NowForce: Optimizing Emergency Response

Against a backdrop of massive increases in emergency calls, emergency response teams throughout the world are under tremendous pressure to optimize their response methodology both in terms of speed and quality of response. However, legacy dispatch systems and immobile or cumbersome mobile data-terminals have placed many of the agencies at a steep disadvantage.

Conventional computer-aided dispatch (CAD), first installed in the 1970s have not sufficiently kept up with needs of modern agencies while still requiring massive resources in both time and money in order to maintain them. Into this vacuum enters NowForce, with its user-friendly reporting apps, a smart dispatching engine, and mobile responder apps that together provide an end-to-end incident management solution. “NowForce enables public safety agencies to utilize commonly used smartphones and tablets and turn them into powerful tools for reporting and responding to events,” says Assaf Shafran, CEO of NowForce.

The NowForce platform addresses key concerns in incident management relating to reporting, dispatching, and pinpoint response to emergencies. The company’s Citizens Engagement Reporter App enables bi-directional information sharing from individuals to safety officials. It empowers community members to take a proactive role in the safety of their environments. This crowdsourcing-solution allows users to share accurate information on the incident as it happens, such as its exact location, pictures, and live-streamed videos. By assisting public safety officials with critical intelligence, safety officials can carry out evidence-based, targeted public safety interventions in a proactive manner.

When an incident occurs, the systems use proprietary algorithms to identify the closest, most relevant responders based on factors such as proximity, mobility, qualification, and equipment. The dispatcher can then choose between Assisted- Dispatch and Automatic-Dispatch. In Assisted-Dispatch, the system suggests responders and actions based on the abovementioned factors and the organization’s workflows. The Automatic-Dispatch initiates a set of dynamic rules that assures responders will be dispatched quickly without human interference, thus saving time.

NowForce offers scalability and flexibility by providing cloud-based versions of the platform, through Amazon Web Services (AWS) or AWS-GovCloud, allowing agencies to invest in scaling the system only when such investments are justified. NowForce also offers an enterprise solution that can be installed on local servers if such implementation is required. NowForce can be implemented by agencies as either a standalone system or be easily integrated with any CAD or RMS solutions. NowForce’s highly modular architecture and comprehensive APIs have been designed to integrate with clients’ existing systems.

NowForce is proud of being a user-driven solution that evolved over the years based on actual feedback and needs from the field. The system includes various modules that help law enforcement agencies to cope with their day-to-day challenges. An integrated messaging module enables the users to send and receive smart messages and attach pictures, video-streams and locations. NowForce includes a cutting-edge Push-To-Talk module using VoIP that enables users to communicate effectively without carrying a handheld radio device. Ad-hoc chat-rooms and push-to-talk groups are automatically created for each incident, a feature that is unique for NowForce. Built-in Business Intelligence module enables the agencies to review their performance in a comprehensive and near-immediate manner allowing planning and preventions of crime using predictive intelligence.

With millions of real incident responses under their belt and currently used in more than 1,700 cities worldwide, NowForce has earned its place as one of the leading solutions for incident response on the market today.