NICE
and the
Public Sector Network
recently collaborated to deliver the
Q1
ANZ
Defence, Security and Justice National Insights
on 24th February 2022, Online.
After the event, we were grateful to have had the opportunity to interview NICE in an intimate conversation on their perspectives with technology trends and barriers faced in their community.
What overall trends are you seeing in terms of technology in your industry?
The move to “digital transformation” has certainly accelerated in the last couple of years and a big driver for that has been the pandemic. Sometimes changing an outdated process is a lot of effort but when you have no choice i.e. you can’t travel to collect or handle a disk containing some important CCTV evidence, you need another way. Digital Evidence Management solutions where there before but necessity has definitely meant the benefits are being realised quicker. And a change from some of the outdated costly processes to a quicker safer way of handling and managing digital evidence and cases can only be a good thing moving forward.
What is the next big thing in terms of technology and where do you see it in the next 2 to 5 years?
Emergency services often move at a slower pace private organisations so I do see digital transformation being the buzzword for a few years to come yet! The early adopters are already ahead of the curve but the rest will still take a few years to follow. However what we do see (from NICE’s perspective) is this trend branching out from not only in managing evidence but all aspects of the Emergency services environments and control rooms. Work Force Management (WFM) solutions will more accurately predict and enhance resource usage. Voice Analytics will be used to power demand generation in the control rooms and with emotion detection can also help to identify early not only vulnerable citizen callers but the call takers too. In the field mobile devices will become data rich and focused to assist in advance or enroute to attending an incident.
Aside from the pandemic , what have been some of the technology challenges or barriers experienced in the last 12 months?
Barriers to technology change often come in a reluctance to view the alternatives or a closed mind. A “This is the way we’ve always done it” mentality. Sadly that can mean opportunities to positively benefit the organisation and the citizens and communities they serve are at worst lost or at best delayed. Nobody likes change but if that change can bring safer communities and a more efficient/less costly emergency services that is moving with the times then that has to be a good thing for all concerned. The good news is attitudes are changing and as I mentioned earlier the pandemic was definitely one of the drivers for that.
What has been your best performing technology in the last 12 months and why?
For NICE the best performing technology has been the NICE Investigate Digital Evidence Management Solution (DEMS). Why? Because Police forces around the world have seen first hand the benefits it can and continues to bring. It essentially helps integrate existing systems be it Body Worn Video, CCTV, CAD, 000 calls etc so that all the evidence is instantly accessible online in one place relating to each case. It’s helping to speed up investigations, closing cases faster and it’s saving time and money. The agnostic positioning means it can work with and integrate to any system the force has so they can pick the best of breed for their needs and budgets in every area. For example nearly 50% of UK police forces are using this solution now.
