That’s the thinking behind one of the most recent public safety product launches: Alarm Call Automation from government technology supplier RapidSOS.
The new offering joins the crowded field of emergency dispatch tools designed to reflect all the different ways that people — and objects — communicate in the 21st century.
Citing a report from Frost & Sullivan, RapidSOS said in a statement that “by 2027, more than half of all 911 calls will be triggered by a connected device, sensor or app.” That includes devices inside people’s homes, as well as alarm systems installed in offices and other places of business.
The new product will help process those alarm calls and help determine which ones are false, the company said.
The idea is to use the latest technology to help emergency call handlers see through the clutter that often comes with requests for help — one of the trends driving the deployment of ever more sophisticated 911 systems.
“We hear from our public safety partners that the proliferation of smart devices and sensors is leading to a growing number of alarms coming into the system, compounding staffing shortages in 911 centers,” said Karin Marquez, chief public safety brand officer at RapidSOS, in the statement. “In partnership with public safety, we created Alarm Call Automation to help 911 focus their incredible skill and professionalism on the real emergencies impacting their communities.”
The company’s clients can add Alarm Call Automation to the RapidSOS UNITE platform, configuring the new product according to specific agency protocols.
The new tool can gather “key information and help verify the incident,” according to the statement, and “fuse verbal interrogation with relevant sensor feeds to provide the most comprehensive picture of the incident possible.”
More than 21,000 public safety agencies use RapidSOS to process more than 170 emergency call requests each year, the company said.
Jefferson County, Tenn., has already started using the new product.
"Alarm Call Automation has been a great solution for our day-to-day operations," said Justin Crowther, executive director at the Jefferson County 911 Center, in the statement. "RapidSOS is taking one piece of our call-taking process and automating it, so that is one less call that a call taker must process.”
The launch comes as gov tech suppliers pay more attention to commercial fire alerts, which often involve sensors and other connected devices.
Earlier this year, for instance, RapidSOS said it had teamed with Hexagon on a digital alert service for commercial buildings.
