Hawaii Petroleum, a leading energy provider with 28 locations across Maui and Hawaii Island, aimed to upgrade its video surveillance and business intelligence systems. The vision was to better serve customers and improve operational efficiency. Managing 19 convenience stores, four cardlock fueling stations, two retail outlets, and corporate offices posed challenges, but the company was committed to finding a solution that would provide valuable insights and strengthen security and loss prevention.

In 2021, Hawaii Petroleum began its journey with March Networks, adopting advanced surveillance solutions that transformed its operations. From identifying employee theft to streamlining evidence sharing with law enforcement, the results have significantly improved the company’s security and enhanced operational efficiency.

Pioneering a Smarter Path Forward

Prior to implementing March Networks solutions, Hawaii Petroleum relied on an analog surveillance system that limited its ability to address critical challenges.

Their team faced difficulties detecting employee theft and fraudulent transactions, ensuring compliance, and maintaining employee productivity. Limited oversight into operations made it hard to identify improvement opportunities and address potential issues quickly.

“We were spending hours trying to piece together evidence from our outdated system,” explained Greg Cabanting, General Manager at Minit Stop, a subsidiary of Hawaii Petroleum. “We knew there had to be a better way.”

 

Recognizing the need for change, the company sought a partner that could provide robust, integrated solutions to address its unique needs. “We needed a system that could grow with us,” added Wayne Eberly, IT Specialist at Hawaii Petroleum. After evaluating several providers, the team chose March Networks due to its proven track record with major banks in Hawaii and its flexible, scalable solutions.

Hawaii Petroleum implemented a suite of March Networks solutions, including 8000 Series NVRs, Searchlight Cloud, and Evidence Vault, revolutionizing its operations. With the 8000 Series NVRs deployed, the hybrid system allowed the company to gradually transition from analog to IP cameras, installing 8-16 VA4 DuraBullet and 360 cameras per site while maintaining its existing infrastructure.

Searchlight Cloud: Transforming Data into Actionable Insights

Searchlight Cloud has become an indispensable tool for business analytics. “With Searchlight Cloud, I can manipulate data and create customized dashboards,” shared Cabanting. “I created a card for locations without fuel sales to compare performance across all stores without unfairly skewing results.” This capability ensures that stores with no fuel sales are evaluated on a level playing field with those that do.

Managers utilize these dashboards to identify trends, monitor performance, and quickly share actionable insights. “I use Searchlight Cloud to show quick data to managers in a hurry,” said Cabanting. “For deeper analysis into our performance, compliance, and theft, Searchlight gives us even more control over our business outcomes.”

The system also enables role-based access to surveillance feeds and data, ensuring store-level managers only see relevant information while senior management oversees all locations. The mobile app further enhances convenience, allowing managers to access critical metrics on the go.

“The ability to manage our hybrid system remotely, track real-time metrics, and customize reports has been a game-changer. March Networks Searchlight Cloud has made our operations more secure, efficient, and profitable,” added Florence Cornelio, Loss Prevention Manager. “Now, I can see everything in one program, and what used to take 30 minutes now takes less than a minute.”

Powering Measurable Impact in Real-Time

Searchlight Cloud’s real-time updates allowed Hawaii Petroleum to see immediate results. They significantly reduced incident investigation times from hours to less than a minute. The integration of video surveillance with POS transaction data helped identify theft quickly. For instance, an employee voided cash transactions and pocketed the money. Using Searchlight’s transaction summary and video integration, the LP team uncovered the fraud, saving the store more than $100 per day in lost revenue.

Custom dashboards track discrepancies enterprise-wide, such as higher-than-average refunds or voids at specific locations. Searchlight Cloud’s analytics can flag a store with 30 refunds in one week compared to an average of three in other locations, allowing management to intervene and address potential fraud.

By providing managers with the tools to monitor performance goals and discrepancies, the system ensures compliance with policies and enables swift action. “This is amazing – you don’t even know how much time this saves,” said Cornelio. “I can look into fraud at multiple sites at once. I’ve been way more productive with the amount of work I’m able to do each day. Searchlight Cloud and Evidence Vault save me hours of time daily. These are invaluable tools for the business and my workload.”

The operational insights from Searchlight Cloud empower managers to compare store performance effectively. Custom dashboards, such as one excluding non-fuel locations from performance evaluations, ensure fair and accurate assessments.

Additionally, Evidence Vault has streamlined evidence sharing with law enforcement, eliminating the need for physical media. Over a 6-month period, Hawaii Petroleum handled over 125 police requests for video evidence with ease, improving the process significantly.

Driving Future Success with Innovation

Hawaii Petroleum plans to expand its use of March Networks solutions by exploring CloudSight for direct-to-cloud surveillance with real-time alerts and enhancing loss prevention efforts through Searchlight Cloud’s advanced analytics.

“March Networks is more than a vendor to us, they’re a partner in our success,” said Cabanting.

The Challenge

Hawaii Petroleum struggled to identify and address employee theft and fraudulent transactions across their gas stations and C-stores, while managing various systems across multiple locations.

The Solution

The company implemented a suite of March Networks hardware and software, including the 8000 Series NVRs, Searchlight Cloud, Evidence Vault, People Counting, and IP Cameras.

The Results

Hawaii Petroleum quickly reduced investigation times, improved compliance and employee monitoring, and gained actionable insights through custom dashboards. Streamlined evidence sharing with Evidence Vault further enhanced security and efficiency, driving profitability and positioning the company for continued success.

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