Enhancing Productivity and Compliance in Multi-Site Businesses

March Networks Operations Audit: Revolutionizing Business Oversight

March Networks’ Operations Audit is an advanced video surveillance auditing solution designed to streamline and enhance your operational oversight, helping you achieve improved productivity and compliance.

Video is the best method of acquiring operational information since it captures activity that would otherwise go unseen. It allows you to see your operation as your customers see it, unfiltered, and the way it occurs when no authority figure is present. Video surveillance systems that integrate with POS transaction data can help reduce shrink by immediately alerting retailers to suspicious transactions and activities that can be a sign of internal theft, such as an unusual number of returns, voids, discounts, or under-rings.

What is Operations Audit?

Operations Audit leverages March Networks’ intelligent video solutions to deliver automated email reports featuring snapshot images from your selected cameras at critical times of the day. This service provides automatic insights into every area of your business without the need to be physically present. No more travelling from one location to the next to conduct audits.

How It Works

Through our data analytics platform, Searchlight, our team sets up and configures automatic email video audits tailored to your specific needs. Each day, you can receive an email report with up to 48 images from up to 8 different cameras across your locations. You select the store locations, cameras, and the times of day you want to monitor. Each camera can capture images at different times throughout the day, providing comprehensive coverage of your operations.

Use Cases: Increase Productivity and Compliance with Operations Audit

1. Prevent Late Openings and Early Closings
   • Automatically capture images at opening and closing times to ensure stores are operating as scheduled. Prevent revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction caused by late openings and early closings.
2. Detect Blocked Exits and Emergency Issues
   • Receive alerts for blocked emergency exits or other safety hazards. Ensuring quick resolution of blocked exits can prevent costly OSHA fines and limit accidents, safeguarding both employees and customers.
3. Ensure Health and Safety Compliance
   • Regularly monitor food preparation areas and adherence to health and safety standards to prevent violations and protect your customers and staff.
4. Monitor Cleanliness and Presentation
   • Ensure that stores are clean, employees are properly dressed, shelves are well-stocked, and that your stores are opening and closing on time. Maintaining brand standards enhances customer satisfaction and avoids the cost of lost sales due to poor presentation.
5. Optimize Customer Service
   • Keep an eye on customer service and employee performance during peak hours to ensure high-quality interactions and swift service. Improved customer experience can lead to increased repeat business and higher sales.
6. Enhance POS Activity Monitoring
   • Use POS data integration to quickly identify suspicious transactions such as voids, discounts, and returns. Track activity at the point-of-sale or drive-thru during critical times to identify and address issues, optimizing service efficiency and reducing wait times. Addressing internal theft promptly can save significant amounts in losses and deter future incidents.
7. Verify Promotions and Compliance
   • Check that menus, marketing materials, and promotions are correctly displayed to ensure consistency and regulatory compliance across all locations. This ensures marketing efforts are effectively implemented and regulatory requirements are consistently met.
8. Monitor Inventory Levels
   • Ensure shelves are consistently stocked by monitoring inventory levels visually. This prevents stockouts and overstock situations, optimizing inventory management and reducing holding costs.
9. Enhance Liability Protection
   • Capture high-definition video to protect against false claims and litigation. Clear video evidence can defend against fraudulent claims, saving legal costs and potential payouts.

The Power of Video Surveillance in Operations Audits

Some video surveillance companies – like March Networks – offer operational audits as a managed service, where they manage the auditing based on a list of key performance metrics (KPIs). Others outsource the service to a third-party, while still others offer user-friendly video management software tools that allow you or someone else on your team to manage the audits in-house (March Networks offers this too).

Real-World Example

A large QSR customer engaged us to conduct an Operations Audit for them. Results revealed several inefficiencies, including layout issues, frequent replenishment of ingredients, and slow service times. The inefficiencies led to slower throughput and compromised product quality, not to mention negatively impacting customer satisfaction.

After implementing changes based on the data and learnings of the Operations Audit, the QSR:

• Improved speed of service by 11.6% at lunch and 19.5% at dinner.
• Increased staff productivity by 19.1%.
• Reduced keystrokes in 57.8% of transactions.
• Gained 50 additional customers daily, increasing revenue by $850/day.
• Addressed layout and other inefficiencies, saving approximately $3000/day.

Applying the solutions identified through the audit across all locations, you can see how big of an impact it has on the bottom line. It is clear that utilizing intelligent video surveillance and related services saves time and money.

Learn more about how March Networks – through expert consulting and auditing provided by Doug Montgomery, March Networks’ Manager of Customer ROI – helped this busy QSR chain in this recent blog.

Comprehensive Business Coverage

Your audit should cover all areas of your business and quickly alert you to signs of trouble. For instance, rapidly identifying suspicious transactions through POS integration, ensuring proper food safety, and receiving alerts when a refrigerator thermometer drops below a certain temperature or when your backdoor opens at 3 a.m. are crucial. This comprehensive coverage ensures that issues like false returns, stealing a key to open the cash drawer, or sneaking merchandise out your back door are addressed promptly.

Benefits of Operations Audit

Operations Audit offers significant time and cost savings by reducing the need for physical visits to multiple locations, thus saving travel expenses. It enables proactive issue resolution, allowing you to quickly identify and address problems like late openings, blocked emergency exits, or slow drive-thru lines. With enhanced operational insight, you gain a clear understanding of your business operations, empowering you to make informed decisions to optimize performance. The service also provides liability protection by ensuring compliance with safety and operational standards. Lastly, it improves customer experience by ensuring efficient service and well-maintained facilities, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.

Maintaining Productivity and Profitability

March Networks Operations Audit is a powerful tool designed to help you maintain peak performance and profitability. By providing you with automated insights into your operations, this service enables you to proactively manage your business from anywhere in the world.

With March Networks, see what’s going on without going in. Start your journey towards more efficient and effective business management today.

Are you ready to enhance your operations with March Networks?