Secure Global Solutions - Articles

SGS 4th Annual Breakfast at the Wynn

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:29:00 +0100

SGS 4th Annual Breakfast at the Wynn

With 100 industry leaders in attendance, interest was focused on changes in the alarm industry. Discerning trends and requirements for the future is one of the many reasons our breakfast remains a popular industry event. Discussions, both public and private, expressed concern over industry changes brought on by acquisitions and new technologies. Both stages™ and backStage™ solutions have become integral industry change agents with innovative solutions to both old and new problems.

Thom Meyer reviewed the products and how development has evolved. The challenge everyone in the industry faces is evolution or extinction. At our first breakfast we said we would create an entirely different central station solution based on integration of technology. In 2007, postcards on each table delivered our message “ stages™ – noun – 1. the next step in the evolution of alarm processing.” SGS has managed to respond to customer demands, react to market trends and develop an entirely new central station software system in just over three years. The stages™ platform has achieved our primary goals and today creates a new work environment. Achievements include a dispatch wizard to automate response plans, integration of inbound communications in call center queuing, and outbound auto-response processes. The benefits in call handling, error reduction, and quality delivery have all been substantial.

stages™ has been built with incredible speed by utilizing a highly modular and adaptable architecture. Modifications are easily created. Today, with the foundation built, enhancement to the product can be rapidly created by both SGS & our customers using our API Gateway. Central stations have created customized web services for dealers and dealers have created their own integration with third party products.

Not all questions are easily answered. Steve Keefer made introductions and addressed two important questions: What are the effects of the acquisition of GE Security by UTC and the acquisition of Broadview Security by ADT? As Steve stated “We are hopeful that both acquisitions lead to positive events for SGS, but it is too early to evaluate the impact for the industry and for SGS. We hear from many parties and the feedback is interesting.”

Since we began in business, what has become clear is that change in communications, data content, and service delivery are requiring companies to focus on new tools. Over the next few years, stages™ will continue to evolve – and our customers will avoid extinction. It is clear that SGS solutions provide the right context for solving problems.

Our thanks to all who attended our 4th annual Breakfast at the Wynn.

Rapid Response live on stages™

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:22:00 +0100

Measure twice and cut once

Over the last 15 years Rapid Response has taken pride in providing customers with highly customized solutions. Thus, when it came time to convert, both SGS & Rapid had a BIG challenge in understanding all the variations in the “legacy” solutions.

One of the most challenging issues any central station faces is conversion to a new monitoring system. During 2009 Rapid’s IT team led by Peter Kirk and operations team led by Lynn Sarni delved into the existing system to ferret out all the variations to the software. The “list” was a foundation to assure all software features were included in stages™. But over time, we all understood a second dimension – the “list” was also going to drive many aspects of the data conversion. In fact, the variations in data proved to be even more difficult to address because there was never one modification for everyone.

Most companies try to manually massage data after conversion or live with the errors that are created by moving from one system to another. For Rapid neither living with errors nor manual corrections were reasonable options. With hundreds of thousands of accounts, the best alternative was to raise the level of data conversion to eliminate the possibility of error.

It was a major undertaking to convert and it is still continuing. Contacting dealers, verifying signals, training, editing and many, many conversions are taking months to achieve. The first batch of dealer conversions led to improved processes for the next batch. While not complete, the process is now refined and data accuracy is raised beyond any tolerances SGS has ever seen. Checking, and rechecking – converting and reconverting. The old adage of “measure twice and cut once” is certainly one key to success.

G4S puts the “G” in SGS

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:37:00 +0100

In an important step forward – for both SGS & G4S – Denmark has gone “live” with stages™ in their central station and dispatch operations. As our first live European customer, G4S has made the “GLOBAL” in SGS a reality and created a beginning for a G4S group strategic migration.

Today, system delivery is much more than simply turning on software. The G4S deployment exemplifies how many different resources are required to succeed. To begin, G4S standards required use of a virtual system environment using VMware. The SGS Milwaukee IT systems group helped ensure proper network configuration and performance optimization.

Software development was a key part of the G4S project to meet both European and local issues. Over many years of systems implementation a myriad array business processes at G4S must now integrate with the central station. Central station software connections cannot be ignored.

SGS had to interconnect to old systems and new systems spanning multiple technologies. The project was challenging. Leadership by Gerhard Westphal, Bo Willumsen, and Martin Pedersen helped the SGS team coordinate with multiple vendors. Often the project had to “rediscover” the data and how it was managed to then create new rules for integration with stages™. Systems requiring integration included:

SAP Enterprise Business Suite
Ericson Telephone PBX
Safecon Guard Dispatch
PreCom Handheld Devices
STEP Front-end Signal Processor
SMS Alarm Communications
Elevator Alarm Management

In addition to integration, the key to successful deployment is managing the transition. Conversion, testing and process development are critical tasks to make new software work. Operator training and process development were led by Heidi Fiering, Carsten Reené Jensen, and Hans Jørgen Enemark whose contribution was equally important to the integration tasks. When the day arrived, operators were pleased with the efficiencies created by the new application.

The conclusion of the year long project brought great satisfaction. Every connection worked flawlessly. The SGS team included all of our employees led by Thom Meyer & Bruce Weissman.