Stay connected. How VoCoVo integrations can bring your entire estate closer together

Building an estate is one of the greatest achievements a retailer can accomplish. There’s nothing more satisfying than watching your company grow from a single store into a nationwide chain. But this growth does come with its challenges…

The larger your estate, the harder it becomes to maintain consistent communication with your stores. A lack of effective communication can significantly impact everything from security to customer experience. Fortunately, we can help. In this blog, we’ll explain how VoCoVo integrations can make even the largest estates feel like close-knit communities.

Large estates can leave colleagues feeling isolated

A growing estate is excellent for business, but it can negatively impact coworker morale. Working for a major chain can be isolating, leaving coworkers feeling disconnected from the decisions made at headquarters. This was evident in our recent survey of retail coworkers:

• 31% of colleagues want more support from management
• Almost half want to be more involved in decision-making
• 48% feel cut off from the wider goals of the business

Read the full report here:

It isn’t just a growing estate that can have this effect. Large individual stores can also make it difficult for colleagues to stay in touch:

• 43% of colleagues struggle to contact other departments
• Almost half feel that in-store communication could be improved

Security is a major concern for colleagues

Security is another issue that grows alongside stores. The larger your store, the more difficult it becomes for security teams to effectively monitor the shop floor. This can lead to colleagues feeling unsafe:

• A third of colleagues feel vulnerable when they are unable to communicate with security
• A third feel unsafe when working alone
• 37% feel vulnerable when they are outnumbered by customers

Sadly, these concerns have increased in recent years. 88% of retail associates were verbally abused during the pandemic, and one in ten were physically assaulted. One in four retail workers are planning to quit their jobs, with ten percent citing customer abuse as the main reason.

Large stores often rely on a public address system to raise the alarm, but this is not always safe. A public address announcement is loud and public, putting the colleague making the announcement at risk. A public announcement also serves as an early warning for criminals, giving them the opportunity to escape before security arrives.

Distance is no barrier with VoCoVo

Growing your business shouldn’t come at the expense of employee wellbeing. VoCoVo connects your entire estate, ensuring that support is always within reach:

• Message cast allows head office to send updates to multiple stores at once. You can inform employees about upcoming promotions and product recalls without having to wait for the next team meeting.
• Message cast can also be used to coordinate both external and internal security teams. If the external team spots something suspicious, they can alert in-store security immediately. If thieves are operating in a certain area, they can warn all nearby stores at once.
• Headsets allow colleagues to contact security quickly and discreetly. Colleagues can report incidents without drawing attention to themselves, and security can respond without alerting criminals.
• Telephony integration allows colleagues to call emergency services directly from the shop floor. You can even set up a voice command to do this automatically.

This makes a significant difference to morale. Our research shows that colleagues feel 54% safer and 25% more supported with VoCoVo.