Security company delivers value-added services and reduces operating costs with BlackBerry NFC solutionBased in Nottingham, England, Sovereign Security has been delivering security solutions to customers across the East Midlands for over 15 years. Its security services include mobile patrols, key holding, events security and security guards. Sovereign is an approved contractor of the Security Industry Authority, the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the UK.

Key Benefits

• Proof of work with confirmed service level agreements

• Paperless timesheets and scheduling

• Cloud-based, real-time reporting for clients

• BBM Messenger provides instant communications

• Secure infrastructure compliant with government requirements

The ChallengePrivate security is a highly competitive market space. To differentiate itself, Sovereign Security was looking to find a way to add greater value to its services. Darren Brookes, Sovereign Security’s owner, wanted to use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to provide a higher level of service to its clients and also be able to confidently and competently manage the on-going work of a large number of security guards. He was convinced that NFC held the key to streamlining his operations and making the company more efficient. “Anyone can provide a security service. To get the business today you’ve got to go one above that. The way we decided to do this was to implement reporting systems that would make our guards a more valuable asset.”

After surveying the market, Brookes realised that the solution he wanted didn’t exist. So he approached Sero Solutions, a local systems integrator and member of the BlackBerry® Alliance Program. Together the two companies developed an innovative BlackBerry® smartphone, NFC solution for private security.

The SolutionSovereign Security chose the BlackBerry® platform initially because of security. “The security on the BlackBerry is higher than on any other phones and also we work with local governments. They already use BlackBerry and it is something that they are happy with,” says Brookes. The company also quickly realised that BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) would make a reliable secure channel for communicating among guards.

BlackBerry Customer Success Professional Services: Security – NFC and mobile communications

Sero Solutions’ Pretum NFC solution consists of a BlackBerry® smartphone, a BlackBerry app, RFID

tag and cloud-based management and reporting system. The BlackBerry smartphones they use

come equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) transceiver. A special app developed by Sero

Solutions resides on the smartphone. The tags come in a variety of formats, but the most common one

is an adhesive penny-sized RFID tag. When a security guard touches their BlackBerry smartphone

against the tag, the application reads the tag’s unique identifier and sends the tag’s information, along

with the identity of the security guards, to the cloud system.

Sero’s Pretum NFC solution reports the time and location of the security guard. It is used to establish

timesheets and to tell officers where they should be. The supervisor and the client can also monitor the

activities of the guard in real time. But the system’s real strength is the ability to assign alerts to tags.

For example, when an officer reaches a certain location in a warehouse and touches the tag, he can

be prompted to make sure that he is meeting the conditions of the service level agreement. Before the

BlackBerry solution with Sero Pretum, alerts were manual and were not always complied with. With the

arrival of the solution, compliance with alerts shot up to 80%.

The Benefits

Brookes credits the BlackBerry solution with Sero Pretum for helping to reduce his firm’s mobile costs.

“With BBM we no longer send text messages, and all calls and data are included in a fixed price plan.

It’s much more cost effective than what we had before.” Brookes says that his staff wholeheartedly

adopted BBM. “It’s raised morale and made us a community rather than just a bunch of users.”

The solution has also helped save costs in others ways. For example, because all time sheets and reports

are generated using the NFC application, there is less paperwork to do and the firm estimates that it has

lowered fuel costs by 25% and reduced the workload dedicated to processing payroll by 50%.

Sovereign Security’s customers also appreciate the added level of service. Customers consistently say

they are “very satisfied” with Sovereign Security since the arrival of the BlackBerry solution. Take, for

example, the case of property clients. To maintain their insurance coverage, they have to prove that the

property is properly guarded properly. “We’ve set up a system where we can check a property and ask all

the questions the insurance company asks. A report is sent straight to the insurance company to prove

that the checks have been done. The clients absolutely love that feature,” says Brookes.

Finally, in the case of an incident, the camera and voice recording

features of the BlackBerry smartphones have proven to be very

useful. “A security officer can file a report by recording a voice memo

and taking pictures using the BlackBerry,” explains Brookes. “This

information is highly valuable and is reported in real time, so action

can be taken immediately.”

© 2012 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion® and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. Device featured: BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone. This material is provided “AS IS” and without condition, endorsement, guarantee, representation or warranty, or liability of any kind by Research In Motion Limited and its affiliated companies (“RIM”), all of which are expressly disclaimed to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law in your jurisdiction. RIM does not endorse, verify or approve and assumes no liability whatsoever in relation to third parties, third party information and/or products/services that may be referenced in this material, including but not limited to BlackBerry® Alliance Members and their products/services.

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About Sero Solutions

Sero Solutions is a mobile solutions provider that improves the efficiency of professionals by making available information they need in real time, and improving collaboration and information sharing. It has a focus on service sectors such as Security, Healthcare and Asset Management. Sero empowers professionals to work together seamlessly and provides them and their customers with the information at the right place at the right time, through the use of innovative new technologies such as Near Field Communication.

Industry: Professional Services – Security

Region: UK

Company Size: Medium

Solution: BlackBerry® smartphones

BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™)

Sero Solutions’ Pretum NFC solution

“BlackBerry NFC technology has enabled us to be more efficient, and provide a much higher level of service to our clients.”Darren Brookes owner, Sovereign Security