Under the stewardship of professional services director Anne Davies, the all-new ORIS Group operation will provide commercially-focused and integrated business risk and continuity consultancy in a number of areas (including risk governance, counter-terrorism, information security, counter-fraud, bribery and corruption and crisis management.
Speaking about this latest development, Davies told SMT Online: “Retailers are facing an increasing number of security-related risks. Our new consultancy offering is designed to provide them with expert and strategic advice and support to help ensure their organisations are fully prepared for effectively dealing with unexpected and serious events. It’s also about enabling retailers to keep their businesses operational should such events occur.”
Davies – an industry expert with extensive experience in the business risk and continuity field – also explained another key area of focus will be retail security during the Olympic Games 2012. ORIS Group can provide retailers with advice and guidance on protection and continuity issues in the run-up to and during the Games.
Adding real business value
Managing director Kerinda Ibbotson added: “The ORIS Group prides itself on delivering products and services to its customers that are developed by a team of experts and add real business value. Our Business Risk and Continuity Consultancy offer is no exception to that rule.”
Ibbotson continued: “With world events that include devastating earthquakes and Tsunami’s hitting some of the most advanced economies, and an increasing number of other risks now emerging, the overriding need for businesses to have strong contingency planning in place has never been more apparent.”
ORIS Group hosted a one-hour ‘masterclass’ session in conjunction with guest speakers from The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) at the Retail Fraud event held in London on 14 April.
The event wass free to attend for retailers, providing attendees with an overview of the Top 10 areas they need to be focusing on in order to mitigate business risk during the Games.
brighter link to Europe
In addition, The ORIS Group has now formed a strategic partnership with bright link consulting to deliver security expertise across Europe.
The initial aim is to roll out the products of one of the UK’s leading loss prevention specialists in a range of European languages.
bright link – a Swiss-based loss prevention specialist with more than 30 years retail and telecoms expertise – will promote ORIS’ established Case and Incident Manager software, along with its broad professional services package (including ORIS ShrinkTank and the ORIS portfolio of leadership and people development solutions).
The joint venture, which begins this month, will offer the software and service delivery in both French and German, in turn opening up the ORIS offering to much more of the Northern European market.
Focus on European loss prevention teams
ORIS already provides security and loss prevention solutions for market-leading brands trading across Europe, including The Carphone Warehouse and Adidas.
Now, ORIS ShrinkTank can be offered to European loss prevention teams under the stewardship of Alex Habath and Michel Goies, the respective former head of loss prevention and CEO of The Phone House (TPH), Switzerland.
Director of operations for bright link, German-born Habath has also held the role of head of loss prevention for Claire’s Accessories and is fluent in both English and French.
Goies told SMT Online: “The loss prevention function still needs much development work across continental Europe. Joining forces with ORIS, we feel that we’re now working with the most competent partner and have access to the most sophisticated and professional tools in the industry.”
He added: “This partnership will enable us to offer our European customers high-end solutions developed by industry leaders.”
Ambassadors for the brand
Andrew Wood, business intelligence director for The ORIS Group, commented: “Having previously worked with ORIS as clients in Europe, Alex and Michel’s new venture presents a natural fit for us as they have a deep understanding and appreciation of our suite of products. They’ll be fantastic advocates and ambassadors of our brand in Europe.”
The ORIS Group recently launched a new version of ORIS Case Manager in Germany where the company updated the model for The Carphone Warehouse to ensure the collated evidence was presented in a format robust enough to withstand the rigours of the Works Councils.
Habath added: “This is a great opportunity for bright link because we recognise the true value of reselling ORIS products in Europe. The software already speaks volumes in more than ten languages. The aim of the joint venture will bring the consultancy products to market in a translated package that can be both ready to use or bespoke to an individual European organisation.”
He continued: “The UK loss prevention market is very sophisticated, and we want to take the Best Practice techniques from that model into Europe.”
Capturing the nuances and context
Kerinda Ibbotson stated: “Our products already travel well, but we recognise that they can go even further if they’re delivered in their ‘mother tongue’ to ensure they effectively capture and translate the nuances and context.”
Ibbotson suggested that, as part of the growth plans for ORIS, this is a strategic move that will enlarge the company’s European footprint still further.
“It will also enable retailers expanding their operations outside of the UK to offer a consistent loss prevention strategy that helps to manage and control shrink in line with the Board’s expectations.”
