Better Secure Than Sorry

The channel is slowly realizing the potential of the retail business and is
investing considerably in building their showrooms. This is clearly indicating
the awareness of partners towards moving with the current trends and their
spirit to keep themselves ahead in the race. This is why they have started
marketing their brands and promoting their retail outlets on various platforms.

But while these activities attract more customers, they also catch the eye of
some bad elements. These are usually burglars who are on the lookout to make a
quick buck by breaking into stores and taking flight with some high-end
products.

Recently, Ludhiana encoun­tered this when as many as six thefts took place
within one month, out of which two were at IT retail outlets. Such incidents are
a wakeup call for other retailers to take precautionary measures and implement
robust safeguards before they fall prey to any such case. It signifies that
though technology has grown leaps and bounds, its usage in securing an office
needs careful reconsideration.

Doing enough?

The recent spate of thefts, in one case by a trusted employee of the
company, as well as a fire in Nehru Place, have also raised the question as to
whether partners are doing enough to secure their offices. The thefts especially
are of prime concern, as such attacks can happen to anyone. So, how should
partners prevent unauthorized access to their premises?

After the recent theft case in Ludhiana-based Secant Techno­logies, Paramjit
Singh Juneja, CEO of the store immediately installed an electronic hooter system
and also appointed a guard at his store to avoid such cases in future. This has
acted like an alarm for other dealers in the town who are still lucky enough to
be outside the target zone of burglars.

Most of the dealers thereafter installed CCTV cameras in the store and
directed the guards appointed for night duty to be more vigilant. Others are
thinking of other ways by which to secure their offices and shops.

Lesson from past

Kishore Makhija, CEO of Raipur-based Priyanka Computer Services shared that he
got attentive about protection only after an attempt of theft was made on his
shop in the past. Immediately after that incident, he tightened the security by
all possible means.

“I installed Zicom security tools in my office only after an attempt of theft
was made in the office. Before that, I was not concerned about investing on this
aspect,” he added.

Ajaya Kumar of Park Electronics was another target of burglars a few months
back when his retail outlet in Noida was robbed. After the incident, he too
installed CCTV cameras in his store.

It is sad that though the local newspapers are filled with reports about
thefts, partners are still not enough bothered to safeguard their premises. They
are so involved in their daily business that they have forgotten that they are
sitting ducks for robberies or any other natural calamity. It is a case of
burning one's fingers and only then thinking of ways to secure their premises.

Expenditure on the security upgradation in a store depends on the choice of
products and technology, and the dealer's budget. They could pick technology as
per their budget and it could vary between Rs 5,000 to 50,000 or more.

So there are options in the market related to technology and budget, and
partners are only needed to make the right choice to turn their store into a
more safe and secured place where any chances of burglary could be avoided.

Technically empowered

The level of security installation in a store depends on the size of
business. Partners who have bigger stores or have multi-retail outlets take the
matter quite seriously, while those with smaller or single outlets feel they
will be spared the ordeal.

Sandeep Vig from Chandigarh shared that he takes security measures in his
office, depending on the availability of stock. If the stock is of high value,
he makes sure he assigns a few trusted employees to stay in the office for 24
hours and keep a vigilant watch. “I take extra care when the stock is large.
Otherwise, I always keep certain measure in routine so that cases of theft do
not occur. For instance, I never assign the responsibility of handling keys of
the store to one person. I keep rotating it among the employees so that there is
no tendency of misusing it.”

Besides the self-implemented safeguard methods, technology is now at hand to
make surveillance and security easier. There is CCTV, burglar alarm and even
lockdown systems where the entire premise is sealed in case of a theft. One such
adopter of physical security technology is Ravi Nandi of Indore's Business
Automation. He installed IP cameras in his store through which he could keep an
eye on all the activities of the office. “Security is an important aspect and I
have taken the right measure to safeguard my office and store. Through the IP
cameras, I can watch the happenings in my office on my laptop, even when I am
physically not present there,” said Nandi.

He also highlighted that though there are many options available in the
market that could tighten the security in the office. Channel partners do not
take the matter with utmost concern and there is lack of awareness among them to
spend some time and money towards this.

The recent spate of thefts, have raised the question as to whether partners are doing enough to secure their offices

Channel's woe

Taking the issue of theft and burglary with serious concern, and getting
oneself updated with anti-theft technology is not the only solution to the pain
of channel partners who have gone though much loss and damage due to burglary.
There are various other issues that fall outside the periphery of dealer's
regime and they do not have any control on it. Such areas include the support of
police and sensitization of judiciary towards theft cases.

In most of the cases, when a dealer approaches the police to lodge the FIR,
the cops might not necessarily take the matter seriously. Be it the case of the
recent theft in Annex Computers in Ludhiana or the one in Park Computers, New
Delhi, initially the police were not highly supportive. It was only after the
dealers persisted that the police filed the complaints.

Even if the complaint is registered and the matter is taken to court, the
judiciary system does not give these a lot of weightage. This means that the
dealer might have to wait for several years to get the judgment and in the
interim make several rounds of the court.

“It is not only about getting ourselves technologically strengthened against
theft or burglary. Even though we have all the proof and recording of culprits
through CCTV cameras, after the incident occurs, it all depends on the
participation of police and judiciary department which lacks in our system,”
highlighted Kumar from Park Computers. In such a scenario, the local
associations can play an important role of intervention to get the case
registered and even pursue it.

AMRITA TEJASVI

amritat@cybermedia.co.in