Enhancing Workforce Management with Beacons

Bluetooth beacons can significantly enhance workforce management for security companies by providing real-time location tracking and improved communication capabilities.

How Beacons Can Improve Your Workforce Management

Tracking is an important part of security workforce management, because it gives managers access to real-time field data like the location and activities of security personnel. Technologies such as Bluetooth beacons can enable supervisors to monitor their team’s movements, which assists with effective deployment, rapid incident response and enhanced overall security.

For security contractors, guard touring software combined with beacons provides complete visibility of guards in the field. A mobile app records patrols and tours, while web-based reporting monitors security services and improves performance over time. A guard touring application like Lighthouse passively monitors the location of guards in the background, and it allows them to record predefined checkpoints, in addition to recording and responding to incidents and sending duress alerts from wherever they are.

What are Bluetooth beacons?

Beacons are small wireless devices that broadcast signals using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. Mobile apps on compatible devices listen for signals from beacons placed in the physical world and then trigger an activity via the app. Activities include sending a task, audit, URL, video or other form of media relevant to a person’s exact location.

Beacon-enabled apps are notified when the device enters or exits the range of a beacon, and those apps also monitor the distance from the beacon as it changes, often referred to as ranging. This contrasts with GPS, which uses latitude and longitude to define a device’s location.

You don’t always have to trigger an activity when a device enters or exits the range of a beacon. In some instances, you may just want to collect data to generate real-world analytics and insights.

Each beacon broadcasts a set of unique IDs, which means a mobile app can tell them apart from each other.

How Bluetooth beacons can be used

Understanding employee positioning and movements is especially important in industries with distributed workforces. Using beacons to track guards helps you know when tasks or tours have been missed and can help protect against litigation in highly regulated industries like security. In addition, the data collected enables you to better coordinate your employees and help reduce overall labour costs.

The most common approach to using Bluetooth beacons is to mount the Bluetooth device to a permanent fixture (typically stuck to the ceiling facing down) and have employees’ mobile app continuously scan for beacons nearby. The beacons transmit a signal, so when the mobile device detects a Bluetooth beacon, it can record the interaction for analytical purposes.

Advantages of beacons:

As a quick summary, here are just a few advantages of using beacons for your security workforce management:

• Offers real-time tracking of security guards which can enhance response times and incident management
• Leverages existing smartphone devices with persistent location tracking even if the app is running in the background
• High degree of accuracy indoors
• Easy to implement, no costly wiring or installation required
• Cost effective way to identify many different areas or “zones”

Using software to improve workforce management

Beacon technology is one of the available solutions that can enable workforce visibility, giving security contractors real-time tracking of officers.

Lighthouse is a mobile-first guard tour solution that enables you to provide proof of service, manage incidents and improve guard safety. Using beacons with Lighthouse, a location tracking solution, can improve the delivery of contract services through increased transparency, improved response and visibility of issues – better track the “who, where and when” of your team.

The ability to use Lighthouse to track security personnel in real-time helps companies deliver more efficient services, maintain a safe environment and respond quickly to emerging threats and emergencies.

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Request a demo today to find out how TEAM Software by WorkWave can offer powerful, scalable solutions to drive efficiency and productivity at your security company.