Over the last several years, we’ve seen the world and overall commercial security landscape transform rapidly in response to various threats. As the industry has looked for a path forward, it’s become increasingly clear that the greatest chance for commercial environments to readily adapt to current circumstances and new risks is through a single, critical channel: technology.
“At ADT Commercial, we understand the importance of not only looking toward the future, but being the ones to shape it. We’re driving excellence across the industry by identifying technologies and opportunities to disrupt and enact change,” said ADT’s Dan Bresingham, Executive Vice President, Commercial. “We’re approaching innovation with the customer in mind, pushing for new levels in security that will shape the next generation of the industry.”
Over the last few years, ADT Commercial has emerged as an innovator in commercial security, striving to be proactively ahead of the curve to address the evolving security needs of its customers across industries. Last year, the organisation launched its dedicated Innovation Lab, headquartered out of its National Account Operations Center in Irving, Texas, where the ADT Commercial Emerging Technologies team is focused on exploring and developing new and emerging technologies, fresh security applications and more – all with the goal to serve commercial customers more effectively and efficiently with the most intuitive solutions possible.
“We’re developing purposeful, scalable solutions that provide value to our customers and anticipate the challenges they may be facing, further strengthening our position as their one ideal partner in securing their facilities,” said ADT’s Chris Fowler, Director of Emerging Technologies, Commercial.
As the ADT Commercial Emerging Technologies team has grown, they’ve made significant investments in developing solutions in ethical artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics, autonomous indoor drones and more. The exploration of these groundbreaking technologies has been driven by the team’s pilot partner approach, where select commercial organizations are identified to pilot the solutions in their facilities and play a critical role in the direction of their development. Based specifically on feedback, needs, and pain points they outline, ADT Commercial and its innovation partners focus on developing new features, and fine-tuning the technology to fit desired applications.
“The pilot partner approach ensures we’re pursuing the most effective security features and applications for our customers,” Fowler said. “This is all about addressing their needs better, streamlining their security operations, and prioritising the protection of their people and assets. It’s important that every solution is fine-tuned to respond to the real-life challenges they’re facing.”
Humanoid robotics
ADT Commercial has invested in a unique opportunity to explore the use of humanoid robotics in physical security applications, establishing the next generation in security guarding for commercial customers. This innovative guard technology is a practical solution to streamline operations and reduce costs, while addressing labour shortages in the guarding market.
The robots are being developed to supplement or replace existing guarding staff, with the ability to autonomously conduct patrols, interact with employees, open doors, operate elevators, and remove hazards or obstructions using fully articulated hands. Human operators can remotely control movements and actions of the robot through a virtual reality system.
Autonomous indoor drones
ADT Commercial is also working to proactively develop innovative, cost-effective solutions that offer greater visibility into the goings-on at customers’ facilities. The organisation’s exploration of autonomous indoor drone technology can be potentially leveraged as an additional layer of 24/7 surveillance in commercial facilities, including offices, warehouses, and data centres with always-on video feeds, whether the drone is in flight or monitoring from a docking station.
Once integrated with existing intrusion systems, the intent is for these indoor drones to be able to respond to an alarm without the presence of a physical patrol officer on site. Future applications may also contribute to providing a faster alarm response inside commercial locations by alerting customers of potential hazards or disturbances – including fire or unauthorised personnel through the use of infrared technology.
Innovation roadmap
As a leader in security, fire and life safety, and risk management, ADT Commercial is also applying its forward-thinking approach to revolutionise its everyday, core business services.
This includes consistent improvements to the Esuite account management tool and mobile application, which allows customers to remotely manage security programme data in real-time. In addition to enhancing these critical features, the company is also identifying and piloting efficiencies in monitoring processes that help reduce false alarms and improve emergency response times, as well as streamlining ways to service equipment and systems remotely in order to improve the overall customer experience.
