non-managerial staff in unsupervised settings creating opportunity for dishonesty leading to costly loss.
Describe the ideal PACOM retail customer. What PACOM features and benefits serve this customer so well? The ideal PACOM retail customer has multiple, geographically dispersed locations and typically multiple entry points such as main entrance, back entrance, and loading docks. This customer also often has restricted entry areas such as high value inventory and/or cash management rooms. PACOM’s solutions are a great fit for retail environments because the intrusion and access control functions are combined on a single controller that can be centrally managed and monitored. Credentials can be tied to an individual and the same PIN can function as both intrusion alarm and access control identity. The customer can create multiple factor identity verification by combining PIN, card, fob, contactless apps (smartphone), biometrics, and others to ensure identities and all activities can be tracked and reported. Tying intrusion and access control events to specific video surveillance data can expedite investigations and paint a complete picture of an incident. PACOM’s ability to create multiple user roles and areas allows the retailer to closely control where an employee can go and who can arm or disarm the alarm system. PACOM Systems allow the creation of user “Roles.” Roles enable the retailer to create templates for different classes of users, examples include their cash management company employees granted access cash to areas or cleaning staff to access specific parts of the facility after hours, but only those specific areas.
This examination of the retail market’s specific pain points and what PACOM offers to ensure better security peace of mind is a good overview of PACOM System’s capabilities. In Part II of our focus on Retail, we’ll drill down in greater detail on how PACOM successfully serves the retail vertical.
