The Three I's Of A Healthy LP/IT Relationship

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

Over the years, we’ve written extensively about the value of a collaborative relationship between retail loss prevention and information technology professionals. Once upon a time, this relationship was little more than a necessary and often begrudging one. The IT that’s necessary to support modern LP technologies—stuff like network infrastructure, server real estate, business intelligence software, and mobile devices—comes at a premium. So does the time that IT must devote to the configuration, maintenance, and upgrade of sophisticated LP infrastructures.

In historical terms, the IT-dependent technologies that LP professionals rely on to do their jobs today advanced quickly. In the eyes of the IT staff, the LP department—once a completely disparate entity that could plug in its own VCRs and charge its own walkie-talkies—was suddenly a newcomer to a long list of IT-needy departments. Needy indeed. LP needed IP connectivity, software integration, bandwidth, and more bandwidth.

In those early days, resource-strapped IT departments prioritized at best (LP needs often fell low on their to-do list) and altogether resisted at worst. At the risk of making a too-sweeping generalization, LP professionals are a persistent breed. They pressed, and the game of tug-of-war was on. Animosity sometimes ensued. In some retail business cultures, it remains.

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