Customised personal security app for your workforce

Issue 4 2020 Editor's Choice

The COVID-19 virus and the harsh reactions from governments all around the world have thrown a spanner into almost every aspect of the economy, including the security industry. And while many companies are struggling to maintain a positive outlook and keep the wheels turning, some are looking forward to changing the way the industry works as soon as we revert to some form of normality.

One company that is ready for the post-lockdown future is Zecure, headed by Gordon Knight, who was also behind PanicGuard, a white label ‘personal security’ mobile platform – www.panicguard.com – which assisted the FirstRand Group in creating a personal safety app for its employees – read about it here.

Zecure takes the idea of app-based security to the business world. Organisations of any size can sign up for the app, which will contain their logo and be branded as their own. The app can be given to the employees of a company or residents of an estate, for example, and they will have a suite of applications on hand to cater to their personal security needs. This can range from a personal panic button, a way to communicate with the control room, and even having an armed response unit dispatched to their location. Knight says the app has been designed to allow for any number of clients, each with their own branding and suite of solutions.

In an emergency, Zecure has contracted with Aura, South Africa’s largest national ‘on-demand armed response network’ (more about Aura here), for armed response services. Currently, Aura’s network has around 1200 active armed response vehicles and 3600 armed response officers around the country.

The app handles all the client’s security needs, including communications and even mass communication in an emergency – such as having to evacuate a building. Individual users can also make use of the app to communicate with security personnel if they see something suspicious. Anonymous reports can be sent to the control room, along with data such as a timestamp, GPS coordinates, images, etc.

Zecure has been designed to meet customers’ needs and Knight says getting the system up and running will take about 30 minutes. Clients simply send a list of their employees in CSV format to have them loaded onto the system and assigned access credentials. They then download the app and sign in, and will be presented with an app that looks as if it was designed specifically for their company.

And while Zecure is aimed at the business world, if there is a demand from consumers, the company may look into launching a personal version under a different brand.

As it is, the Zecure ecosystem is ready to offer organisations of any size a customised and branded personal security app for their staff members (or anyone the organisation wants to protect). These organisations pay a monthly fee for the service based on the number of people they are securing, leaving the infrastructure issues up to the team at Zecure and the armed response responsibilities up to the Aura network.


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