CASE STUDY: GUARD MONITORING SOLUTIONS AT VARIOUS HOUSING ESTATES

Johan van Schalkwyk, Estate Manager of the Hills Housing Estate, has been using Bloodhound’s workforce management security products since 2007. He provided some valuable insight into the challenges of residential estate security, and how he has utilised Bloodhound’s Patrol products while managing the security, at three major housing estates in South Africa. Before signing up with Bloodhound, Johan investigated alternative options including baton type systems as well as Bodycam – a popular body-worn camera option in the United States. The former, Johan found, was unable to address their specific (and changing) security needs whereas the latter was not geared for the typical South African security environment.

The most prevalent problems associated with a security guard setup are security guards arriving late for their shift, falling asleep during their shift, not doing their rounds properly, not completing their rounds at all, or simply being unsure of their duties and location. In this regard, Johan is of the view that “a security guard’s performance is only as good as how well it can be monitored and how difficult is it to tamper with the security system he works with.” Johan put AndRover, Bloodhound’s flagship Guard Patrol solution to the test as a possible solution and shares from personal experience how AndRover is the answer to all the security needs of residential housing.

At the time of joining Fourways Estate, Johan says the estate suffered 43 home invasions in just over 2 months. Rolling out Bloodhound’s mobile Rover device (previous generation patrol product) as part of their security strategy saw this number decrease drastically to only two incidents over 7 years. At Fancourt, according to Johan, the Bloodhound product was instrumental in securing the outer perimeter of the venue during the FIFA World Cup. “Since using the Bloodhound product, designated patrol routes were 90-92% successful at Fancourt and 95% successful at Fourways” he says. The Patrol solution is linked to Bloodhound’s Observer platform in order to provide accurate and unobtrusive micro-location visibility. Johan is currently using AndRover at The Hills and is reaping the security benefits. He states that although previous systems were geared towards only tracking the movements of the guards, this has now been developed into solutions that monitor specific activities against predetermined tasks and pre-defined inspection checklists. “I am able to physically plot and monitor the guard’s route, even on Google maps, and report on activities. I can even link a guard to specific KPIs. AndRover is easy to understand and implement. With AndRover, I can ensure the accurate placement of guards and I am able to measure the productivity, performance and compliance of the guards. The integrity of the data is also guaranteed since guards cannot activate or cancel a patrol” he goes on to say.

Johan is convinced that Bloodhound is by far the best product of its kind on the South African market today. “It provides real-time feedback and, in the event of an incident, you can easily ascertain where the guards are or were at a specific time as well as their reaction to the incident (inspections, audits and other field activities) using Bloodhound’s File13 auditing app. Even in the event of a network blocker being employed during an incident, you are still able to work offline and the device still keeps record. So too when the device is lost, your data is still accessible and because of GPS, it can be located. The device has a panic button and, with the monitoring option I mentioned above, you are able to quickly locate the guard and send support.”

Johan is also impressed with the advanced automated reports function of the Observer Cloud Platform. He concludes that “a lot of clients are looking for a product that they can integrate with other products. Observer already provides a platform that allows you to pull the outcomes of your Bloodhound report into other third-party products. What makes this ideal is that the data is reliable, since you don’t have to factor in human error. The data can be used to compile body corporate reports and data can be shared monthly or daily as the need may be. But, most importantly, AndRover is cost-effective. It can easily be tailored for a specific client’s requirements without the usual costs associated with customisation”.