Most companies we?ve spoken to wanted to have some sort of an alarm system that would let them know when their fraud control measures have detected fraudulent activity. Although that sounds great, we often tell clients that what they would truly want are alerts and not alarms.
But why?
Here?s our thoughts on this: When it comes to loss prevention, you would want to catch any possible activity that amounts to a loss before the actual loss happens. Sure, catching something after the fact is great as well, but why wait for an actual loss to happen before acting on it?
Alert VS. Alarms
On our previous blogs about fraud prevention and detection, we?ve talked about how the nature of fraud and how it is an ever-present risk for any organization big and small. Try as we all can, there is no 100% guarantee that any organization can become fully fraud-free. That is a fact.
So what we can do about this?
What we can do is to minimize possible loses from fraud by detecting it as early as possible through various measures. There?s data analytics for fraud control, frequent and aptly designed internal audit practices, having whistle-blower programs, and many more. Question is, which ones are better? Should you go for measures that alert you of possible fraud or measures that sets the alarm bells of fraud ringing?
Why You Need Alerts
We are not talking of setting anything that will make your employees fear of being suspected of fraud if they are to do anything that would trigger an alert. This is far from that. We?re just saying that there is more value (and more money) saved by going for fraud control measures that triggers an alert rather than an alarm.
Why so?
As we?ve said earlier, preventing loss due to fraud is a lot easier and cheaper than trying to recover loss after fraud has already occurred. But this isn?t just about that as well. There is more to going for alerts rather than alarms and the results are quite surprising!
Do you know that by going for actions that alert you of fraud, you will save up on company resources? There are also studies that suggests an increase in personnel performance after these measures has been set in place. Whoa! What? This is because alerts are not only a means to control loss but are also a means to measure performance; and hence can encourage personnel to be better at what they do.
Here are 5 specific alert features that have been found to improve employee performance
- Store security visits
- Statistical snapshot
- Mystery shops
- Short-form key performance indicators
- Employee relations
The 5 alert features above may work or not depending on your organization type, but for the most part, they are time-efficient, cheap to use (and analyze), and can be tweaked according to your business-type. What?s more is that they can be built into a simple computer file to help you with organizing everything. This way, you can be more pro-active with protecting your company as well as gathering data about it for future use. Remember, the key to the best loss prevention practices is all about getting valuable information as quick as possible. That?s what alerts are for!
Need some help in starting a fraud-alert program? Then contact the best private investigators in Toronto! One of the services we offer is all about effective fraud prevention and detection. Talk to us and let us help you kick fraud to the curb!
