Only a few months ago, we announced our first annual D3 Users’ Conference—and on an action-packed May 20, 2014 in Chicago, D3 customers representing virtually every major industry mixed and mingled, shared best practices, and took part in product introductions, educational workshops and an outstanding keynote presentation courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Director of Police & Security Services, Jeffrey R. Francis.
The day’s sessions began with D3 President Gordon Benoit explaining the lifeblood of D3, which is our relentless commitment to research and development. Dedicating well over 50% of annual revenue to continual R&D, Gordon and the D3 team methodically improve the product suite and work closely with our customers to define their challenges, understand their goals and consistently develop the most effective solutions.
The result of this process is what we call D3 ONE. A fully integrated suite of security management software, D3 ONE fuses Incident Reporting, Investigation/Case Management, I.T. Forensics, Dispatch, Guard Tour, PSIM/Situational Awareness—plus all critical video management and access control integrations—on a flexible and easy-to-manage single platform. Gordon introduced this concept, in turn going over D3’s web-based modular solutions, and showing how each module is integrated seamlessly to each other and the greater suite.
Several product-centric presentations followed, including workshops on Getting the Most Out of Your Incident Reporting & Case Management System; Optimizing Physical Security with D3 Mobile; and Managing Any Event from Cradle-to-Grave. Packed full of best practices and lots of tips and tactics, these presentations aimed to help users configure their systems for maximum efficiency, incorporate new sites and third-party integrations, and fully leverage the power of the D3 ONE suite—from setting up cross-departmental workflows and silo free trending, to incorporating standard operating procedures and video management integrations.
The universally agreed upon conference highlight was Jeffrey R. Francis’ keynote presentation. Jeff’s high-energy presentation captivated the audience with his incisive portrayal of the challenges, scenarios and solutions he manages every day, as the Director of Police & Security Services at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). A gifted orator with a penchant for nailing down the details, Jeff let the audience ride shotgun while he navigated through the high-stakes twists and turns inherent at UPMC—one of the largest hospital networks in the world. UPMC uses its integrated D3 system for incident and visitor management, dispatching, guard tour and risk management analytics—in the process tracking thousands of monthly incident reports, plus the activities of 140 armed police officers and over 250 private security officers. A major achievement of Jeff’s was standardizing the D3 system across UPMC’s facilities, which includes 16 large, full-service hospitals. The goal is to proactively identify threats and extract meaningful business intelligence to help manage just about everything—from suspicious visitors and combative patients, to the use of Tasers and placement of surveillance cameras. Simply put, Jeff’s presentation proved that granular can be electrifying, and we are grateful that he contributed in such an important way to the first annual D3 Users’ Conference. You can request a copy of Jeff’s outstanding presentation here.
Immediately following Jeff—and with large shoes to fill—D3’s Andrew Sawatzky provided a high-level demonstration of our all-new Dispatch module. Long-awaited and fundamentally improved over the previous version, the new dispatch is built to match the real-world requirements of heavy dispatch users such as hospitals, universities, corporate campuses, property management firms, banks and energy industry organizations. Andrew showed us how the system is faster, with less clicks and more hot keys; easy to train and configure; and more intuitive, with built in S.O.Ps, front-end scheduling, proximity dispatching and one-click incident and case report escalations. Interested? You can read more about the new D3 Dispatch system and set up a demo here.
Finally, to wrap the day up in an interactive format and provide an open-ended discussion about trends and technology, challenges and solutions, D3 was proud to host a Security Roundtable. Accessible to everyone and featuring three industry veterans as panelists, the lively and well-rounded discussion jumped organically from topic to topic, soliciting contributions from the audience, and in the end highlighting the interconnectedness of issues. We found that while many of our customers face very similar security, safety and risk management challenges, there are indeed very different approaches and solutions, making for interesting commentary and a valuable learning experience for all. We’d like to thank the following panelists for their important contributions:
- Robert Rangel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
- John Littler, AlliedBarton Security Services
- Jeffrey R. Francis, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
In sum, we hope attendees saw first-hand that D3 products are built according to their needs—the needs of the marketplace. The D3 ONE suite and its built-in link analysis and guard tour, unlimited drop down menus, functional third party integrations and award-winning GIA PSIM are the end result of this pragmatic approach to product development. Furthermore, providing users with a dedicated venue to optimize their use of D3, grow their network of peers and increase their knowledge of strategies and tactics is beneficial to everyone—from a new security analyst learning about the Incident Reporting system, to a CSO implementing GIA enterprise-wide. Plus, for the D3 team members; getting feedback directly from our customers and engaging with them in person contributes immensely to clearly understanding needs and motivations, goals and solutions.
As the D3 team left to catch our flight home, we said farewell to our customers—most of whom had not met each other previously—as they shared best practices, traded tips and tricks, and exchanged contact information over beer, wine and notepads. It’s great to see our customers closer than ever, exchanging information and we hope that strengthened professional relationships and more secure organizations are the outcome.
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