LPRC - CrimeScience Episode 51 – LPRC Solution Partners, COVID-19, Technological Challenges, and Industry Collaboration ft. Bobby Haskins (Auror)

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

In this special episode with CrimeScience correspondent Tom Meehan (LPRC and CONTROLTEK), we are joined by Bobby Haskins (Auror) to discuss the pandemic’s effect on solution providers, technological challenges, the importance of remote-in capabilities, and much more. The post CrimeScience Episode 51 – LPRC Solution Partners, COVID-19, Technological Challenges, and Industry Collaboration ft. Bobby Haskins (Auror) appeared first on Loss Prevention Research Council.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Crime Science. In this podcast, we aim to explore the science of crime and the practical application of the science for loss prevention and asset protection practitioners, as well as other professionals. Co-host Dr. Reid Hayes of the Loss Prevention Research Council and Tom Meehan of ControlTech discuss a wide range of topics with industry experts, thought leaders, solution providers, and many more. We would like to thank Bosch for making this episode possible. Use Bosch Camera's onboard intelligent video analytics to quickly locate important recorded incidents or events. Bosch's forensic search saves you time and money by searching through hours or days of video within minutes to find and collect video evidence. Learn more about intelligent video analytics from Bosch in zones one through four of LPRC's zones of influence by visiting Bosch online at boschsecurity.com. Hello, everyone. I'm here today with Bobby Haskins from Aura. And Bobby is a longtime

retail veteran and a personal friend of mine. And we're here taping a special edition of the Crime Science Podcast. If you're watching this on video, you'll see we are on video. So we're trying something new. And we're remote, like pretty much everybody else is. And I think that's kind of what we're going to talk today, a little bit different format. We're going to be interviewing and speaking with a lot of our friends, members, peers, colleagues. And both Reed Hayes and I have kind of split this up into what we're referring to as cluster calls or calls to people just to talk

about the current events, some of the things we're facing with. And, you know, when I spoke to Reed, the first person that came to mind was you, Bobby. And we've worked together on a whole bunch of different projects and a whole bunch of different worlds. So, you know, as a former longtime retail practitioner and operator, and now in the solution provider world what is it like in today's society with COVID-19 thinking you know we're here we are sitting in mid-April 2020 and in a month the whole entire world is turned upside down yeah it's it's definitely unprecedented times right you never think you'd see something like this. And, you know, you think a couple of years from now, as we look back to talk about that

time where the whole world pretty much came to a shutdown, it's going to be interesting to look back. I think for me, you know, what's changed is I'm working from home. My wife and I are trying to figure out how to work from home at the same time. But really, it's just been about continuing to talk to the retailers that are out there, the friends, the peers in the industry, and just understanding what's happening in their worlds and what are the challenges that they're facing. And just learning, I think, is the biggest thing. And learning through that network right now as we're all distant, but trying to stay close. I think that's probably the biggest thing that I've been focusing on recently. So without, you know, obviously, because when we talk,

you and I are in unique situations because we worked in retail and we have a lot of friends or people we've worked with before, but without really, you know, giving up any secret squirrel information, what are you hearing? What's the common theme, good, bad, and ugly of the challenges or this of some of the success stories? I mean, it's probably more challenges today. What are you, what are you hearing? What can, what, what can you provide for the listeners that would give them some insight? How do I operate in this new environment, whether your store is open or whether the stores are closed? The stores that are open, it's all around like what I've been hearing is cleaning procedures, making sure how do we keep our team safe? How do we keep our guests safe? What are those processes that are out there that are no longer critical? And then what are those new ones that are critical that we have to do day in and day out?

Longer term, what I'm hearing from a lot of, you know, former peers and people in the industry is all around the unknown. What happens after this? What's the new normal? How do we operate in that new normal? And what are those challenges that maybe we've never even thought about that we have to start putting our heads around right now? Yeah. And so that's kind of the same, literally the same thing. I think we probably are all hearing the same things. From your perspective of switching sides, the LPRC's base of members are broad, right? We have retail practitioners, we have operators, we have solution providers, and then you have a whole host of law enforcement, academia, you know, what can you tell the solution providers? I mean, you and I do have a unique perspective of that. And this isn't a shot at anybody, you know, we left retail, probably at an earlier time than some other folks that were retail practitioners transitioned over. So what, what's, what's some advice from your perspective or thoughts or words

of wisdom of, you know, uh, here I am, I had this job before where I was in the crux of it and now I'm sitting on the other side. Yeah. I think the, the biggest thing that I can say for, you know, the solution providers that are looking at this industry and the world we're living in right now is listen, like take the time to ask questions, to listen, to learn. This is a, this is an opportunity for us to just better understand from our retail partners, what they're going through, like what's on their mind. And I think that's the biggest thing. The other piece is look at your technology, like how your technology operated before COVID-19. Can it operate

differently after COVID-19? And how can you start to think differently around your tech or your solution or, you know, whatever, whatever you have? I think that's, that's the biggest thing. And then lastly, like whether you're a solution provider or whether you're a retailer, we're all in the same industry. One of the things that I love about this industry is how close knit it is. You know, that's a positive and a negative at times. But right now, that's a positive. Like use that, leverage that, talk to people, learn. Because I don't think that this is the last time we'll see something like this, unfortunately. And I think it's really good for us as an industry and to really take that institutional knowledge and pull it together.

And solution providers can be a big part of that right now to look at that, look at what we've learned and then think, what is your tech going to look like in the next couple of years? So if this does happen again, we're ready and we're more prepared. And from a technology standpoint, so I look at you in the same way I think of myself as kind of a futurist and a technology guy. So what are your thoughts? I mean, so what are your thoughts based on what you're hearing from, I guess I'll ask a little bit differently is, you know, what's the one thing that maybe surprised you as a technical challenge? And then what's the success from a technical side? a technical challenge and then what's the success from a technical side? I think the biggest challenge that I've heard and seen so far is the ability to remote into stores. Like that is the

most common theme that I hear right now is, you know, if their cameras were not connected to the network, there wasn't that ability to remote in. And I think that's probably something that a lot of retailers took for granted up to this point. And I think that's something that a lot of retailers are going to make sure that, you know, if they have it already going forward, they have that ability to remote in to look to see what's happening in their stores. These retailers were asked, some of these retailers were asked to close their stores within days, hours at times. So I think that was probably the biggest shortfall where I think we need to think going forward is how can we use, and if I put on my LP AP hat specifically,

how can we start to use technology to get into more of an ecosystem approach? Like we can't go hands-on, gone are the days of apprehensions, apprehensions, apprehensions. Like what, how can we start to think around zone four and zone five from an lprc perspective and start to connect more dots aggregate data as an industry so that we can get that information into the end users in those stores so that they have that information before we hit zone three when they're walking into the building because there's no question that theft is going to increase after this. I think when we look at unemployment and what happens to the property crime side of that, there's going to be an increase and we need to play more as an industry

with new tech in zones four and five so that we have intelligence before they get into zones three, two, and one within those buildings. And the other thing is, and this is one of the challenges I see is it's kind of a full, it's not so much technology, but it is, but it's like a human nature thing is we were in this weird ecosystem of everybody being connected, how many people no longer call people, it's always text messaging. It's always email there.

The video would be turned off to literally overnight. It's like typical human nature. Now everybody needs engagement. And it's all of a sudden I've, I've talked to more people on the phone now, um, in the last three weeks and I have in years. And the funny part is, you know, I think you and I are like, we talk a lot, right? So we always talk on the phone. But there's some people that I'm like, I don't, I can't remember in 25 years, I think you've called me once. And I'm like, well, what am I

going to do now? Like, so this, this kind of need for engagement. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do the video, because I thought to myself, you know, it lets people kind of put a little bit more texture now. And most of the listeners probably won't see the myself, you know, it lets people kind of put a little bit more attention to it now. And most of the listeners probably won't see the video, you know, but the whole point for me was really to say, hey, how do we do that? And then on the flip is I'm a techie Eddie, right? I have all my toys at home and I have all my office set up, but it's an adjustment to work from home all the time, you know, and I think I'm hearing that heavily. And I travel, traveled 80% of the time. So working remote is still very different than

working from home all the time. And, you know, finding that rhythm of not working too long and still eating and doing the things you're supposed to do. And so I hear that a lot. And so, yes, it's an adjustment. And I was clicking the wrong button because I don't have my soundboard set up that I do in my office. So I'm like, hey, wait, this mute should work with a button, not with a click.

So yeah, and, you know, but fun stuff from the technology standpoint, you get to really see what's out there. And I think your comment about remote video, I've heard a whole bunch of times, but I also think it really comes into play. It shows the overall kind of lack of understanding of how weak infrastructure is in some organizations. And that's not a shot. It's by design, right? Like I can tell you, you know, if you asked me where I was going to invest years ago, I'm not, you know, there were a lot of things that are going, these low risk stores over here that have no shrink, no burrow, no issues. Also have no remote video.

And now I can't monitor what's going on. So I'm hearing a lot of that stuff. So the challenge with that remote and with the video side of the business before, you know, COVID was how do you put tangible dollars in ROI around all of that? So now, you know, I truly believe that post COVID-19 and in COVID-19, APLP is more important than ever. So as an industry, we should start to think around like, what are those tangibles, those ROI numbers that you have now that you can continue to justify? Because like high cameras are great, but you have to have a lifestyle management, you know, and what does that look like going forward? Use this time to really put some numbers around that to make sure that we don't get back into this situation where you've got new IP cameras,

but you can't remote it. There's other challenges that way. So I think it's a really good aha moment for all of us probably in the industry, specifically with just raw video. Yes. And I could understand everything you said. I don't know if it's a connection issue, but we just had a wacky connection issue for all the listeners. If you couldn't understand, Mavi, just talking about the ROI and the value prop of remote video and probably before how difficult it might've been to justify spending it. And now the conversation totally changes the, totally changes the dynamic.

You'll never probably have to have that conversation again. And I, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll leave, leave you with the closing thought for the group. What's a closing thought, you know, you're a super positive guy. So what's a a closing thought for the group. What's a closing thought? You know, you're a super positive guy. So what's a good closing thought for everybody? Yeah, I think one of the things that I've seen through this is everyone's been really positive as an industry. Like there's been a lot of virtual high fives and calls.

There's been text messages. We've really come together a lot more in the absence of not having a show season and being able to see each other. I think the positive is we're connected. There a lot more in the absence of not having a show season and being able to see each other. I think the positive is we're connected. There's no question about it, but how do we, and my challenge would be, how do we keep that connection going forward so that we can keep this? I just love what's happened, what I'm seeing on LinkedIn, what I'm seeing everywhere, and how can we keep that moving forward because we are such a close-knit industry. Let's make sure that we make that a priority. I think LPRC is a great

spot to do that. There's a lot of information that we can share and gather here, but there's also that opportunity to connect on a personal level and just get to know people more. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't agree with you more. I actually think I was talking to my wife about this and said, I wonder if when this starts to come down, will we all go back to texting each other and not talking to each other? And I echo what you said about the industry calls and lot of people on video. And the new normal right now is that, hey, the engagement changes, the video, there was a lot of banter and dialect and really useful information on the calls. So I'll leave it with, for the listeners that are part of the LPRC, now is the time to participate in as many working groups as you can. Before, I probably would have agreed that you couldn't find that a couple hours a month. Now, I would say if you're on one call, find a way to be on two or three. I can guarantee you, you'll get something out of it.

And that call yesterday, I think it was yesterday, it was refreshing to hear, you know, everybody. And, you know, to your point, upbeat, positive, not unrealistic, right? Not, you know, not pie in the sky, but still realizing that it was there. So Bobby, thanks so much for being on. I know, I'm going to ask you to do again. I appreciate it.

That's fine. Next time. Can we not do video? Cause this hair took a little while here, you know, and I've got the Corona virus hair going on. It's starting to grow this way. So it's great. Great chat with you as always, man. I would say Bobby, the last five times you had the hat on, you can wear a hat. No one's saying I am not shaving the beard until the virus is over. I've not shaved and I refuse to, I still have to shave my head because if I don't, it'll be a disaster, but I'm not shaving the beard.

So we'll, you can have coronavirus hair and I'll have a coronavirus beard and we'll go from there. And the next time we're both wearing hats. Yeah, exactly. Good, good, great speaking with you. I know the listeners will appreciate it. And for everybody listening, please subscribe, like, review the podcast. And if you have suggestions or comments, reach out to myself, Reed, Kevin Tran, and you can

reach out to Bobby. Bobby will get it to us. I mean, certainly. And if you're interested in being a guest, have something important to talk about, reach out to us. And hopefully you do get to see this video and then you can make fun of Bobby's hair and my beard. Talk to you soon, everybody. Stay safe. Thanks for listening to the Crime Science Podcast presented by the Laws Prevention Research Council and sponsored by Bosch Security.

If you enjoyed today's episode, you can find more crime science episodes and value information at lpresearch.org. The content provided in the Crime Science Podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal, financial, or other advice. Views expressed by guests of the Crime Science Podcast are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions or positions of the LF's Prevention Research Council.