Optimizing Emergency Response Requires Purpose-Built, Standards-Based Call Management

Few topics are more mundane, or more important, to public safety than standards. In an emergency, seconds can make the difference between life and death, and first responders need as much situational awareness information as they can get to make the best possible decision in the moment. When seconds count, emergency service telecommunicators and dispatchers can’t afford delays waiting for different and often complex communication systems to talk to each other.

This is particularly true in Australia’s distributed system of emergency call management. Coordination between National Emergency Service Answer Points (ESAPs) and regional Emergency Service Organisations (ESOs) is needed for an effective response to every emergency call. The simplest and most effective way for ESOs to optimize their emergency response process is to ensure their call management systems are standards-based, purpose-built for public safety, and fully interoperable with the other systems in the call management chain.

With standards-based, interoperable call management solutions, ESOs can take advantage of Australia’s most recent Triple Zero (000) advancements. They get predictable performance that facilitates information-sharing within and between emergency call centres. And they can ensure their emergency response system is ready for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s technological opportunities.

Standards-Based Systems Ensure Interoperability

Australia is a very geographically large and highly diverse country, with a low population density of roughly 3.3 people per square kilometre. Our national next-generation 000 (NG000) service ensures that more Australians than ever will be able to contact emergency services in more ways, and that emergency services in turn will be able to respond even more accurately and effectively to every call.

National ESAPs, the first step of the emergency call management process, already use advanced, standards-based, and purpose-built call management solutions. Regional ESOs, the second step in the call management process, may have as many as 400 staff taking calls from a huge area, and every call must be managed efficiently to ensure that first responders are dispatched quickly. Standards-based platforms equipped with the most advanced emergency call management capabilities at the state level are needed to integrate seamlessly with national infrastructure and enable efficient management of every emergency call, regardless of where it originates.

Flexibility and Granular Control Improve Call Management

Standards-based systems guarantee compatibility. They provide a level of reliability and predictability that ensures new systems function seamlessly from day one and enable the cross-agency interoperability ESOs need to maintain effective communication and coordination with each other and national ESAPs. By opting for standards-based systems, ESOs also get more flexibility over how and when they adopt technology, while telecommunicators get more control over every call.

Standards guarantee an inherent level of compatibility that makes it easier for ESOs to adopt new technologies at their own pace without the need to troubleshoot or build custom plug-ins to bridge the gap between new and legacy technologies. Similarly, compliance with standards eliminates the risk of updates or new features breaking systems. ESOs can take advantage of the newest capabilities, ensure software remains up to date, and maintain cybersecurity without putting operations at risk.

With standards-based systems, ESOs can also improve efficiency at every desktop. All workstations can be configured to provide a pre-defined level of functionality while giving telecommunicators the flexibility to take more granular control over their own call management workflows. On-screen settings, menus, and buttons on graphical user interfaces can be easily adjusted to individual preferences and can be quickly switched back to standard configurations when telecommunicators move from one workstation to another. Crucially, this level of granular control also ensures easier compliance with operational requirements, such as which telecommunicators are allowed to take certain calls or see certain information.

Purpose-Built Solutions Reduce Operational Risks

Obviously ESOs have a lot to consider when evaluating available call management solutions. While standards are an important consideration, ESOs should also take a very close look at why an offered solution exists. In today’s technology landscape, any call center hardware can be configured with software that makes it look and act like it belongs in an ESO setting. But only systems purpose-built for public safety applications rather than adapted for public safety are specifically engineered from the ground up with emergency call management in mind.

Typically, purpose-built solutions include a comprehensive feature set designed and built to adhere to industry standards today and as standards evolve. They reduce operational risks by giving ESOs access to key call management features from day one, and the flexibility to gradually integrate new features and capabilities as needed. This eliminates the need for ESOs to rely on third parties to integrate new features and functions that may or may not interoperate with existing capabilities at the desktop, or with national ESAPs. It also eliminates the need for additional costs associated with having third parties maintain the software and ensure ongoing interoperability with other systems.

Prepare for the Future of NG000 with Solacom

As Australia continues moving towards NG000 and the integration of more advanced emergency call management technologies, including built-in mapping, real-time translation and transcription, and advanced multimedia communications, ensuring ESOs can easily and efficiently adopt these technologies will be crucial. Purpose-built, standards-based systems will greatly accelerate Australia’s move towards proactive emergency call handling and ensure ESOs operate more effectively with national ESAPs from day one.

Solacom’s Guardian Emergency Call Handling Solution is a purpose-built, standards-based solution that has been successfully deployed by public safety agencies around the world. It is built on industry standards, designed from the ground up specifically for emergency call management, and has already been deployed in Australia’s national ESAPs. This purpose-built solution is ready to meet the needs of telecommunicators today, and tomorrow, as Australia continues moving towards NG000.