How cloud-based alarm management supports PLANPROTECT growth

PLANPROTECT's business model relies on a digital guard in the form of a state-of-the-art emergency call and service control center and trained staff, which checks incoming alarms within seconds and takes immediate action in the event of a real alarm. PLANPROTECT has won over 4,000 customers in the last seven years with this innovative service and future-proof technology concept. Since there is hardly any way around a cloud solution in security technology these days, it was now time to take the next step for PLANPROTECT together with evalink.

Challenges

Which expectations should an alarm-receiving technology and its provider meet?

As an emergency call and service control center with an alarm receiving point planned and implemented according to the latest requirements and guidelines, PLANPROTECT has defined these four points as guidelines as necessary in its decision-making process:

1. Scalability

Since the new emergency call and service center in Mönchengladbach was expected to grow rapidly, finding a solution that could grow along with it was paramount. Implementing a cloud solution offers outstanding opportunities to scale the resources without having to renew the system regularly. Scalability should therefore be ensured at all levels. This not only refers to alarm reception but also the reception modules, hazard management systems, and data servers.

2. "Fit for future" & integration opportunities

In the recent past, the security industry has experienced several changes in security technology, from analog via ISDN to IP-based approaches. The next big shift that is taking place right now is toward cloud-based platforms.

The advantages are striking: Owning data centers and receiving technology is no longer necessary. The platforms are periodically reviewed by IT experts regarding security, availability, and scalability and are equipped with new integrations.

The fitness of a control center is evident in its capabilities to integrate. Customers want their video, audio, access control, and building systems integrated into the security circuits. A real challenge for traditional hazard management systems. Quite different from cloud-based alarm management platforms like evalink, which offer various possibilities for integrations. The evalink marketplace provides a wide range of integrations of well-known protocols, such as the VdS2465 or the SecurIP, amongst other systems.

3. Efficiency

PLANPROTECT attached great importance to the fact that the operability is intuitive and straightforward. The alarm processing is very expeditious, and new employees can be introduced to their tasks quickly.

4. Certifiability

Emergency call and service centers have a substantial responsibility toward their customers. Consequently, certified services and products following current guidelines and specifications of standards like EN 50518 and EN 50136 are essential. The certifiability of the services provides the customer with certainty regarding the quality and fulfills necessary verification obligations.

Solution

Back to the roots thanks to cloud-based automation by evalink. PLANPROTECT aimed to obtain the increasing technological complexity as a service from the cloud to focus on their core competencies, such as alarm processing and customer consulting of a control center. In an ideal world, automation would also help to speed up processes further and disburden the emergency call and service center staff.

This is where evalink jumped in: Uniting all criteria that PLANPROTECT had set up for changing their operations to a cloud-based alarm management solution, evalink attended and supported PLANPROTECT successfully on their journey to becoming the first cloud-based emergency call and service center in Germany being VdS certified.

Results

Innovative control center with cloud-based alarm management platform is now VdS certified

"Through precise pre-planning and good and smooth cooperation, we succeeded in having PLANPROTECT Service GmbH certified as a cloud-based emergency call and service center, the first control center in Germany. In March 2021, the successful certification as an emergency call and service center according to VdS 3138 and as an AES according to DIN EN 50518 occurred in connection with evalink and the data room. The fact that evalink was already fully certified by Sitasys accelerated the certification process considerably," said Sven Peine, Managing Director of PLANPROTECT Service GmbH.

Vanderbilt SPC & FlexC protocol

In becoming a cloud-based ARC, the commissioning of Vanderbilt SPC intrusion detection systems for PLANPROTECT customers was vital to ensure PLANPROTECT's business model with evalink. Vanderbilt systems use the FlexC protocol, a proprietary protocol, especially in combination with real-time monitoring and alarm verification by listening, speaking, and seeing into the object. Sitasys, a software development company, implemented the FlexC protocol with audio and video transmission. Several iterations and test phases were necessary for the perfect implementation. Alarm transmission with the FlexC protocol now works excellently, stably, and seamlessly integrated into the user interface of evalink.

Progressive transparency

Various time stamps, log levels S1 to S8 (timestamps according to VdS3138 in real-time), make it possible to trace exactly who set the time stamp, when, and at what level. The log levels are the basis for clean service level agreements (SLAs). Furthermore, regular evaluations make the work traceable and offer approaches for process optimization. Automated action plans allow services to be customized for customers. Certain events can thus be accepted or rejected directly by the customer. The emergency call and service center always remains at a fallback level.

AI for a better organized tomorrow? Enabling future innovation today

"We are gathering initial experience with artificial intelligence (AI) support, particularly in video activation. The AI analyzes the video data and can thus support the security guard in daily work. For example, it draws his attention to where relevant information might be visible in the image. For example, there is further potential for mass triggering in severe weather. Here, AI can help analyze and catalog the flood of incoming messages," said Sven Peine, Managing Director of PLANPROTECT Service GmbH.

evalink PDF importer enables faster import of data

A migration to a new alarm management system always means importing data, such as names, addresses, and action plans. Usually, this is a tedious and manual task. Sitasys offers several automated import options for this purpose. For PLANPROTECT, the evalink PDF importer was the ideal solution. It allowed us to import all data in high quality in a short time.

A new cloud-based control center for PLANPROTECT

At the new location in Mönchengladbach, a modern cloud-based control center was created that fits perfectly into PLANPROTECT's innovative concept. A fresh start without legacy issues because in the Nordpark in Mönchengladbach, the control center of the newly founded PLANPROTECT Service GmbH moved into a completely redesigned building that meets the requirements of the emergency call and service center.

More time for core tasks

Cloud-based alarm management offers many advantages; on the one hand, utilizing the highly available technology in the external data centers with certified security; on the other, because of the possibilities of its flexible structure and simple creation of own action plans and individual services. After all, it's not the technology that makes the difference but what you create with it. The employees are relieved by automation in the emergency call and service center. They can dedicate themselves to their core competence, such as the personal processing of events and customer contact.