Live Monitoring is the continuous observation of premises to detect change. It is impractical to have personnel stare at computer screens 24/7 in order to detect incidents. The margin of human error would be too great for it to be viable.
A more useful approach would be to setup an alert-based Professional Alarm Monitoring that could sound an alarm when a sensor picked up unusual activity, alerting the personnel to look in the appropriate direction. This would not only improve the effectiveness of a surveillance system but also improve response time.
How does alert-based monitoring work?
Alerts are defined as per the requirements of the premises. For example, smoke detectors for fire, intrusion alerts for unauthorized access, motion sensors to detect unusual activity, etc. Once alerts are defined, appropriate responses can then be charted out.
Automated alerts enable you to quickly spot problem areas in your infrastructure so you are able to deploy a timely response. Once an alert has been sounded, it is important to follow it up with a visual check to ensure the alert is legitimate. In the cases of a valid alert, a corresponding action can then be taken.
The Securens Approach
Securens has pioneered the alert-based monitoring system by defining different kinds of activities (apart from the normal activities) that would result in an alarm being sounded. For example for ATMs, activities like machine tampering, Camera Tampering, damaging the property, Smoke etc. would result in an alert being sounded in the control room. A control room operator would then use a two-way communication system to check what the customer (or perpetrator) is up to.
This gives the customer (or perpetrator) the sense that someone is watching them LIVE. Most of the times it is enough to drive any miscreants away. In cases of a particularly determined miscreant, the alert is escalated to our quick response team and the local police.
Benefits of an Alert-based Monitoring System
- Saves capital spent on recruiting and training personnel
- Reduces human error
- Saves you time, effort and money in case of a false alarm
- Quick response to incidents
- Prevents damage or loss of life