CERTIFICATION Interview with Dustin Ares, LPC
The Benchmark for Performance and Ethics
Ares is director of global sales for Malong Technologies, which provides unique artificial intelligence solutions for a wide variety of problems in retail. His experience in retail loss prevention includes physical security, data systems, store design, training, investigations, organized retail crime, and return-fraud prevention. Companies he has worked for include Target, Hollywood Video, Abercrombie & Fitch, and SIRAS (a Nintendo subsidiary at the time).
Why did you decide to pursue LPC certification? I first learned about the LPC certification program from a discussion at the National Retail Federation with Gene Smith and Jim Lee talking about the need for standards and a mechanism to measure proficiency within the LP industry. This was largely viewed as a first step to initiate serious discourse in retail LP and to encourage college students in a wide variety of disciplines to consider LP as a viable career path. I really liked the idea for a few reasons: (1) it shows that LP is a legitimate career path that stands on its own and requires proficiency across many departments and functions within retail, and (2) it creates high standards for participants to understand the content and demonstrate it via their performance. I volunteered, contributed a few chapters of content to the study materials, and signed up to take the first LPC exam as it was ready. As a solution provider, how has the LPC certification assisted in your ability to connect with your customers and develop solutions and technology to support the LP industry? I feel that achieving and maintaining the LPC certification has done a couple of things for me in my career on the solutions side. First, it has allowed me a regular seat at the table in the companies I have joined in determining specific product offerings and formulating the right strategies for the industry. I think having this background allows me insight into areas of “unmet needs” at retail that deserve real focus and thought. Instead of chasing trendy topics or creating solutions that might miss the mark, the focus on solutions to real operational problems in retail can be much more accurate. Second, and maybe more importantly, by demonstrating proficiency in LP, one gains a unique perspective about how to approach the retail business as a technology company. The successful approach in this industry requires honesty, integrity, and the ability to work through complex operational issues with a straightforward approach. Retail LP demands partners ready to stand side-by-side with them in the trenches to do battle. I think the LPC certification shows an understanding of this need and the willingness to roll up your sleeves and get down to the real work. Talk about the process of going through the coursework and taking the exam. Often in our careers, we naturally drift to one focus area or another, depending on our own motivations, interests,
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and curiosity. For me, that meant my role had taken me through corporate management practices and technical implementations of systems and solutions. I found, largely from the coursework, that there were significant areas in supply chain and physical security concerns surrounding distribution centers that I had not realized I was lacking. I spent the bulk of my study time in these areas, keying in on fundamentals and publications by experts in the field. I also found that while you may grow quickly in your career and demonstrate significant proficiency in something, you may not even realize the formal theory (behavioral, criminological, and so forth) that underlies your work. I found that interesting and continue to try to understand as I work through new issues. Looking at your own background and knowledge, what information helped you the most? After about ten years in the field, you may gain that feeling that you have “seen that, done that” and a false sense of confidence. I think the first thing I learned from the coursework is that no matter how much you have been exposed to, there is always something new over the next horizon. If you are open to the possibility that you don’t know everything, there are actually worlds of new information ready for you to discover. The depth and breadth of your understanding are entirely up to you. From a content perspective, I still remember reading about behavioral store design as an important consideration for security in a store. While I had lived many days using carefully mapped store designs with Target stores, I had not understood all of the underlying design considerations and choices. What benefits have you seen from taking the course? The LPC coursework showed me how broad the industry is and how it continues to expand, even today. While one can choose to be a generalist or specialize within the LP industry, the industry continues to expand, change, and grow. As shopping experiences evolve over time, the LP industry must also adapt to meet the new challenges that are presented. I enjoy having the LPC designation on the solution-provider side as it shows that I understand the issues facing today’s LP practitioners. I lived it firsthand. If I am engaging with retail loss prevention, they can be comfortable that I understand where they are coming from, that I have already considered the constraints and opportunities from that side of the desk, and that I won’t waste their time. This helps LOSSPREVENTIONMEDIA.COM
