mobile data collection

The Demise of the “Magic Wand” and Rise of Doing More with Less

by Andrew Davidson on May 17, 2012

We would like to thank Andrew Davidson, the Channel Development Manager for TotalMobile, for contributing to the PPM Blog as a guest author. TotalMobile is a PPM 2000 technology and integration partner that specializes in providing cutting edge mobile applications to various private enterprises, as well as public safety, healthcare and government organizations. Their security apps for guard tours, post orders, BOLO, incident capture and inspections allow in-the-field personnel to capture information and instantly relay it to back-office systems, such as Perspective by PPM 2000, saving on processing paperwork, travel costs and operative time.

Over the past decade, the Guard Tour process has been dominated by wand-based systems. The “magic wand” is carried by an officer and plugs into pre-determined wand outlets, providing post verification to a supervisor. Officers are in turn forced to add additional equipment to their tool belt and depend on another piece of hardware to complete their jobs.

Question: Would an officer be happier and more efficient carrying less equipment; being able to do more with less?

What the average person carries in their “tool belt” has changed significantly over the past 10 years: a map for directions, a camera to take pictures, a CD player for music and paper to jot down notes. The evolution of the mobile device has definitely simplified the average person’s life; allowing for on demand GPS directions, high resolution pictures of the family with a swipe of the finger, your favorite music on-the-go and a grocery list that is never lost.

The next logical step is to apply this methodology to security and the Guard Tour process, allowing officers to do more with less. Replacing a “magic wand” with a mobile device will not only allow an officer to capture location verification via the latest technology, NFC (Near Field Communications), but also eliminate the clip board of forms, capture images in the field, receive real time updates and access mission critical data in the back-office system.

Prediction: With the evolution of mobile devices, the demise of the “magic wand” is inevitable.

For more information on TotalMobile’s security apps and their integration with Perspective:

Watch this quick intro video…

Request this webinar recording on Empowering Officers and Investigators with Real-Time Incident Management…

Or… contact your Account Manager at information@ppm2000.com.

—Andrew Davidson, Channel Development Manager, TotalMobile Inc.

The Importance of Mobility

by Brian McIlravey, CPP on February 2, 2012

the importance of mobile incident data capture abilitiesYesterday I hosted the PPM webinar, ‘Empowering Officers and Investigators with Real-Time Incident Management—Introducing Mobility Options for In-the-Field Data Capture & Retrieval.’ Back when we started working on our mobile applications and had moved into the test and release phase, I thought “wow, this is really cool and easy to use,” but it wasn’t until I started putting the presentation together for this webinar that I realized just how important this function is to security and investigative personnel.

To start, I needed to come up with some basics for the webinar such as “what’s the benefit?” The answer to that question easily became intelligence and efficiency.

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Brian McIlravey Announced as a Guest Speaker for Upcoming TotalMobile Solutions Webinar

by Cora Bolianatz on April 15, 2011

PPM’s Co-CEO, Brian McIlravey, CPP, is currently in high demand! Brian has recently been lined up by a few of our partners to speak at their upcoming webinars. One of these speaking engagements is happening next week. TotalMobile Solutions, a leading global provider of mobility solutions to the public sector market, will be hosting a webinar on April 20th at 2:00 PM EST.

The webinar, entitled Public Safety Mobile Solution, showcases the latest features and benefits of the newest Public Safety Mobile Solution from TotalMobile and will highlight a case study from Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

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Commissionaires BC Extends Perspective Beyond the Desk Into Mobile Patrols

by Brian McIlravey, CPP on March 30, 2011

Commissionaires Extend Perspective Incident Reporting Software into Mobile Patrols

Source: Commissionaires

A recent press release issued by the Commissionaires BC illustrates how a committed joint partnership can lead to successful results in meeting a client’s need.

A few months ago, Darrel O’Shaughnessy and his team from the Commissionaires BC, approached PPM with the idea of making Perspective SaaS mobile for their patrols. The Commissionaires BC, who look after various aspects of the City of Kelowna’s security including the airport, had been using Perspective for tracking incidents and liked its power but wanted to extend it beyond the ‘desk’ and put that power in the hands of their officers.

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