Security Matters | Tech Tools for COVID-19 Recovery
We are delighted to be featured in the Security Matters Magazine: The independent voice for security and risk professionals. They have published an article on the merits of Locate Global our Incident Management Platform, and its functionality as a COVID-19 recovery tool.
Locate Global offers tech tools for COVID-19 recovery and firms’ return to work
First developed back in 2017 by London-based Priavo Security, Locate Global is a specialist risk management platform designed for organisational resilience, critical event and crisis management as well as enhanced and collaborative communication.
In recent years, it’s arguable that crisis management and business continuity haven’t appeared on the radar of too many organisations as topics of major importance. Now, though, with the COVID-19 crisis ongoing, it’s likely that corporates have necessarily had to reconsider their strategy in some form or another as they embrace the adjustments required to accommodate remote home working for members of staff.
With that backdrop in mind, the re-launch of Locate Global is well-timed for those companies now actively looking to diversify and strengthen their organisational resilience while at the same time managing operational capability.
“Recovery from the COVID- 19 pandemic will be complex and irregular,” stated Pete Murphy, CEO at Locate Global, in conversation with Security Matters. “Restrictions will continue to apply and range from limiting the number of people allowed at business premises through to ensuring employees and visitors alike adhere to social distancing measures. Strengthening cybersecurity protocols for remote workers globally will be a further consideration.”
Riz Omar, Locate Global’s chief operating officer who’s also tasked with product development, added: “Using critical event-focused software will support Best Practice for many employers who are closely monitoring their workforce during this transitional phase.”
The Locate Global technology provides real-time threat detection and greater situational awareness, allowing for an integrated response purpose-designed to safeguard employees.
Originally developed for corporate travel risk management, the platform enables companies to make informed decisions based on real-time insights. The reporting function itself combines data and behavioural statistics, thereby helping organisations to track progress on company-wide Human Resources initiatives, back to work programmes or critical operational changes.
“Swiftly gaining a real-time understanding of ‘organisational health’ is an important step in any phased return to work,” explained Riz Omar.
Incident Monitoring and Communications
The platform boasts integrated data from Intelligence Fusion, displaying global risk and incident feeds directly into the dashboard. This affords end-users a greater understanding of the threats and risks within their areas of operation. End users can monitor where their people are in the world and access recent events that have taken place in that location and which may impact the team. Teams can be updated on changing quarantine rules, travel bans and curfews, for example, or new legislation that could affect operational capability.
It’s possible to maintain full visualisation of all users during the recovery phase and ongoing operations. Those employees who may be exposed to higher risk or who are travelling through high-risk zones may be monitored. By deploying Locate Global, host companies can quickly locate users, send or receive immediate alerts to them in the event of an incident and initiate a response with critical instructions on an instant basis.
High-risk areas can be marked directly on the map for notification of any activity within these zones. It’s also possible to quickly identify symptomatic team members, investigate their proximity to (and contact with) other users in the region and send alerts on the need for self-isolation. Future infections can be prevented by geo-fencing incident zones and boundaries around significant areas. Fast communication with those who may be infected is paramount.
Having clear lines of instant communication is critical for workforce safety. Mass notification with incident communication enables business entities to send notifications to individuals or groups, in turn keeping all stakeholders informed before, during and after critical events. Communications can be sent to everyone in the company, individuals in certain locations or specific groups thanks to geo-smart targeting. In-built notification logs provide the real-time status of each message sent, the recipients and delivery such that organisations can be sure key messages are reaching the necessary parties.
Peer-to-Peer Reporting and Heat Maps
Employee insights and an overview of the current ‘state of play’ can be achieved through enhanced monitoring. Employees may be closely monitored through self-reporting. As timing is critical, employers can make immediate decisions on real-time insights (for example in the wake of wellness checks and health testing procedures having been conducted).
All reports can produce heat maps providing a visual representation of the data being collated and where potential issues are most concentrated. For example, the end-user can ascertain what percentage of employees are self-isolating in a particular location, what proportion of home workers are feeling isolated or in which location individuals are struggling with Internet access. This presentation tool can assist with strategy and helps companies to identify any gaps with a view towards strengthening their business continuity plan.
For its part, Locate Connect was created as an additional product in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s specifically designed to help organisations in crisis. Quick to deploy, this is a cost-effective solution enabling employee welfare checks and health status updates for an entire workforce. With real-time monitoring on the health of employees and complete visibility of the workforce across an organisation, managers can assess and monitor well-being, subsequently assisting vulnerable employees where necessary. This also allows for greater efficiency and planning for workforce availability.
The World Health Organisation recommends that ‘Return to Work’ Best Practice should entail employee health monitoring through wellness checks and self-reporting. Locate Global’s open architecture enables integration with third-party data and systems through rich APIs. The solution harbours the flexibility to deliver the specific functions a given business really needs.
*Further information on Locate Global is available online at https://locate.global/uk and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/locateglobal Locate Global also populates a dedicated Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LocateGlobal
*Additional detail on the myriad solutions offered by Priavo Security can be accessed online at https://priavosecurity.com and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/priavo-security Follow Priavo Security on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PriavoSecurity
*Read the full article here.