FOCUS Developments in Public Safety Software
be even more essential for identifying and closing knowledge gaps. With this in mind, NextGen Quality Assurance Solu- tions, such as NICE Inform, enable PSAPs to review and as- sess a telecommunicator’s quality of response involving all forms of incoming data, including 911 calls, text, video, radio communications, and GIS. Supervisors can easily identify knowledge gaps and pro-
vide continuous coaching, guidance and reinforcement over time to ensure telecommunicators are profi cient with new systems. Supervisors can also track how well telecommuni- cators are acquiring new skills and adhering to procedures re- lated to Text-to-911 and NG 911. This is not only important in providing the public with a high standard of service, but also to ensure compliance with a growing number of regulations such as CALEA, APCO P33, and future NENA standards as they gain momentum. Finally, QA reporting provides essential information on
trends, resource utilization, and overall performance so that PSAPs can make smarter and more effi cient staffi ng deci- sions. Next-generation QA systems can provide managers insights into the quality and productivity of the PSAP and each staff member. Supervisors can drill down to results for each QA metric, on both a group and individual basis.
Trend #4: Mobile Apps As the use of smartphones and other mobile devices becomes more prevalent, we’ve grown accustomed to ‘capturing [and sharing] the moment’ on these devices using various apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter. We instinctively reach for our phones to share this information with others. But what if these same instincts could also help facilitate real- time information sharing during an unfolding incident? Some companies are now offering mobile apps that enable
fi rst responders, security personnel, or just about anyone to communicate multimedia incident information. There are dif- ferent variations on the app, but essentially it allows users to send an alert about an event, along with location informa- tion (X, Y, Z coordinates), and even images and videos of an incident scene. The logic behind this seems to be that if responders know
about a situation sooner and have access to rich, accurate, real-time information on the ‘what, where, when and why,’ situational awareness goes up and response time goes down. Such mobile apps will be invaluable to cities, PSAPs, govern- ment and private organizations, and even ordinary citizens. While NG911 will empower citizens to communicate with
911 centers in new ways, these apps, powered by public safety broadband and other delivery mechanisms, will extend multimedia communications even further, unlocking real- time collaboration and data fl ow far beyond the capacities of spoken communication.
Trend #5: Hosted Solutions Finally, we all use Internet hosted solutions every day— Gmail, Hotmail, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to name a few. For business applications, think Web collabo- ration tools (like WebEx), customer-relationship management
30 LAW and ORDER I May 2014
solutions (like Salesforce), enterprise-resource planning (ERP) software, and marketing automation software (like Marketo). So what of Public Safety? According to a recent research by Stratus Technologies
(Nov. 2013), 28 percent of PSAP surveyed are running or planning to run critical and non-critical apps in the cloud. PSAPs are giving hosted and cloud-based solutions a serious look and there are good reasons why. First, they can save money by combining funds to purchase systems that accommodate the needs of multiple sites at a fraction of what it would otherwise cost to purchase dupli- cate systems. They can even pay as they go rather than having to fi nd funding for large investments/capital expenses. VoIP E-911 and Computer Aided Dispatch have been avail-
able in hosted confi gurations for a few years now, although not with widespread adoption. Using NICE Inform, PSAPs can host their IP recordings and other multimedia at a cen- tral site and securely access this information over a shared IP network, eliminating technology duplication. NG911 (based on the NENA i3 standard) is going to make
hosted solutions a more viable option for every PSAP. That’s because the NENA’s i3 standard is based on an Emergency Services IP network (ESInet) that will be shared across all Public Safety agencies. In addition to being the future mecha- nism for delivering Next Gen emergency calls, the ESInet will also lay the foundation for agencies to interconnect at local, regional, state, and national levels—and share applications. This means that instead of procuring alone, agencies con-
nected by a regional ESInet will be able to combine their pur- chasing power to invest in shared hosted solutions. These solutions could be implemented using dedicated equipment (a “private cloud”) hosted at one centralized site, or sold to participating agencies by the 911 system provider in the form of software as a service (SaaS). Today, a PSAP might source its 911 system from one com-
pany, its CAD system from another and its recording solution from yet another, but these and other solutions likely will be bundled and sold as software services in the future. This makes it possible to offer different applications to different users on the network. For example, one PSAP may need to log only audio calls,
while another may also need to log Text-to-911 communi- cations, and another might want to add speech analytics. Hosted service providers will be able to offer a menu of solu- tions for PSAPs to choose from, ranging from call processing to GIS to workforce management. Such economies of scale will put richer functionality and resiliency within the reach of every PSAP. Reader Service Number 205
Diamond Chafl awee is Director of Marketing and Business Development for Public Safety sector for NICE Systems, Inc. Diamond developed the NICE Inform technology, which provides an automated way for 911 centers to manage and reproduce multimedia information.
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