Lockdown is lifting, but risks are still present

This week marks the end of the strictest elements of the winter COVID-19 lockdown in England, with non-essential retailers, pubs and (thankfully) hairdressers allowed to reopen. Whilst this is welcome news for retailers and customers alike, the fact that there are still restrictions on how retail venues operate reminds us that the risks associated with COVID-19 are still present.

It’s important for venues to remember that risk mitigation, whether during a pandemic or more generally, is a journey and not a tick-box exercise. There is no magical end point where all risks faced by a retailer and its customers are 100% prevented; as the past year has shown, new risks are constantly coming to the fore, and retailers need to have the flexibility to respond to them quickly and effectively to keep their staff and customers safe. 

The best way for management teams to react quickly to risks is to see in real-time what is going on inside a retail venue. Digitalisation provides a key to management teams looking to gain real-time insight into new and emerging risks by deploying sensors across an estate to measure everything from crowd levels to cleanliness. Connected technology can also be used to empower frontline workers; Over-C’s frontline work app enables cleaners, security guards and maintenance personnel to log problems in real time, alerting team members when extra assistance is required and ensuring that management teams can see exactly where problems are occurring and when they are fixed.

 Having real-time insight into problems on a shop floor or where frontline workers are currently deployed will empower management teams to mitigate risks quickly and efficiently. As shops begin to reopen, the risks of the pandemic, and the traditional risks of running a retail venue, haven’t magically gone away; it’s not too late for management teams to improve their responses to them, though.

 Contact us today using this form [ https://over-c.com/contact ] to see how Over-C’s digital solution could help improve your risk mitigation strategies.