COUGAR MONITORING LTD ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH CALLMY
29 July 2021 – Kings Secure Technologies group company, Cougar Monitoring Ltd has announced it has signed a strategic partnership with leading provider of secure app-based lone working and mass notification services, Callmy. The partnership allows Cougar to extend its service capability by offering Callmy’s full portfolio of lone working and mass notification services to its clients.
The partnership opens up a new and innovative solution to Cougar’s clients, who range from the Health, Logistics, Education, Finance and Retail sectors. Clients are now able to reinforce their response to business continuity events, Health & Safety compliance, civil contingencies and aid their organisational resilience using Callmy Alert as a means of emergency communication. Applications include:
Technology creates many shortcuts in our day to day lives, making things more enjoyable and work more efficient; however, in times of crisis the right tech to deploy for a rapid response becomes imperative. For the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps), a charity that deploys trained volunteers during emergencies, there was a need to move away from an inefficient patchwork of calls, WhatsApp and text messages to a more effective and efficient solution, and so it adopted a UK innovation called Callmy Alert.
The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is a charity of 150 professionally trained female volunteers, who need to deploy quickly to staff operations rooms and incident lines in the event of a crisis. It is a crucial cog in the resilience measures of the capital’s civil and military authorities – such as the City of London Police, Ministry of Defence, London Coroners and the London Local Authorities’ Panel.
Callmy is pleased to announce it has been awarded the BS8484:2016 standard for its lone working application.
For any service provider it’s important to be able to demonstrate their credentials. Potential customers need to know the standards they can expect and existing customers need to know how they can hold suppliers to account. This is especially true when it comes to protecting people in their everyday working lives and vital for lone worker services.
Setting a new standard
BS8484 is the British Standard for the provision of lone worker services. In 2009, the British Standards Institution (BSI) introduced BS8484 to set a benchmark for those who provide lone worker safety services. To keep pace with developments, particularly in the technology underpinning these services, the BSI reviewed and updated BS8484 in 2016. As a result, the new BS8484:2016 standard was launched, which now acts as a code of practice to providers of lone worker services.
Working with the emergency services
To achieve compliance with the standard, providers must be able to demonstrate to auditors that they meet all requirements. This includes basic issues such as the management structure of their organisation, financial stability, adequate insurance and robust data protection and privacy policies.
Ultimately, the BS8484 review benefited lone workers and their employers, and improved relations between lone worker safety solution providers and the
Callmy Ltd is delighted to announce it has been selected as a Crown Commercial Service supplier and Callmy Alert can now be procured through the G-Cloud 12 framework.
What is G-Cloud?
The G-Cloud initiative is designed to help the UK Government procure cloud computing services, including cloud hosting services, cloud software and cloud support services through the Digital Market Place. Companies that join the framework must offer the very highest security standards and undergo rigorous audits.
The Digital Marketplace, and all the frameworks included in it, is managed by the Crown Commercial Service, an executive agency and trading fund of the Cabinet Office of the UK Government. Their role is to improve the government’s commercial and procurement activity.
Callmy announce they are now an integration partner with Monitor Computer Systems
Monitor Computer Systems Ltd has been a premier supplier of the Sentinel alarm monitoring system to the UK and international markets since its founding in 1984. Their customers include major security companies, local authorities, telecoms companies, financial institutions and police authorities.
Sentinel has the ability to simultaneously monitor an organisation’s security equipment and systems, providing single point of management and control. Currently around 600,000 live signalling systems are monitored to the relevant British, European and US standards with software provided by Monitor Computer Systems.
The Callmy Alert SOS service is part of this portfolio and will offer Sentinel users the ability to triage Callmy Alert SOS activations and provide a new managed service option for our Lone Working capability.
The Callmy Alert personal SOS app enables organisations to comply with Health and Safety legislation whilst also looking after the wellbeing and welfare of their staff. The app is a great alternative to hardware based solutions and has the scope to introduce significant cost savings too!
Users can set a timer, in the app, that automatically activates their SOS alert if it is not cancelled. Alternatively, users can manually activate their Callmy Alert SOS if they are in a dangerous situation.
The activation instantly notifies a response team who can view the user’s contact details and locate them via their precise GPS coordinates. The end user can also be tracked to help direct security staff or the emergency services.
Additionally, the response team can access the microphone on the end users device, whilst the SOS is active, to listen to ambient noise at the scene – this helps to mobilise the most appropriate response.
All SOS usage and activation data is securely stored for audit and evidential purposes.
We are pleased to welcome new customers who have recently chosen the Callmy Alert Mass Notification and Lone Working capabilities.
These include:
HMRC, who have integrated Callmy Alert with their security equipment to automate the delivery of emergency messages. This will also improve the mobilisation of their key responders.
Hartpury University are implementing the Callmy Alert Mass Notification and SOS services. These will enhance lockdown/evacuation procedures and offer students a means to “call for help” if they are in threatening situations.
Callmy Alert has also been chosen by Christians Against Poverty and we are delighted to support this worthwhile organisation.
Please contact us to discuss your requirements or to arrange a demonstration of Callmy Alert in action.
ISO 22301, the standard for Business Continuity Management, emphasises the need for a well-defined incident response structure.
This ensures that when incidents occur, responses are escalated in a timely manner and people are empowered to take the necessary actions to be effective – section 8.4.3 of the standard details the requirements for a communication and warning system.
Callmy Alert is the idea service to support your Business Continuity communication and to ensure compliance. It is a simple to use service and provides a complete audit of all message activity and response – vital to help assess how situations were resolved and to refine future plans.
Covid-19 will probably mean business continuity plans will be reappraised and this could also be a great opportunity to consider how emergency communication can now be evolved.
Please contact usto discuss your requirements or to arrange a demonstration of Callmy Alert in action.
We are pleased to welcome new customers who have recently adopted the Callmy Alert Mass Notification and Lone Working capabilities.
These include West Midlands Ambulance Service, who are using Callmy Alert as a means of emergency communication for Lone Workers in their IT department and Sedex who have deployed Callmy Alert globally to underpin their response to Business Continuity situations.
Bolton Council have also recently replaced an outdated SMS broadcast system with Callmy Alert – favouring the improved performance and added security of the service, as well as the additional cost savings that have been introduced. The Council will use Callmy Alert for Civil Contingency response and to aid their organisational resilience.
Callmy are pleased to announce they are sponsoring the HEBCoN 2020 Conference.
HEBCoN’s mission is to promote and enhance the ability of Higher Education Institutions to identify and manage their risks, withstand and respond to disruptive events; maintaining the delivery of critical services to students through the sharing & promotion of best practice in risk management, emergencyplanning and business continuity.
Callmy will be discussing how their services support the communications required for effective emergency response, the delivery of Business Continuity and to aid compliance with BS22301.