To maintain trust, the emergency services must deliver on expectations; the same is true for us

Blue light services run on trust

People call 999 because they know they’ll get help. And despite the obvious impacts of increasing demand and shrinking budgets, people know that the emergency services are working flat out. The technology they use should be working flat out too. 

In the last 18 months, we’ve seen many customers review their systems, look ahead to the future, and choose to stay with us. This includes local and national organisations in the UK along with New South Wales Police in Australia, where we’ve signed a major new deal. Across all of these partnerships, our ability to deliver was a common theme.  

Investment must always pay off

In every sector, there are examples of technology projects that didn’t meet expectations. They may have been delivered late, or perhaps the benefits never materialised. For 999 services responding to life-threatening incidents, the stakes of getting it wrong don’t get much higher. But it’s still fair to say that our industry has overpromised in the past. So while innovation now matters more than ever, it needs to be backed up by effective delivery. 

Take the solutions used in control rooms. From call handling to command & control and integrated communications control systems, each one plays a critical role in providing the best possible response safely. These solutions are also deeply embedded, underpinning workflows that are second nature for teams in control rooms and in the field. Customers are wary of big changes for good reason.  

Getting it right takes human expertise

To maximise the benefit and minimise the risks, we always put users first. We think about roles, environments, challenges and mindset to understand what better data could do. In fact, we’ve spent decades observing how people work so that we can help them to work smarter; it’s what keeps our innovations both customer-led and carefully planned. 

This approach has led to numerous successes in the last year, including two police forces extending their use of our records management system, Connect, and four UK customers renewing their contracts for our evolving control room solution, ControlWorks. With a solid customer base, proven technologies and ambitious yet deliverable roadmaps, we have proven that our partnerships add value time and again. 

Building trust requires honest communication

The best partnerships develop over time. They demonstrate engagement at multiple levels, prioritise open communication and occasionally involve tough conversations. And while we may have supported some customers for 20 years, these relationships have never been static. As new challenges emerged, we introduced new features, connected new systems and enabled a smooth shift to the cloud, making innovation very much a joint endeavour. 

Facial recognition is a prime example. Supporting police forces to work smarter in the station, in the field, and soon in the control room, this technology is transforming productivity because we worked through the practical and ethical concerns together. This form of collaboration will also maximise the benefit of AI by ensuring that the outcomes we promise materialise in practice.  

Maintaining trust in what we do, and how we do it, is about meeting customer expectations every time.  It’s about delivering technology in a way that makes a difference – not just about inventing it.  

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Steve Ainsworth is executive director for public safety at NEC Software Solutions