Interestingly, 2012 proved to be the best sales year for two-way-radio manufacturers over the past 20 years. This in part is contributed to the increased number of security businesses in South Africa. Effective communications in the industry is proving too costly to operate without. Two-way radios are quickly becoming the preferred option of communication, mostly due to its affordability and unlimited talk time.
Companies in the industry have acknowledged the importance of effective communication, and are increasingly relying on service providers to offer a service of the highest quality.
The need for managers and supervisors to consistently be aware of employee whereabouts, unexpected incidents and operational problems has forced the need for improvements in the current solution, says Kyran Van Rooyen, marketing manager at Instacom.
The increased demand for effectively stable and reliable communication has allowed for advancement in the industry. Due to the ability to now effectively supply this technology, the latest trend in the industry is to implement Push-to-Talk (PTT) in almost all security companies.
Although there have not been many revolutionary improvements in traditional two-way radios over the past few years, the system has become the tried and trusted norm for single channel communication. Push-to-talk was previously regarded as new, untested technology, making its acceptance difficult due to the perceived investment risk for large-scale businesses.
The last 18 months has seen a shift in the acceptance of push-to-talk as companies are beginning to trust the technology and are becoming more open to testing the system. In the last six months the technology is quickly becoming the mainstream solution in the security industry. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits that it can have in improving business operations, due to its unmatched stability, customisable functionality and national coverage.
PTT is becoming the norm because of the advanced communication capabilities of the system. Where traditional two-way radios communicate to all devices on a single-frequency channel, PTT allows users to be divided into functional communication groups. Therefore, with PTT you can communicate one-to-one, within dedicated groups and across all users simultaneously.
The key to this technological advancement is the ability of the devices to use cellphone networks instead of the radio towers, repeaters or antennas used by traditional two-way radios. This allows for increased stability, enhanced reliability and national coverage at the push of a button.
When looking for a PTT solution, network stability and device reliability are the key factors. Other important issues revolve around after-sales support. If troubleshooting is necessary, a dedicated support team and knowledgeable service technicians assigned directly to suppliers allowing for any communication queries to be dealt with as quickly and effectively if as possible.
PTT suppliers will always focus on ways to improve the system, by increasing communication reach, improving stability and developing effective ways to reduce costs; in fact, anything that ultimately assists companies to further embrace the technology.
With regards to short-term improvements, certain suppliers like Instacom are including a free instant message system on the device to complement its verbal communication capabilities. Users are now being able to send IMs as an alternative communication medium to either groups, individuals or the entire network.
It is also understood that situations occur where cellphone calls need to be made either on-site or on the move. It is necessary for staff to be able to communicate out of the PTT network. Instacom has now included airtime on its devices, which is recharged on each device every month.
Instacom is the first company to successfully implement PTT technology in sub-Saharan Africa and is currently the market leader in PTT communication. The company will soon be able to officially supply the world's most rugged smartphone as an option with all PTT sales. Some of Instacom's new improvements to its services include a fully functional guard patrol system available directly on the device, which operates using the latest in near field communication (NFC) technology; an ultra-fast panic button is also available, as well as tracking capabilities of the highest accuracy.
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