If you have recently visited Paya Lebar Quarters (PLQ), you might have seen a robot patrolling the area. Called Oscar, the purpose-built robot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and sound alerts upon encountering illegally parked bicycles, fires, and people smoking in non-designated areas or loitering in PLQ after hours. It can even broadcast pre-planned or emergency messages to members of the public, too.
Oscar will also be able to identify crowding, and play messages to inform shoppers to adhere to safe distancing measures by the end of this year. Shoppers can also access the mall directory through it.
The robot is part of Security+, an offering by advanced integrated security services provider Certis.
Its chief digital officer Fuji Foo explains that Security+ combines security, facilities management and customer service into a holistic service supported and underpinned by technology. This helps its customers break down silos within their organisations to realise synergies and operate more efficiently.
Helping customers adopt technology purposefully
From the rise of e-commerce to telehealth, the pandemic has shown many examples of how technology can enhance our physical world. However, simply adopting technology for the sake of it and without a proper plan will not bring about transformative results.
This is why Security+ includes a business process re-engineering and operations (BPRO) process, wherein Certis works with its customers to create desired outcomes and co-develop new operating models using design thinking techniques.
“The BPRO is an in-depth study that defines the desired outcomes, measurement of success, and the different components needed for success. It also looks at the customer’s existing technologies before we work with them to identify the new solutions that need to be deployed to fill the gaps. Besides technology, we also review if their talents have the right skills to use our solutions or the new system,” says Foo.
Apart from that, Certis conducts partnering workshops to get stakeholders from the customer side aligned. “Those workshops ensure everyone is on the same page — in terms of the vision for the project and the desired outcomes — and that they understand their roles in the project,” he claims.
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He adds that the BPRO process and partnering workshops are done at the start of a project to help customers adopt technology purposefully. They can take between a month and six months, depending on the complexity and scale of the project.
To further engage with customers, Certis recently launched an interactive streaming and video conferencing platform called Certis Experience. The platform provides both current and potential customers with an immersive 360-degree experience, taking them on an in-depth tour of Certis’ new and innovative solutions from anywhere in the world.
As such, businesses can keep up- to-date with the latest technology and security trends as well as explore the various possibilities of using technology to enhance their operations, in a safer and smarter manner.
Through the immersive Certis Experience platform, businesses can visualise solutions designed for their business needs before they commit
Leveraging data and AI to enhance the physical world
Traditionally known as a physical guarding services provider, Certis transformed and re-launched itself as an operations-technology (ops-tech) outsourcing partner in 2018, with Security+ as its core.
Foo says the new Certis is underpinned by three pillars. The first is contextual, data-driven operations, which requires data from various sources — including open data sources and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices — to be analysed and translated into actionable insights that drive business outcomes.
He adds that Certis’ data-driven operations enabled the company to offer JTC a contract based on security outcomes instead of a fixed number of headcount. As part of the contract, Certis deployed security officers supported by remote monitoring through a centralised Security Operations Centre.
The integrated security set-up allows for monitoring at the cluster level, ensuring efficient deployment of manpower throughout JTC’s over 60 properties and land space distributed across a 150 sq km area, as opposed to a fixed amount of manpower being confined to individual buildings.
Certis also equipped its security officers with Argus, a mobile application that combines security reporting, tasking, and monitoring processes into a single platform. This enabled security officers at JTC to be more aware of the tasks assigned to them and helped improve productivity.
The second pillar is applied intelligence, which looks at data governance, training the AI model — and most importantly — ensuring the use of AI leads to the desired business outcomes. For instance, Certis’s Smart Networked Security uses various technologies, including live-streaming cameras and sensors on robots, to enable human-machine collaboration.
Our AI-enabled robots like Oscar serve as a force multiplier by performing specific functions to complement our on-ground teams’ capabilities [and deliver outcomes like] Covid-19 measures enforcement and safety and security management.Fuji Foo, chief digital officer, Certis
Building capabilities
As technology is only as good as the user, the third pillar is Certis’s citizen development programme, which focuses on capability development.
The programme includes the Certis Corporate University (CCU), which aims to train a multi-skilled workforce and enable digital literacy across the organisation. Foo shares that besides the learning tracks assigned to them based on their roles, employees (even those in non-technology positions) can also take courses through CCU to self-learn and be exposed to the possibilities of using different technologies in their jobs.
The topics covered in those courses include AI, data analytics, robotics and automation. In the past year, CCU has completed in-person training for over 20,000 employees, and conducted courses via its online learning management system or through a blended approach for almost 1,200 employees.
Additionally, Certis holds a citizen developer hackathon every quarter to promote the spirit of creativity and innovation. “The hackathon encourages employees to think of problems and how to solve them. By doing so, we are training them to apply technology tools to real-life scenarios,” says Foo.
He also highlights that Certis collaborates with industry players, AI start-ups, and academia through the Certis Centre for Applied Intelligence to accelerate research and developments around AI for the security industry.
Some of the partners are tech companies Nvidia and Microsoft, computer vision AI start-up Clobotics, and the National University of Singapore. The centre will also train and nurture AI resources to support ongoing efforts in harnessing Certis’ AI-enabled ops-tech capabilities.
Moreover, Foo shares that Certis operationalises new technologies in a live environment at its Living Lab to ensure that its customers can fully benefit from those technologies. “We test all the technologies we offer and operationalise them in our Living Lab at Commonwealth before deploying them to customers. This is important in driving technology adoption among our customers,” he says.
While technologies such as IoT, 5G, and AI are said to be game-changers, they can only deliver benefits when used appropriately. Instead of deploying technology without a business case, organisations should work with partners like Certis that can help operationalise turn-key solutions to meet their business objectives while building a safer and smarter physical world.
All photos: Certis
