A percentage of false dispatches today are caused by the inability of the monitoring center to reach those on the emergency call list who can verify if there is a user error or no need to send help based on their unique knowledge of the circumstances at that time. Rapid Response Monitoring, a professional monitoring services provider, announced the upcoming release of a solution that has already achieved significant results. 

“Over the past five years, we have seen the percentage of calls answered by contacts on a call list drop to an average of 30 percent,” said Spencer Moore, vice president of sales & marketing for Rapid Response. “This means multiple calls have to be made and critical time is wasted, resulting in unnecessary dispatches.” 

This situation outlined by Moore causes a financial burden to first responders and many times results in a fine to the owner of the alarm system. A false dispatch can also unnecessarily create the chance for injury as first responders are responding as quickly as possible to the emergency. 

“An increasing number of call list contacts have elected to be contacted by text message,” Moore said. “Those that have elected for text messages have responded more than 70 percent of the time, resulting in a significant reduction in false alarms. We are encouraged by this and its impact on false alarms which are dangerous, expensive, frustrating and cause attrition across the industry. Our goal is to significantly reduce false alarms with improved customer communication. It is for this reason that we developed rapidSMS.” 

rapidSMS is a service that notifies you instantly of an alarm, providing an app-like experience via text message, which allows you to make critical decisions in real-time. No app is required, and all mobile devices are fully supported. 

“Rapid Response was expecting to release rapidSMS at ISC West, however, this solution is too important to postpone,” Moore said. “We have already seen a 40 percent reduction in the occurrence of false alarms during the beta testing phase. We are hosting a digital premiere event on April 2 at 2 p.m. EDT rather than waiting for the show.” 

A registration link for the digital premiere can be found on Rapid Response Monitoring’s LinkedIn page by searching @rapidresponsemonitoring.