ADT
ADT secures welfare staff: Security experts use CONTACT to automate checks on guards at a large welfare agency.
Maintaining communications with a workforce scattered the length
and breadth of the country can be challenging at the best of times,
but when those workers could potentially find themselves subject to
physical violence, staying in regular contact is essential. For
international security company ADT, keeping its guards safe is an
extremely high priority.
When improved contact is combined with increased productivity
and significant cost savings you have a success story, and it's one
that is now being rolled out to other parts of ADT's business.
Switching from voice calls to an automated SMS messaging system
has paid off almost immediately for the New Zealand branch of the
firm. The company uses Datasquirt's contact management solution
CONTACT™ to automate its hourly welfare checks on guards deployed
at New Zealand's largest welfare agency. The Department of Work and
Income (WINZ) has offices throughout the country, managing a wide
range of benefits and pensions as well as providing job placement
services and community programmes.
Reducing risks to staff
Martyn Miller, the ADT manager of welfare, dispatch, noise
control manager and manned services help desks, says regular
welfare checks are necessary because guards are at heightened
risk. "They are there to act as adeterrent
and to protect WINZ personnel.People can become very
disgruntled when they do not receive what they
believe they are entitled to."
He says that in the past WINZ guards were expected to phone
the company every hour on the hour. Now they send text-message
codes to let ADT know their current status.
Miller says ADT normally carries out between 72,000 and 92,000
welfare checks each month; the number rising to 100,000 in
December. So switching from voice calls to text messages, which are
cheaper, delivered immediate cost savings to the company's phone
bill. That was only the start of the benefits. He says because
CONTACT automates message handling, fewer contact centre staff are
needed to handle the incoming texts, which also means lower costs.
To aid administration, guard rosters are programmed into CONTACT,
allowing ADT's human resource department to collect information
directly from the system.
In the past WINZ guards were expected to phone the company
every hour on the hour. Now they send text-message codes to let ADT
know their current status.
The speed of the SMS system also means guards are safer.
Automatic processing of SMS messages takes considerably less time,
so when something exceptional occurs, the company can respond
faster.
Working smarter
More recently, ADT has extended its use of CONTACT and SMS
messaging to improve the way it responds to noise complaints on
behalf of several Auckland Councils. Here SMS technology has
replaced a system where faxes were sent out in batches, boosting
the company's ability to respond to nuisance calls, report back on
the results of its actions and monitor performance.
Miller says noise control staff are contacted every few minutes
when they are on the premises dealing with a complaint - these
events have the potential to get nasty very quickly. "Now we work a
lot smarter and we're able to identify where there are roadblocks,"
he says.
ADT is now in the process of rolling out its CONTACT-based SMS
guard monitoring system to security patrols who respond to alarms
and the company's cash couriers who transport large sums of
money.
Key solution features/benefits
- Improved contact means improved safety
- Significant cost reductions by working smarter
- Greater productivity by better job allocation
- Simplified administration and performance management.
About ADT
ADT New Zealand is a subsidiary of Tyco Fire and Security and is
part of the world's largest electronic security business. The
company's range of products and services include guards and
patrols, alarm systems and integrated security applications which
link access control, CCTV, electronic article surveillance and
source-tagging systems. In New Zealand, the company provides
security for some of the nation's largest properties and retail
outlets, as well as government buildings and healthcare facilities.
ADT also supplies contracted security services to local government
bodies. For more information please visit www.adtsecurity.co.nz
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