The COPS Monitoring In this issue ALARMWATCH Video Services Reduce false dispatches by 67% with eCancel & MYALARM.CHAT You might be using POTS in your Third Party Services Improving notifications with SMS What you need to know about new ANSI Standard TMA-AVS-01 SYNERGY Conference: A new experience that will benefit your business! I S S U E 41 March / April 2023 VIDEO SERVICES TO BOOST YOUR RMR & PRIORITIZE RESPONSE READ ONLINE
ALARMWATCH VIDEO SERVICES BOOST YOUR RMR, REDUCE FALSE ALARMS, & PRIORITIZE RESPONSE1 ...and more! AI / Video Analytics 3 Artificial intelligence (AI) enhances video services by detecting specific objects such as people, vehicles, animals, guns and other specific situations to prioritize response or control false alarms and associated costs. Professionally Monitored Video Services – (Dispatcher-verified) 3 Video Alarm Verification: Video clips triggered by alarm devices or access control systems are viewed by a live dispatcher before responding. 3 Interactive VideoMonitoring: Advanced technology in cameras or supporting equipment detects activity and alerts live dispatcher who analyzes the event and responds. 3 Virtual Guard Tours: Dispatcher will tour a site's cameras in real-time at preset or random intervals. Talk down and PTZ controls are also available. 3 Audio Talk Down: Pre-recorded or live audio to the premises. 3 Virtual Guardian: Clients initiate contact with live dispatcher via two-way audio devices or by phone to receive real-time communication and virtual guard and provide necessary support, if required. 3 Virtual Doorman: Live dispatcher replaces or augments onpremises security guard or concierge services utilizing video, two-way audio, and remote-activated relays. 3 Gate Entry/Exit Control: Similar to Virtual Doorman, live dispatcher responds in real-time to calls/intercoms and uses video devices, two-way audio and remote relays to verify and allow entry/exit to and from a protected site. 3 E-Care/Camera Health Check: Receive notifications when cameras go offline. 3 Compatibility: ALARMWATCH video services are compatible with more than 200+ cameras, DVRs, and other equipment. Ask your Account Executive for details. 3 Future ready: ALARMWATCH is built on a platform that can leverage the best emerging video technology. Professionally monitored video features. Options will vary by provider or compatible equipment. Monitored video has been around for a while, but the technology to proactively identify threats and prioritize response at a reasonable rate is relatively new. ALARMWATCH integrates with the most advanced video technologies from some of the best names in the business to boost your RMR, reduce false alarms, & prioritize response. SCAN TO EMAIL 1 For more information on priority response, read the TMA-AVS-01 article in this Bulletin, or visit ppvar.org and tma.us PPVAR TMA Contact your Account Executive or Dealer Support to learn more about the professionally monitored video options available.
ARE YOU STILL USING POTS? If you're using third party services, you might be. Copper wire, or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), is an aging infrastructure. Telco providers have attempted to save costs by converting some or all of the communication pathways to VOIP, but these changes can complicate signal transmission. In August 2022, the FCC ended regulations requiring telecom companies to provide landline services, effectively speeding up this process. While we're confident you are aware of this and are now using cellular and IP, you may not realize you are still utilizing POTS for a portion of your signal delivery. Third party providers, such as Alarm.com, Telguard, and Uplink to name a few, offer different methods of signal forwarding from their Network Operations Centers (NOC) to the monitoring center. During setup with the third-party services, many dealers entered their toll free or local dial-up receiver phone numbers for signal forwarding. Now they may be unaware that they are still using this method, or that there are other faster, more reliable paths available. We recommend checking these settings in your third party's portal and updating any receiver dial-up-numbers to IP forwarding. To find out more about this, we recommend contacting your provider. If you need assistance, please reach out to our Dealer Support team at 800-367-8798, or via email at dsupport@copsmonitoring.com! Studies suggest 9 out of 10 people want businesses to connect with them via SMS (text message). Those same studies indicate that consumers consider voicemails cumbersome and inconvenient. SMS is a fast and reliable way to communicate, messages can be saved for future reference, and they are easily forwarded. To improve customer satisfaction, we will soon begin sending SMS messages when we are unable to make contact on verification or notification calls. We will call numbers just as we do now, however, if we are unable to reach someone (voicemail/no answer, etc.), we will hang up and immediately send an SMS with the same information would have given over the phone or in voicemail: • Calling on behalf of [Dealer Name] • Date/time of Signal • Subscriber Name • Address • Event Condition In addition, each SMS will contain link that will open a secure landing page that will contain all of the information above, plus: • A message that states: "If this is a false alarm, please call [Central Dispatch Number].” Smartphones convert phone numbers to a link, allowing your customers and RPs to reach the monitoring center with a single touch. • Updates to the event such as verification attempts, whether a passcode was given, if authorities were dispatched, and optionally, the customer service number for your company. SMS not only improves user experience, but also adds functionality! To improve the way ALL messages are delivered to RPs starting today, you can convert notifications from 'phone' to 'text' on MPower by checking the box next to the individual numbers in the RP list [more info links will not be immediately available]. If you’d like, we can convert your entire customer base. Contact Dealer Support for details! SCAN TO EMAIL SCAN TO EMAIL
Electronic Cancel 67% Until recently, the only way customers could prevent false dispatches after an alarm was to answer their phone and give a correct passcode. The challenge is even with Enhanced Call Verification, customers don't always answer the phone when we call to verify their alarm – resulting in false dispatches, potential fines, and unhappy customers. Today, customers prefer electronic services like Electronic Cancel (EC) & MYALARM.CHAT because they can reduce false dispatches by up to 67% right from their alarm keypad with EC or from their smartphones using MYALARM.CHAT. THE CONTROL YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT Both eCancel and MYALARM.CHAT are available to all COPS dealers at NO COST TO YOU. Visit copsmonitoring.com/chatdemo for details on MYALARM.CHAT and to learn how to add chat services to your accounts. If you have questions, need assistance, or would like us to add eCancel and Chat to all of your accounts for you, please contact Dealer Support. 250,000 subscribers are already using Electronic Cancel and MYALARM.CHAT and have reduced false alarms by an astounding 67% THE CHOICE IS CLEAR Percentage of dispatches with and without eCancel and MYALARM.CHAT without enhanced false dispatch prevention technologies with Electronic Cancel and IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & RETENTION BY REDUCING FALSE DISPATCHES FEWER FALSE DISPATCHES, HAPPIER CUSTOMERS, and BETTER USE OF EMERGENCY RESOURCES SCAN FOR DEMO DO YOU WANT ARTICLES IN YOUR EMAIL? We occasionally email articles like the one above as well as other important announcements on products, services, webinars, and events. We hope you are receiving them, but if you're not, we may not have your email address or the permission to send you emails. To be sure, please subscribe at copsmonitoring.com/subscribe to make sure that you're included in future announcements. Subscribe as many email addresses as you like! SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE COMING SOON! The industry's best dealer access is about to get a fresh new look! The clean new layout is not only more modern and easier to use, it also has better functionality. MPower 2.0 is completely 'responsive' and will automatically adjust to all screen sizes, which means you'll have the same tools in the office and on the go. Look for the update in the coming months.
Your retransmit... LEARN HOWANSI STANDARD TMA-AVS-01 WILL IMPACT RESPONSE PRIORITIES SCAN TO VISIT We feel it's important to notify you of a new standard developed by The Monitoring Association (TMA) in cooperation with law enforcement called TMA-AVS-01 that will redefine how alarms are prioritized. Currently, there is no industry standard on how alarms are reported to Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs or PSAPs). The goal of TMA-AVS-01 is to provide a standardized method of alarm scoring or classification metric for unauthorized human activity detected by alarm systems. In short, TMA-AVS-01 establishes standardized methods for calculating an alarm score, or classification level, that results in a repeatable metric that estimates the validity or potential threat level of a burglar alarm activation using historical and real-time data. Essentially, monitoring centers will use the data they receive from an alarm to report a standardized scoring metric that grades the probability and type of unauthorized activity at a protected premises. Today, a typical alarm system with no cameras, audio or additional information would be scored at a Level 1. Additional information from the subscriber, audio, cameras, or other equipment would be cause for higher priorities and help authorities determine the best response. The intent of standardized scoring is to help give lawenforcement better situational awareness,make thembetter prepared for verified alarms, increase the potential for apprehensions, and to make better use of emergency resources overall. The takeaway? More information (such as video) could translate to higher priorities from your customers' alarms. For more information on TMA-AVS-01, visit: tma.us. Alarm Level 1 Call for Service with limited to no additional information 1 Alarm Level 2 Call for Service with confirmed or ‘highly probable’ human presence with unknown intent 2 Alarm Level 3 Call for Service with confirmed threat to property 3 Alarm Level 4 Call for Service with confirmed threat to life 4 TMA COPS Monitoring is both fortunate and proud to be a part of the SYNERGY Conference, a new and different type of event. WHAT IS THE SYNERGY CONFERENCE? Simply put, the SYNERGY Conference expands on the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. In other words, individual pieces by themselves cannot realize the same outcomes as they can operating cooperatively. The same would go for dealers, vendors, and professional monitoring. We not only rely on each other to exist, but it’s only by working together that we can all realize certain SYNERGIES that help us reach our full potential of protecting customers and growing our businesses. So far, we have sponsored two SYNERGY Conferences: Orlando, Florida in late 2022 and Dallas, Texas in January 2023. COPS Monitoring had the exciting opportunity to be the monitoring sponsor for the SYNERGY Conference. These are 1-day interactive events with sessions led by industry leaders on topics like new technology, video, legal, marketing, fire, reducing attrition, and other important subjects you need to maximize the value of your business. If you'd like to see a sample program, visit synergyconference.com and view the schedule for the event in Dallas. We’re happy to report that the next SYNERGY Conference will be held this fall in the Philadelphia area, not too far from our New Jersey Headquarters. We're also fortunate to be the monitoring sponsor and will be presenting some powerful information that can benefit your business. The SYNERGY Conference website will be updated with the fall event information soon, but you can use the form to register now. Admission is free, and we'd love to see you there!
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU4NTY=