Managing paperwork is a headache for all retailers, with real risks that can potentially lead to serious disruptions, shutdowns and loss of revenue. Timely renewal of business-critical documents like tobacco licenses, food permits, alcohol permits, and lottery licenses, is essential. However, these renewal documents can get misplaced or the renewal deadline forgotten.
Problems with permits and license management
• Varied expiration dates
• Using fragile spreadsheets, Outlook calendars and sticky notes
• Difficulty finding permits and paperwork
• Missed deadlines and lost paperwork create employee and owner stress
StrasGlobal, the leading provider of contract operations for gas stations and convenience stores, developed the Compliance Safe software program because of very specific needs they had for managing the license and permit renewals for their retail operations. These needs included reducing the time and costs of the management process, adding a layer of security to document storage, and minimizing chances of missed deadlines and potential shutdown.
Rather than making retailers rely on paper copies that can be damaged or go missing, software solutions such as Compliance Safe are designed to securely store documents in the cloud. That means accessing a document or sharing proof of compliance is as simple as logging onto a website. Furthermore, documents are organized on a dashboard for authorized users to find what they need for a specific store, as well as by type of permit. This, in combination with automated email alerts, means that StrasGlobal never misses a deadline—and in turn, ensures other retails won’t miss their deadlines, either.
Government and office shutdowns during COVID-19 clearly illustrated the value of having time-sensitive documents stored in the cloud. Retailers needed, and continue to need, to know where their renewal documents are and have them easily accessible—not on someone’s desk in a closed office. What’s more, with documents in the cloud, all authorized people, even those working from home, know exactly when the renewal is, therefore providing business continuity. Other disasters, such as hurricanes and fires, which can both destroy buildings, further emphasize the need to keep critical documents stored securely in the cloud so they can be accessed anywhere and anytime.
Joe Green, Director of Operations for Energy North with 54 sites in New England and New York state, was immediately drawn to having a software solution. “Compliance Safe has many benefits that became clear to us right away. Compliance Safe’s intuitive, user-friendly dashboards, with automated email alerts for upcoming renewals has replaced our hard-to-maintain Excel spreadsheets. Having Compliance Safe was also a real advantage when we recently acquired 8 Tradewinds sites. We were able to quickly and accurately integrate their accounts into our system. We think Compliance Safe is an essential tool for the c-store industry.”
With this year’s pandemic making it readily apparent just how important having documents accessible anytime, anywhere is, software solutions are likely to become more widespread. To learn how Compliance Safe can offer insurance against a critical permit or certificate expiring and causing a disruption to any store’s operations, click here.
This post is sponsored by Compliance Safe