In the world of financial accounting, the term used for the loss of assets between the point of manufacture or purchase from the supplier and the point of sale is called shrinkage.

It is a word that business owners prefer not to hear. Because the sheer numbers of shrinkage, or shrink, resulting from employee pilferage and shoplifting are staggering: 44 percent from employee (or internal) theft and 35 percent from shoplifting. That’s a combined 79 percent loss because the manufactured and/or purchased goods are no longer around to be sold for profit.

PLDT now has a solution to curb this incalculable cause of loss.

It is called “Watcher.”
PLDT Watcher is the latest along the line of product innovations from PLDT that gives the busy entrepreneur more time to attend to the business of actually running the business, instead of worrying about thefts from within and without. The SME business owner already has too much on their plate. So a product that gives them the peace of mind that their wares are intact and are where they belong is a weapon and a welcomed asset.

Watcher is a multi-camera system integrated with a software solution that allows constant monitoring of movement in and out of outlets and of several branches, all from the convenience of your head office.

Watcher can be set up to provide multiple camera perspectives from a single monitor, giving you a full view of all your surveillance sites at once. The camera system has axial rotation, so it can be mounted, and then aimed at specific video targets. Auto recording and video saving allows you to review your surveillance video at a time of your choosing. Watcher can be programmed to record or e-mail snapshot once movement is detected on screen. The system can also be set up to send snapshots or video clips through email. And watching your video can be done from a computer monitor or a mobile phone.

“Much like our other Productivity Solutions, Watcher is yet another incredible business solution for monitoring valuable assets and resources. With the high rate of business losses coming from pilferage of goods, protecting your assets from theft is of paramount importance. There’s a lot of capital investment involved in starting and running a business. Watcher makes sure that your investment is secure,” said PLDT SME Nation VP and Head Kat Luna-Abelarde.

“In the final analysis, a business is there to make a profit. It’s simple math: without any goods, there is nothing to sell. The business has to swallow the loss. Worse, the business may be forced to pass on this loss to their customers in the form of higher markups,” said PLDT SME Nation AVP and Marketing Head Amil Azurin. “More loss means higher markups and higher prices. It’s a downward spiral where nobody wins.”

Any enterprise with assets to protect can benefit from PLDT Watcher. All the business owner needs to do is to mount the surveillance system with a clear line of sight view. Among the practical applications would be setting it up above sales floors or stockrooms, in view of cash registers, or near entrances and exits to monitor ingress and egress. Furthermore, since good employees are hard to find, watcher can also be mounted to view parking lots and garages to keep an eye on worker safety as they arrive or leave the business premises.

PLDT Watcher is one of the business tools that PLDT SME Nation offers to help entrepreneurs manage their business more effectively, thus ensuring success and profitability.

For more information on PLDT SME Nation’s Watcher service or any of our business solutions, you may call 101-888 or visit our website at www.pldtsme-nation.com.ph