Selecting a technology-driven approach for a cash management solution in your business is a key part of a proper crime and robbery prevention strategy. With the high crime rate in South Africa, already more and more businesses are starting to realise that their traditional cash management systems are making them vulnerable to criminals that are getting smarter by the day. It’s time we up our game.
Pierre Liebenberg, Head of Solutions Development and Manufacturing at Cash Connect Management Solutions, says that although there can never be a one size fits all technology solution to deter criminal threat, business owners should make use of a multifaceted approach that will make the process of gaining illegal access to the cash, a difficult and prolonged one for even the most professional criminals.
“This multifaceted approach incorporates both physical and electronic methods to create your security solution. The physical method includes security guards, armed response, electric fencing, security around the building, lighting, and more, while the electronic method includes security doors, smart safes and automated entry to cash offices, to name but a few,” says Liebenberg.
Cash Connect, for example, designs its own cash vaults and ensures that they are built to SABS CAT 4 standards. The focus is on the automation, i.e. biometric identification of cashiers for ease of quick and accurate deposit transactions, electronic and dual controlled locking mechanisms to manage entry to the vault, as well as the construction of the safe wall and the overall size and weight of the device. It’s important to note that the thinner the wall of the safe, (making it more cost effective to manufacture), the easier it becomes to access the cash inside it. Today, the most common tools used to access cash from safes include: sledge hammers, cold chisels, industrial angle grinders, industrial drilling materials, cutting torches, and explosives, which have become one of the most common means of attack. It is therefore important to ensure that the deposit device you choose will provide the highest level of resistance possible against any and all of the above tools used to penetrate safes and vaults.
Indeed, criminals will go to the furthest extremes to rob a business of its hard-earned cash, resorting to any means and the cleverest of tactics. It’s for this reason that when you select an automated cash management solution, that you should steer away from lightweight devices that may be more cost effective and may even have a more aesthetic appeal, but will offer little, if any resistance to even the mildest of attacks. If the objective is to deter the attackers from disrupting the business and threatening the lives of its staff and customers, then the means by which the cash is protected needs to be meaningfully robust in its design.
“The cash vault which is built to SABS CAT 4 standards is still the least penetrable safe currently available on the market. Based on Cash Connect’s most recent risk profile analysis, based on results for the past 24 months, only an average of 5 out of 500 sites were subjected to an attempted burglary on the device and all failed to gain access to the cash they were protecting – a result that stands out in the crowd of effective crime prevention technology. Cash Connect’s safe technology is supplied as an integral part of a complete end-to-end cash management solution that includes the guarantee of value for cash once it has been deposited into the cash vault; the crediting of the client’s bank account(s) on the same day after removal by CIT and the transfer of risk for the cash from the time of drop and along the entire logistics chain and including the Cash In Transit service to the bank. This automated, end-to-end process eliminates any third party intervention in the cash counting process within the store and removes any risk for cash loss arising from a robbery or burglary.
Apart from some people finding it difficult to move away from the traditional way of running their businesses, there remains an unfounded belief in some quarters that automated cash management solutions are more expensive than the old-fashioned manual equivalent.
“This however is simply a myth and the fact is that once the retailer moves to a fully automated cash management solution, tangible cost savings will be realised. These savings in cost and resource can then allow them to focus on other more pressing aspects that can deliver increased profits, improved customer service and a more streamlined approach to operating a customer focussed business,” says Richard Phillips, joint CEO of Cash Connect.
Currently, South Africa is leading the rest of the world when it comes to advances made in the use of technology to deter cash-related crime. This could be attributed to the fact that our crime levels are significant and that we have been forced to develop and apply technology as a counter-measure in response to the scourge.
It’s now up to business owners to make informed decisions as to the most appropriate cash management technology and solution available that will protect themselves, their staff, their customers and ultimately their business from becoming a victim.
