3 WAYS MOBILE APPS ARE CHANGING THE GAME IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Mobile devices are used everywhere, and it is becoming the norm to have interoperable mobile applications available, regardless of what we want to achieve. The expectation among users in the critical communication space is no different, as the studies show that public safety users are ready to use mobile apps as part of their daily operations.

Broadband data and mobile applications have the potential to revolutionise the way we operate and communicate in public safety. Mobile apps are an extremely effective way to deliver critical information directly to the hands of the user whether they are working on the field or at the command centre. Such real-time access to critical information increases personnel safety, situational awareness and team communication capabilities allowing more intelligent decision-making and reacting more rapidly to unexpected situations.

INCREASING SAFETY
Regardless of the operation, the safety of the people comes first

Public safety personnel are constantly facing hazardous situations where their own lives or the lives of citizens can be at risk.

Mobile apps have a significant potential to increase personnel safety. Applications like health monitoring can automatically inform an organisation if a person is in distress or the real-time location service can be used to quickly locate a lone worker, who is not responding.

Broadband and mobile apps have also introduced us to a new dimension where public safety personnel can work more closely with civilians utilising crowdsourced data or information gathered from 911 applications, increasing the safety of the whole society.

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION
Good communication is key for running successful operations

In a modern urban environment, a volatile situation can escalate rapidly and can become very complex to manage. The situation may require communicating with a large number of people, even across multiple organisations.

Mobile apps enable us to communicate beyond voice. The diverse platform enables us to send the information in the most suitable format, whether the situation requires sending an image, streaming a video or chatting with the team.

Mobile apps can also leverage multiple technologies connecting multiple communication platforms to a single handheld device. This capability is perfect for advancing the development of interoperable solutions for cross organisational communication.

BUILDING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Being able to rely on data enables making more intelligent decisions

Sensors, mobile devices, Internet data sources, network equipment and applications; all produce data. Trying to understand everything happening around us can easily lead to information overflow.

Mobile apps can help harness the information transforming the data into situational awareness. And not only can mobile apps utilise the data, but the information collected by the apps is extremely useful as well.

Mobile applications can also introduce completely new ways of utilising the data, for example using it to generate augmented reality or edge analytics.