Brent Puzak has worked for convenience stores for over two decades. During that time, he learned first-hand about the challenges facing each department. So we brought him in to share his perspective on how teams of all sizes can scale their operations amidst increasing regulations. 

Read his take below.

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During my time working for convenience stores, I’ve learned that Compliance Managers face unique challenges. They need to answer complex questions and focus on the day-to-day tasks necessary to follow state and federal regulations. Finding that balance between increasing revenue while meeting the needs of stakeholders, regulators, and public health is hard.

The role of the Director and Compliance Manager is complex. Their job is three-fold:

1. Keeping stores and tanks operational while taking the pressure off store personnel. 
2. Find solutions for operators.
3. Ensure their actions comply fully with all regulations.

My tenure with convenience stores gave me a 360-degree view of these segments: employees, operators, and regulators. It allowed me to work with massive amounts of data and interpret it from many perspectives in a way that minimized disruption.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

How do regulations create challenges for compliance teams?

The biggest challenge facing the industry over the last several years is the updated underground storage tank (UST) regulations. The 2005 Energy Policy Act created a greater focus on compliance for the c-store industry. The new double-wall requirements have added a layer of complexity for compliance teams.

Because of this, convenience store owners now need to turn their attention to a new problem: How can they better manage increasing regulations? Their old ways of managing data and performing inspections are no longer sustainable. These new requirements go beyond the scope of what your average compliance manager can handle manually. 

For example, before the 2005 Energy Policy Act, a lot of people were using SIR and CSLD for their method of release detection. Then interstitial monitoring became a rule. There are more sensors in the storage tanks pulling more data than ever before and stores need to collect that data on an ongoing basis.

People who managed their data on Excel spreadsheets struggled to keep up with the workload. A lot of people looked for systems to help them better manage their business to keep pace with their growth. As you can imagine, using remote technology to access, store, and check data is far easier than checking gauges manually and sorting every spreadsheet by hand. It makes a compliance manager’s job much easier, much cheaper, and much more effective.

Because of its convenience and functionality, we’ve seen software evolve from a nice-to-have to a critical need in the industry.

How do c-store compliance teams solve these challenges?

Owners and operators have had to figure out how to manage the firehose of data. They’ve realized that spreadsheets, which they’d been using for years, weren’t going to cut it. An increase in compliance requirements means more testing and inspections. And more scrutiny means finding more issues to resolve. 

The amount of data required to meet regulations has almost tripled now that the 2005 Energy Policy Act is in place. These new requirements have placed an extra burden on compliance staff and organizations as a whole. Depending on the types of systems in operation, periodic testing and release detection must be completed to ensure overall system integrity, while monthly visual inspections ensure that irregular operating conditions are caught to minimize and prevent impacts to the environment. Many of these tests and inspections are new requirements and add additional visibility and tracking to each site.

In fact, some customers have seen an increase of 30,000 or more component tests and inspections over a two to three-year period! 

Store owners want to remain compliant, but they need help to scale at this order of magnitude. It is humanly impossible to track such an enormous amount of data without some tracking system in place. Operators need to find platforms that allow them to manage compliance aspects more effectively; the data needs to be housed somewhere, and ideally someplace that’s easy to navigate and sort.

Customers are looking to cloud technology for its vast storage capabilities. Cloud software allows them to access data remotely from anywhere and share it more globally. This flexibility gives them visibility to critical compliance information and more control over the way people work.

Once compliance teams have access to a central source of truth and have experienced first-hand the value of technology, they embrace digital transformation.

Wrap up

In my experience, it’s important to have a system in place that gives me visibility into all the data. I want to make sure I’m not missing anything that regulators need and I want a way to report on compliance efficiently.

At my last company, using Titan’s software allowed me to do that. Today, as a Titan team member, I help other convenience stores transform how they handle their mountain of data. 

Best of all, the technology will continue to evolve and grow as regulations do. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this industry–regulations tend to only increase.

Searching for Complete Visibility 

It’s safe to say technology adoption is having a major moment in the retail and commercial petroleum industry as retailers and logistics experts search for ways to streamline their current processes. Large retailers in particular are leading the shift from managed services to SaaS platforms in an effort to automate their processes while still maintaining control over their data.  

Companies that outsource their services or have multiple platforms for each workflow are finding that these platforms don’t speak to each other, leaving their data siloed. Unintegrated data and platforms can create gaps in information and even hide inefficiencies and warning signs. While consolidating multiple solutions onto one platform can give greater data visibility, many managers find themselves wondering what gaps they should be looking for. So what do you do when you don’t know what you don’t know? You conduct a gap analysis.  

Finding Your Blind Spots 

A gap analysis helps companies and department managers identify holes in their processes and establish a plan to solve for those blind spots. By engaging with a partner such as Titan Cloud to conduct a gap analysis, companies get an outside perspective, which helps spot inefficiencies or concerning trends more easily than managers who are closest to the projects. Titan’s Professional Services team has conducted numerous gap analyses for our customers, ranging from release detection to fuel management projects. Partnering with Titan gives our customers confidence in their processes and results, so they know for sure that nothing is slipping through the cracks.  

A Timeline for Success 

When customers come to us with specific projects or problems they need help solving, our Professional Services team immediately begins working with them to gather information and coordinate an action plan. Every customer receives an Account Manager (or two depending on the scope of the project) who will act as your point person throughout the process. We give our customers the flexibility to choose their level of involvement, so they can be as hands-on as they want. Typically, customers begin with weekly calls with their Account Manager, which can taper off to semimonthly or monthly as time progresses.  

The gap analysis itself takes around one month to complete, giving the Professional Services team time to identify issues, determine scope, and create a plan to solve the problem. By the second or third month our customers start seeing their gaps close and improvements in their processes and department.  

For example, one of the U.S.’s leading fleet and logistics companies was experiencing problems with facility inspections but couldn’t identify the root cause of the issues. They came to us looking for answers, so our Professional Services team worked with their third-party vendors to pinpoint the issue, gather missing information, and bring resolution within a few months. Overall, the gap analysis approach is a much faster and easier path to positive results than if customers tried to solve the problems on their own. 

Move Forward with Confidence 

As retailers consolidate their tech platforms and shift towards SaaS solutions, they may miss critical gaps in their processes.

“Many managers do a fantastic job of keeping up with changes, but some things do fall through the cracks. A gap analysis can uncover some things you just didn’t think of,” stated Jon Marinas, Titan’s SVP of Compliance Services. 

That’s why Titan Cloud is proud to offer Professional Services that help our customers find solutions to problems, so they can run more efficient, profitable businesses.

Interested in Getting a Gap Analysis for Your Company? 

Get in touch with your account manager and one of our specialists will reach out to discuss how we can help.

*Adapted from How to Confidently Manage Environmental Compliance webinar 

Managing environmental compliance means not only meeting environmental regulations and reducing the risk of catastrophic leaks, but also identifying operational gaps and implementing solutions to resolve or mitigate those gaps. At a time when companies are asking staff to constantly do more with less, how can you be confident in your compliance management? 

Build up foundational knowledge

Compliance managers operate in a world where state and federal regulations are constantly changing. It’s crucial that compliance managers know their governing environmental regulations. It could take several years for a compliance professional to truly know the regulations by heart (and by then they’ll probably have changed anyway), so having a reference on hand will serve them well should a crisis arise.  

Compliance managers should also lean on vendors, peers, consultants, and the regulatory community for guidance on reducing risk exposure. Compliance affects almost every function in an organization, so it’s important to build internal relationships as well as external ones to identify how everyone can impact an organization’s compliance. 

Staying organized – the key to success

Forecourt data is becoming easier to access, but without an organized system to compile and analyze it, the data might as well be buried with your UST. Spreadsheets may work for only one site, but once a company has several locations, especially across multiple jurisdictions, the data becomes increasingly chaotic and time-consuming to analyze.  

A powerful, simple platform that captures all necessary data is critical for compliance managers in today’s fast-paced environment. Operating at the highest level means compliance managers need to embrace more robust systems to store and organize compliance data. With a single source of truth at their fingertips, compliance managers can retrieve the exact information they need for an upcoming inspection, permit renewal, or test for an easier, more efficient approach.  

Out into the field

At the end of the day, understanding regulations and a good database will only get you so far. Compliance managers need to get out into the field to understand what systems the company has, how they function, and what problems frequently occur. Tracking assets and recurring issues can help compliance managers understand where their budget is being spent and how to decrease costs. Critical insights such as these are often difficult to keep track of in a spreadsheet, but forecourt management software that tracks this data and related correspondence can help compliance professionals make better business decisions. 

As these insights are recorded and patterns emerge, compliance managers should reference their support network and the knowledge they’ve built up to ensure there are systems in place to solve these challenges.  

Plan for the worst-case scenario

Despite every compliance manager’s best effort, releases will undoubtedly occur. The first step in mitigating your exposure is to identify potential points of failure and how they could impact sites. Include other departments in the plan, as regulations often require specific notifications to ensure an effective response.  

The best way to guide plans for a worst-case scenario is to conduct a gap analysis, where compliance managers review current processes and document organizational requirements. Once this information has been collected, managers should compare these to what is required by regulations to identify any areas where they may be lacking. This is where field experience is vital, as compliance professionals can accurately assess their risk indicators and implications from the insights they gathered in their database. But completing this process doesn’t mean a company will always be in compliance, this is something that must be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis.  

The future of compliance

Technology adoption has swept through the convenience store industry, and compliance departments can reap the benefit. Not only have advances in AI and Big Data helped c-store professionals get large amounts of data quickly, they’ve also provided access to analytics and insights that help drive profitability. But perhaps the most exciting development for compliance professionals has been the Internet of Things. IoT improvements allow users to access data from multiple equipment sources on one central platform, which is critical for environmental departments that touch most aspects of a company. To ensure nothing slips through the cracks, compliance managers need to take a holistic approach and single platform usage is integral to that strategy.  

Today’s compliance managers have a lot on their plate, but with an organized platform for data and a strategic plan to address operational gaps, mitigating risk and maintaining compliance becomes a whole lot easier.  

SEE ALSO: Global Convenience Store Focus’ summary of the webinar

After a challenging year of unexpected changes and adaptations, many are looking forward to a fresh start in 2021. As retailers are thinking about long-term goals and top priorities, here are a few resolutions every c-store owner and operator should make: 

1. Become EMV Compliant 

EMV compliance has been a hot topic for years as major credit card companies insist retailers upgrade their point-of-sale (POS) systems to use chip readers or take on the fraud liability themselves. The deadline to comply has been extended to April 1, 2021 after key industry players voiced concerns over the impact of COVID-19 on retailers. A Conexxus survey conducted in June 2020 showed that only 15% of retailers were fully EMV compliant with most retailers lagging in upgrading their outdoor POS systems due to cost and complexity. With the April deadline rapidly approaching, EMV compliance should be priority number one.  

2. Stay on Top of Technology Trends 

The pandemic forced c-stores to quickly adopt new technologies to keep up with changing regulations and customer needs. CSNews’ Technology Report shows that almost 75% of retailers increased their technology spend from 2019 to 2020, driven in large part by EMV compliance, but also by the need for greater business intelligence and reporting capabilities as well as better store-level inventory management. To jump start 2021, owners and operators should seek software that can organize forecourt data to help them make better business decisions and drive greater profitability. Even though a pandemic accelerated this technology evolution, customers expect an upgraded experience, and you don’t want to fall behind the competition.  

3. Move on from Manual Compliance 

In the wake of ongoing challenges and the strain COVID-19 has put on the convenience store industry, many retailers have a long list of to-dos and may be facing budget reductions. That’s why retailers should focus on investments that can free-up cash reserves, such as switching to a digital compliance solution. Not only will environmental compliance solutions streamline processes and allow employees to access data and documents remotely, but Titan Cloud’s compliance solution decreases fuel releases and remediation by 80%, so users can reallocate their environmental reserves for other important projects. Make 2021 the year you commit to a faster, more reliable compliance process.  

4. Migrate to Mobile 

Mobile apps dominated the industry last year as many retailers created or updated them to include online ordering, delivery, and customer loyalty programs to meet changing customer needs throughout the pandemic. With many customers still wary of venturing indoors, a mobile app offers socially-distanced options to make your customer feel more comfortable visiting your store and facilities, which makes it well worth the investment. Adding a customer loyalty program can also be a great way to attract customers with promotions and retain them with reward programs. Regardless of where you are in the mobile app journey, this is the year to use it to the fullest. 

5. Finally Take Control of Wetstock Management  

2020 was the year of frictionless: painless shopping, easy mobile payment, and streamlined fueling at the pump. Continue this trend in 2021 by offering a frictionless fueling experience with Titan Cloud’s Frictionless Fueling. This comprehensive wetstock management solution helps you reduce runouts, nozzle unavailability, and slow flow – three things that can damage brand reputation and push loyal customers to competitors. Upgrade your wetstock management program this year, so you can offer a customer experience that’s truly frictionless.  

Looking for Solutions to Help with These Resolutions?

Contact one of our specialists to help find solutions to support your goals.