OnSolve - Experts & Thought Leaders

OnSolve®, a pioneering critical event management provider that enables organizations to mitigate physical threats and remain agile when a crisis strikes, announced the opening of a new technology office in Bengaluru, India.  The news marks an important milestone in the company’s growth and innovation strategy, reinforcing its commitment to advancing OnSolve’s AI-powered platform. The Bengaluru office creates more than 100 engineering jobs across core product operations teams, including AI and machine learning development, database management, technical support and security operations. Expanding tech presence to India Expanding our tech presence to India underscores our dedication to innovation “Expanding our tech presence to India underscores our dedication to innovation and commitment to solving the most complex issues for our customers,” said Mark Herrington, CEO, OnSolve. He adds, “As we remain focused on protecting communities and unlocking operational agility for organizations, our team in this region and the work they are focused on will be essential to transforming how the world mitigates and responds to physical threats.” OnSolve's innovation center Bengaluru was selected as the location for OnSolve's innovation center due to its vibrant technology ecosystem and skilled talent pool. By establishing a presence in this thriving hub, OnSolve aims to tap into the region's vast resources and local expertise to strengthen the OnSolve Platform and its competitive position in the market. “We are excited to expand our innovation efforts to India and create high-tech jobs in Bengaluru,” said Ranjith Keloth, Managing Director, India, OnSolve, adding “There is immense potential for OnSolve to advance the OnSolve Platform within this dynamic technology ecosystem. As we focus on keeping OnSolve competitive, we are committed to fostering a culture of innovation and upskilling the talent in this region.” AI Breakthrough Awards OnSolve has significantly grown its leadership in and recognition of AI and machine learning capabilities. The company recently launched Risk Insights, a solution that empowers security and business continuity providers with past physical threat data, gathered using AI, so they can make informed business decisions regarding potential risk.  OnSolve also announced a partnership with data-to-knowledge company Babel Street to offer customers more AI-powered risk intelligence across languages and event types than any other critical event management provider. This year, OnSolve was recognized as the best AI-based solution for event management as part of the AI Breakthrough Awards, an awards program that recognizes the world’s most innovative companies and technology in the AI industry.

OnSolve, a renowned critical event management provider for enterprises, small-to-medium sized organizations, and government entities, announced significant momentum with a brand relaunch and the roll out of a new platform integration engine, which adds more than 450 out-of-the-box integrations to customers’ existing physical security, business continuity, and IT management ecosystems. In 2020, the company added ~450 new enterprise and government customers, such as Cincinnati Bell and Penske, and grew bookings by 45 percent. With its AI-powered risk intelligence and platform innovation, OnSolve is empowering customers through speed, relevance, and usability to deliver true actionable intelligence during a crisis, ultimately keeping people safe and protecting their organizations. Social media platforms OnSolve’s new brand identity symbolizes its resolve to enable customers to meet current and future challenges with the expertise and mission-critical technology that saves lives and creates true organizational resiliency. This includes a new logo and visual identity that will be implemented across all OnSolve channels including its website, social media platforms, sales and marketing materials, and customer touchpoints. The need to better manage uncertainty is more critical than ever to saving lives and protecting organizations" “The need to better manage uncertainty is more critical than ever to saving lives and protecting organizations,” said Mark Herrington, CEO, OnSolve. “Our customers turn to OnSolve to help them navigate today’s uncertainty. Our AI-powered platform and relaunched brand underscore our relentless commitment to empowering organizations with technology that delivers insight, resilience and continuity during a crisis - keeping people safe, informed, assured and productive when it matters most.” Risk intelligence and platform innovation “Our partnership with OnSolve is essential to building a more resilient employee community at athenahealth,” said Bridger McGaw, Director, Global Security & Services, athenahealth. “When COVID-19 hit, we felt more prepared than other companies our size because we had a trusted, tested, easy-to-use, cloud-based critical event management platform in place to communicate with our employees ahead of an incident, as well as the ability to gauge the impact of localized COVID-19 outbreaks across our dispersed workforce.” The OnSolve Platform for Critical Event Management (CEM) offers a fully integrated suite of products: OnSolve Risk Intelligence, Critical Communications, and Incident Management. At the core of the platform is Risk Intelligence. Its powerful AI engine uses machine learning to ingest thousands of verified data sources, identify the most critical events facing an organization and deliver these alerts to the right people at the right time - far faster than human analysts. Critical communications innovation OnSolve’s next-generation risk intelligence capabilities, coupled with foundational critical communications innovation and incident management, enables organizations to: Bypass human analysis using an AI engine, so customers or in-house analysts can communicate faster and quickly activate crisis response plans Filter out irrelevant data, so staff can monitor only the critical events that matter most to their people, places, and property Target alerts to the right people immediately to enable informed, proactive decisions Identify active incidents at a glance, improving response times and enabling customers to activate their business continuity plans and virtually collaborate in real-time, from any location IT management ecosystems OnSolve experienced a banner year of momentum in 2020, with 45 percent growth in bookings The OnSolve Platform for CEM has also rolled out new integration capabilities through its OnSolve integration engine. The OnSolve integration engine paves the way for customers to seamlessly take advantage of more than 450 out-of-the-box integrations for their existing physical security, business continuity/business resiliency, and IT management ecosystems. Through the OnSolve integration engine, customers can instantly orchestrate tasks such as wellness checks and alerts to impacted areas; disable building access; and even trigger appropriate tests based on sensor data such as temperature drops, water levels, electrical current detection, or gunshot/monitor detection. OnSolve experienced a banner year of momentum in 2020, with 45 percent growth in bookings. Security audit compliance New customers, renowned recognition and accreditation, and strategic leadership changes underscore the company’s success in helping organizations better manage uncertainty and crises: OnSolve was recognized in Gartner’s 2020 Market Guide for Emergency/Mass Notification Services Solutions report; and for the third year in a row, the company was awarded two ASTOR awards: Best Mass Notification System and Best Risk and Crisis Management Product. As a testament to its excellence in risk and compliance for federal agencies and the public sector, OnSolve was listed on the FedRAMP marketplace and also achieved HIPAA security audit compliance, enabling the company to sign business associate agreements with healthcare institutions as needed. To support its growth and evolution, OnSolve created new leadership roles and departments in 2020. Ann Pickren assumed the role of Chief Customer Officer to oversee the critical adoption and implementation of the OnSolve Platform by the company’s existing customer base. The company created a new function focused on enhancing alliances, partnerships, and channel relationships, led by Vice President of Global Security Solutions Matt Bradley, a 14-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency. COVID-19 vaccine deployment Most important, however, is the life-saving role OnSolve solutions continue to play. Its critical communications technology sent billions of notifications, helped to find more than 3,500 missing persons, and supported nearly 30,000 customers via capabilities in over 190 countries worldwide. Nearly 200 communities are currently using OnSolve to manage information sharing related to COVID-19 vaccine deployment, with more than 640,000 messages sent to date and growing every day.

OnSolve, the global provider of mass notification and critical communication solutions for enterprise, small business, and government organizations, announced the acquisition of Stabilitas, a situational awareness provider that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify adverse events, analyze the risks posed by those events, and provide stakeholders with actionable threat intelligence. Critical event information Stabilitas’ AI solution constantly ingests more than 17,000 global data sources to identify nearly 300,000 critical events each day, such as natural disasters and geopolitical incidents. The solution then identifies the people, facilities, assets, and operations impacted by those events in real-time. This allows decision-makers to effectively monitor and confidently respond to the multitude of natural and man-made incidents that endanger lives and pose billions of dollars in risk to organizations each year. OnSolve’s award-winning critical communications solutions coupled with Stabilitas’ critical event intelligence will deliver a platform for end-to-end threat intelligence and response capabilities. This acquisition is part of OnSolve’s strategy to enhance its global portfolio of solutions that enable people to make faster, better-informed decisions and reduce risk when managing critical events. Mass notification Our customers will now be able to leverage the latest technological advances to more quickly and accurately anticipate" “This transaction demonstrates OnSolve’s deep commitment to transforming its mass notification offerings to create the most innovative and modern platform in the comprehensive critical event management segment,” said OnSolve Chief Executive Officer Mark Herrington. “Our customers will now be able to leverage the latest technological advances to more quickly and accurately anticipate, analyze and manage crises to ultimately keep people safe, informed, assured and productive when it matters most. This acquisition also enables us to uniquely provide business resiliency and continuity by combining situational awareness, critical communications as well as incident management. We are excited to welcome the talented Stabilitas employees in this next chapter of OnSolve’s growth.” AI-powered critical event intelligence “Joining OnSolve was a natural fit because we are both focused on keeping people and organizations safe,” said Greg Adams, CEO and Co-Founder of Stabilitas. “Stabilitas’ AI-powered critical event intelligence coupled with OnSolve’s leading global critical communications solutions will take critical event management to the next level. We developed Stabilitas to help organizations save time, money, and lives. By partnering with OnSolve, we can realize that vision and provide organizations the most comprehensive critical event management capabilities available.” Critical event management solution Groupdolists’ mobile-centric solution instantly convenes geographically disparate incident response teams OnSolve’s critical communication solutions combined with Stabilitas’ situational awareness capabilities are enhanced by a strategic partnership with Groupdolists, a global incident management provider. Groupdolists’ cellphone-centric solution instantly convenes geographically disparate incident response teams, automatically assigns tasks and tracks completion in real-time, facilitates rich media file-sharing as well as real-time voice, text, and chat while providing a chronological audit trail of actions taken toward critical event resolution – all without dependency on organizational infrastructure. Before, during, and after a critical event strikes, organizations will now have the power of AI to inform timely and accurate situational awareness, the relevance and speed of leading mass notification services to manage critical communications, and the ability to holistically and seamlessly manage critical events through incident management – all from OnSolve.

Many of the threats facing the energy and utility sector are related to cybersecurity, as recent incidents have confirmed. Another problem is that operating systems for utilities tend to be outdated, which presents extra challenges in a connected world. There are also physical security demands, not to mention regulatory and social issues. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What are the security trends in energy and utilities?

Today’s organizations face numerous diverse threats to their people, places and property, sometimes simultaneously. Security leaders now know all too well how a pandemic can cripple a company’s ability to produce goods and services, or force production facilities to shut down, disrupting business continuity. For example, a category three hurricane barreling towards the Gulf of Mexico could disable the supplier’s facilities, disrupt the supply chain and put unexpected pressure on an unprepared local power grid. Delivering timely critical information Tracking such risk is hard enough, but managing it is even more difficult. A swift response depends on delivering the right information to the right people, at the right time. And, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Indeed, 61 percent of large enterprises say critical information came too late for them, in order to mitigate the impact of a crisis, according to Aberdeen Research (Aberdeen Strategy & Research). These challenges are accelerating the hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI) These challenges are accelerating the hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI). The technology promises to help us discover new insights, predict the future and take over tasks that are now handled by humans. Maybe even cure cancer. Accelerating the hype around AI But is AI really living up to all this hype? Can it really help security professionals mitigate risk? After all, there’s a serious need for technology to provide fast answers to even faster-moving issues, given the proliferation of data and the speed at which chaos can impact operations. Risk managers face three major obstacles to ensuring business continuity and minimizing disruptions. These include: Data fatigue - Simply put, there’s too much data for human analysts to process in a timely manner. By 2025, the infosphere is expected to produce millions of words per day. At that pace, you’d need an army of analysts to monitor, summarize and correlate the information to your impacted locations, before you can communicate instructions. It’s a herculean task, made even more difficult, when we consider that 30 percent of this global datasphere is expected to be consumed in real time, according to IDC. Relevance and impact - Monitoring the flood of information is simply the first hurdle. Understanding its impact is the second. When a heat dome is predicted to cover the entire U.S. Pacific Northwest, risk managers must understand the specifics. Will it be more or less hot near their facilities? Do they know what steps local utilities are taking to protect the power grid? Such questions can’t be answered by a single system. Communication - Once you know which facilities are impacted and what actions to take, you need to let your employees know. If the event is urgent, an active shooter or an earthquake, do you have a fast, effective way to reach these employees? It’s not as simple as broadcasting a company-wide alert. The real question is, do you have the ability to pinpoint the location of your employees and not just those working on various floor in the office, but also those who are working from home? How AI and ML cut through the noise Although Artificial Intelligence can help us automate simple tasks, such as alert us to breaking news, it requires several Machine Learning systems to deliver actionable risk intelligence. Machine Learning is a branch of AI that uses algorithms to find hidden insights in data, without being programmed where to look or what to conclude. More than 90 percent of risk intelligence problems use supervised learning, a Machine Learning approach defined by its use of labeled datasets. The benefit of supervised learning is that it layers several pre-vetted datasets, in order to deliver context-driven AI The benefit of supervised learning is that it layers several pre-vetted datasets, in order to deliver context-driven AI. Reading the sources, it can determine the category, time and location, and cluster this information into a single event. As a result, it can correlate verified events to the location of the people and assets, and notify in real time. It’s faster, more customized and more accurate than simple Artificial Intelligence, based on a single source of data. Real-world actionable risk intelligence How does this work in the real world? One telecommunications company uses AI and ML to protect a mobile workforce, dispersed across several regions. An AI-powered risk intelligence solution provides their decision makers with real-time visibility into the security of facilities, logistics and personnel movements. Machine Learning filters out the noise of irrelevant critical event data, allowing their security teams to focus only on information specific to a defined area of interest. As a result, they’re able to make informed, proactive decisions and rapidly alert employees who are on the move. Four must-have AI capabilities To gain real actionable risk intelligence, an AI solution should support four key capabilities: A focus on sourcing quality over quantity. There are tens of thousands of sources that provide information about emerging threats - news coverage, weather services, social media, FBI intelligence and so much more. Select feeds that are trusted, relevant and pertinent to your operations. Swift delivery of relevant intelligence. To reduce the mean-time-to-recovery (MTTR), risk managers need an accurate understanding of what’s happening. Consider the different contextual meanings of the phrases ‘a flood of people in the park’ and ‘the park is at risk due to a flood’. Machine Learning continuously increases the speed of data analysis and improves interpretation. Ability to cross-reference external events with internal data. As it scans different data sources, an AI engine can help you fine-tune your understanding of what’s happening and where. It will pick up contextual clues and map them to your facilities automatically, so you know immediately what your response should be. Ready-to-go communications. Long before a threat emerges, you can create and store distribution, and message templates, as well as test your critical communications system. Handling these tasks well in advance means you can launch an alert at a moment’s notice. The ability to minimize disruptions and ensure business continuity depends on speed, relevance and usability. AI and ML aren’t simply hype. Instead, they’re vital tools that make it possible for security professionals to cut through the noise faster and protect their people, places and property.

The global pandemic has created a working environment filled with uncertainty and, at times, fear, as COVID-19 cases surge yet again and businesses continue to navigate a complex web of infectious disease mitigation protocols and managing the distribution of a potential vaccine. Organizations are operating in an environment where a critical event, posing significant risk to its employees and daily operations, could occur at any moment. Even with a vaccine showing light at the end of a very dark tunnel, the pandemic unfortunately may be far from over, and the communication of accurate public health information to a widely distributed, often remote workforce is vital to keeping employees safe and businesses running. Organizations that plan ahead, invest in an emergency management system and share key updates quickly, reliably and securely, can keep employees safe while ensuring business continuity when it matters most. Taking time to plan and prepare Throughout the pandemic, U.S. offices have gone through alternating stages of reopening and re-closing Throughout the pandemic, U.S. offices have gone through alternating stages of reopening and re-closing. However, whether businesses are operating at a limited or full capacity, medical experts are expecting continuous waves of COVID-19 cases, as community transmission continues to hit record highs. The only way for businesses to keep their employees and customers safe, protect their operations, and retain trust with their key stakeholders during these tumultuous times is to be proactive in nature. Organizations need to put a business resiliency plan in place now that outlines key actions to take if (or when) an issue relating to local spread of the novel coronavirus arises. By having a plan in place and practicing it regularly, organizations can minimize risks and maximize employee safety surrounding critical events, such as suspected or confirmed exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace. Context of emergency management Ensuring the safety of employees (and others within the company’s facilities) needs to be the number one priority for organizations; and in any crisis scenario, a prepared and practiced plan maximizes a company’s chances of success. In PwC's 2019 Global Crisis Survey, business leaders across a range of industries shared their experiences, expectations, and top strengths and weaknesses in the context of emergency management. By a wide margin (54% vs. 30%), organizations that had a crisis response plan in place fared better post-crisis than those who didn’t. When it comes to ensuring the wellbeing of staff, businesses need to think through a comprehensive, iterative infectious disease mitigation and operational continuity strategy and practice it as often as possible. Investing in proper technology A vital step in adequate critical event management planning is investing in the proper technology infrastructure For today’s modern organization, a vital step in adequate critical event management planning is investing in the proper technology infrastructure to streamline the communication of vital information. Organizations should explore risk intelligence, critical communication and incident management software to keep their people safe, informed, and connected during critical events - and, thankfully, decision-makers are starting to take note. The Business Continuity Institute 2020 Emergency Communications Report found that 67% of organizations at least use emergency notification and/or crisis management tools. Reliable risk intelligence system Building upon that trend, a reliable risk intelligence system can anticipate and analyze the potential impact of incidents, such as increases in local cases of COVID-19, send vital updates to a distributed workforce of any size on multiple devices regarding infectious disease mitigation protocols and public health directives, and then help incident response teams virtually collaborate while maintaining compliance standards. Automating as much of this process as possible through technology allows human decision makers to efficiently and effectively focus their time, effort and expertise on what matters most in a crisis situation - implementing sound operational continuity strategies and, more importantly, ensuring employees’ safety and well-being are prioritized and appropriately considered when stress rises. Communicating vital updates This is the cultural component of incident management based on emotional intelligence, empathy, effective employee engagement, and authentic listening that makes or breaks an organization’s response to challenging situations. Employees must be aware at a moment’s notice to stay away from or exit contaminated areas If employees are exposed in the workplace to a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, employers must be prepared to quickly update staff on vital next steps, as outlined by the CDC and other public health authorities, and arm key functions - such as security operations, HR, facility management, legal and compliance - with the information they need to mitigate potential spread of the virus, including:   Closing/cleaning the office: Employees must be aware at a moment’s notice to stay away from or exit contaminated areas. From there, it is critical that businesses communicate clearly with cleaning staff to follow procedure, use the right disinfecting products and sanitise high-touch surfaces. Alerting key groups that may have been exposed: Employers have a duty to rapidly notify workers of potential exposure to COVID-19. Having the proper communication infrastructure in place can streamline contact-tracing as well as the subsequent testing process, and save vital time. Ensuring work-from-home continuity or diverting workflows to alternative physical environments: Every work environment looks different today. Whether an organization is managing a distributed workforce, full-capacity essential workers or something in between, there needs be a communication system in place to ensure business continuity. Outlining next steps for reopening: After a potential exposure, employees require the proper reassurance that they will be returning to a safe working environment in an organized, thoughtful manner, which is aligned to public health best practices. Whether it is coordinating a limited capacity return to the office or outlining new infectious disease mitigation protocols - such as steps for receiving a vaccine in the coming months - employees must continue to be updated quickly, comprehensively, and often. Incident management technology There is no doubt that organizations will continue to face a myriad of challenges as they navigate business operations during the pandemic into 2021, as the general public awaits the broad deployment of a vaccine. Public and private sector leaders still have months ahead of them before daily operations even begin to resemble “business as usual.” To best prepare for the next chapter of the global pandemic, organizations should outline a plan tailored to infectious disease mitigation protocols; explore augmenting their crisis management policies with risk intelligence, crisis management and incident management technology; and focus employee communications on containing and rapidly resolving events associated with COVID-19 exposure. Keeping employees safe, informed, and connected during critical events are mandatory considerations for leaders as they analyze existential threats to their business in 2021 and beyond.