Protection 1 enhances eSuite data analytics platform

CHICAGO—Protection 1's eSuite 2.0, the latest version of its data analytics/reporting platform for commercial customers, has a number of new features including mobile device capability.

“We previewed it at ASIS and had it in beta, and now it's available for all commercial customers, national, regional and local,” Lisa Ciappetta, Protection 1 senior director of marketing, told Security Systems News.

The platform notifies business owners and managers of “things that need to be looked at to manage the day-to-day operations,” Ciappetta said. The platform uses easy-to-read “exception-based reporting” graphics so “important things are immediately brought to [managers'] attention, without a lot of research.”

ESuite is useful for businesses of all sizes, Ciappetta said. Even a one-shop business can be managed remotely from a cellphone or PC, she said. “The more locations you have the more important it is to have a tool to manage [those locations] from one interface,” she said.

The original eSuite was launched five years ago with the goal of providing “actionable data” such as open/close schedules and reports, details of alarm tests, incidents and alarms, and service call request capabilities.

The new features include a mobile design and ability to access the platform from a mobile device; the ability to place a burglar alarm on test and remove from test online; dashboard graphics for police and fire dispatch, service calls, open/close exceptions; communications failure and failed-test timer.

Ciappetta said the open/close exceptions can give the business owner information about several possible scenarios beyond employees forgetting to arm a system, or not opening or closing a business location on time. “If a system is not armed, insurance companies may not cover a loss,” she said.

An exception report along these lines may also indicate a serious problem in a business. “If it's a liquor store or a bank or someplace that has cash on hand … it could be a hostage situation.”

The new platform allows customers to remotely manage their contact information, so employee contacts are always correct. In addition, it provides PIN management, so that a former employee is not able to disarm a system.