Smart Back Office: Recording and Monitoring Vault Inventories via App
Whether at the branch or headquarters – automation, intuitive operation, and centralized evaluations are key to efficient and successful cash processes today. Yet in practice, the potential in storing and managing physical payment methods such as cash or vouchers often remains untapped. One reason is the lack of awareness about what’s actually possible. After all, with digital support, the vault can become much more than just a secure storage location.
Underestimated Effort: “The Vault”
Media coverage increasingly seems to point in one direction: “Cash is disappearing!” A recent anti-cash campaign even rages against coins and banknotes. But in the daily operations of branch-based businesses – whether in retail, DIY stores, gas stations, drugstores, or grocery chains – cash is far from obsolete. Large amounts flow through the registers every day and must be securely stored in the vault at the end of the day. What sounds like a simple routine is, in reality, a labor-intensive process. Clear procedures, defined responsibilities, and continuous monitoring are essential for success.
Behind the scenes, the effort is resource-intensive and complex: especially the counting, documenting, and reconciling of cash as well as the issuance of change is still mostly done manually. Most branch operators experience firsthand the resulting susceptibility to errors, inefficiency, and lack of transparency.
Change With a System
Recording manual counts and issuing change using paper or Excel sheets should be a thing of the past – to save costs, gain time, and streamline documentation. Digital tools like Interactive Cash Control (ICC) demonstrate that the daily back office process can work differently: significantly faster, more transparent, and fully digital.
Via platform – or even more conveniently via app – vault movements such as deposits and withdrawals can be digitally recorded, and change or starter kits can be issued at the beginning of shifts. What may sound simple at first can greatly simplify daily vault management tasks.
Regular Monitoring of Vault Inventories
In addition to digitally recording vault transactions, regular inventory checks are essential. When this process is digitized and automated, it gains efficiency and reliability. This guarantees traceability and transparency of cash inventories.
Inventory Recording via App
With the ICC App, cash inventories, transactions, and already packed safebags can be recorded directly via smartphone or tablet. Since employees no longer rely on manual lists or spreadsheets, inventory documentation becomes faster and more accurate.
Intuitive and Paperless Operation
Those still struggling with outdated processes or tools will welcome more user-friendly applications. These not only make daily tasks easier for staff but also help reduce errors and save time.
Reminder Function for Inventory Checks
“Time to count!” – Keeping up with control counts during busy periods can be challenging for employees. That’s why the ICC App sends a push notification at just the right time to the responsible staff, ensuring no important check is forgotten.
Automatic Comparison with Expected Values
The app also includes automatic comparison of actual values from control counts with the vault’s expected values. Discrepancies caused by incorrect or missed entries are avoided. Deviations are immediately identified and can be addressed by team members.
Automatic Discrepancy Detection and Data Transfer
Once discrepancies from the comparison are calculated, the ICC App also offers the option to send the data directly to accounting. This simplifies and automates the follow-up and resolution of inconsistencies.
Additional Photo Documentation
To ensure complete documentation, employees can take and store photos of cash inventories or safebags directly in the app. This adds another layer of transparency and traceability to the process.
Digital Signature in the App
Digital signatures for liability transfers can be recorded within the app, ensuring every handover to the cash-in-transit provider is fully documented. This supports a four-eyes principle and provides employees with a compliance-supporting tool for inventory control.
Centralized Analysis in the ICC Platform
Internal reports are an essential foundation for data-driven decisions. Since all important information can be retrieved centrally on the platform, comprehensive analysis of control counts and discrepancies across all branches becomes easy to implement.
Benefits for the Branch: Modern Vault Management
Vaults today should do more than just store money securely. And they can – as modern tools prove. With them, efficiency, transparency, and reliability are no longer idealistic goals, but part of everyday operations. Those who digitize and automate their vault management lay the foundation for modern cash handling in the back office – including seamless communication with the cash-in-transit provider through well-thought-out interfaces. This ensures that even cash movements outside the branch remain traceable and are documented in real time.