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What does it mean to be ahead of risk? You’re not a fortune teller, but what if you could harness your data and know if a product is potentially hazardous? As a retailer, you are required to report products that fail to comply with a safety rule or any other rule, regulation, standard or ban; that could create a substantial hazard; or that create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to the CPSC. By monitoring customer comments, product and warranty returns, and setting alerts based on keywords and event data, you can determine if a product is potentially harmful and get it off your shelves and reported quickly. Not only will this protect you from legal action, and potential fines, but it will also help you maintain a positive brand identity. When five to ten recalls happen a day, it’s invaluable to be proactive in protecting your customers, protecting your brand and complying with regulations in a timely and efficient manner.

The good news is no matter how you’re currently collecting and storing your data, you can start mining it for the right information. Chances are you’re already amassing what you need, but you haven’t begun using it to your advantage. According to a recent article by Dan Berthiaume with Chain Store Age (Study: Retailers see data value, many struggle with BI strategy), “57% of retailers think planning and executing more effectively is a top use of data… However, only 42% of respondents said they have had an enterprise BI strategy in place for more than two years and are satisfied it meets their needs, and 15% are still working on putting one in place.” Clearly retailers see the value in using their data to improve their planning and execution, but there hasn’t been a big enough push to take action.

 
PolyVista Alerts+ was created for the specific purpose of helping retailers use their data more effectively to avoid risks and failure to report instances. At the request of one of our large retail clients, we developed PolyVista Alerts+ to make sure they were doing everything they could to rigorously identify product quality and hazard concerns and improve the timeliness and effectiveness of their recall program. We created a web-based platform that allows users to monitor all product returns and trigger alerts if there is any adverse event data associated with the return. Based on the requirements of the CPSC, keyword tracking is used to determine if an instance garners a report. PolyVista Alerts+ allows users to set escalation requirements that are automatically triggered, send automatic alerts via email and generate reports instantly eliminating the risk of human error and subjectivity.

 
Retailers can be ahead of the risk starting today. Regardless of how you’re tracking or plan to track customer data, PolyVista Alerts+ will help you extract the exact information you need to take timely and informed actions to protect consumers. All the information is there, now you can eliminate the noise and focus on valuable alerts.

 
Email me directly Jim dot Willard at polyvista dot com for a demo.