Meet the CCSG Team – Alan Wilson

We know the process can be a little daunting when seeking out a new service provider. Often, it’s hard to tell who you’re actually going to be dealing with and what they’re like. So, we’d like to introduce you to a few of our brilliant team members who are the brains behind the TARGET software.

Next up is Alan:

Q. What is your job title and what (briefly) does your role involve?
A. I’m CCSG’s Business Risk Manager. I support the clients with risk surveys, identify ways that the TARGET product can alert or investigate these risks, and give user support on the product (i.e. how to use it). I also take client feedback and try to integrate that feedback into the next product update.

Q. What is the best thing about your job?
A. There’s lots to love here! Travel, meeting clients, sharing how to investigate using the software, and accompanying clients on their journey: from not realising that they have a loss problem to lots of incidents and shrink having been identified a few months later. For example, I was leading a training session on how to investigate incidents and showed the client [CCTV footage of] a cashier in their shop respond ‘no to age’ on a purchase of alcohol but still pass a bottle to the customer. The client was shocked and said “but that’s shrink! I would otherwise have had to find that with stock control!”.

Q. What are your favourite things to do outside of work?
A. Rugby and photography! I often get to combine these as I have been doing the photography for my son’s rugby team and posting the best images to the club’s Facebook page after cropping and editing them. I got up to around 10,000+ pre-edit pictures last season alone! I also like to watch rugby, and happily attend Scotland games when able.

Q. What’s the most exciting/amazing/surprising thing you have ever done?
A. I once flew in a Tiger Moth 1920’s/30’s biplane and got the opportunity to take the controls!

Q. If you had to pick just one, what would you say is the biggest benefit of using TARGET software?
A. I’d say that it’s the go-to place for all your security and investigation needs. Whatever type of investigation, be it health & safety, security, or just an understanding of the data (which can be presented in reports via TARGET Insight). It’s the whole package, allowing a solid understanding of your site/store/business.

Q. What is your professional background?
A. I have previously been a retail manager, a night manager and duty manager. For ten years or so I also worked as a Security Manager, which is what brought me into contact with CCSG. Having had a similar background to our clients, I know the challenges they face, and I also know what our product needs to do to overcome them. I look at the product from a client’s perspective first. This approach helps me keep clients in mind at every step and ensures our product is the best solution possible for them.

Q. In the time you’ve been working with the TARGET software, what’s been the most exciting platform update you’ve seen? 
A. TARGET never previously had video integrated into the platform, this integration was by far the biggest and best thing to have happened. It’s extended the software’s capabilities to capture more fraudulent incidents than ever before and works to provide undisputable evidence in cases.

Q. Where do you see the retail security market going over the next 5-10 years?
A. I can foresee integration and systems being pulled into one central control point as one of the ways forward for the industry. TARGET is (from our point of view) a good example of that, and I don’t hear of many other brands doing that at this point in time.