What Is AG Chat?

What Is AG Chat?

AG Chat is an alarm management tool that will send out a link to enter a secure group chat to all of the members on a contact list. It does this immediately once the event is received. It allows contacts to communicate with each other in a text-based setting so they're able to disregard the alarm in the group chat, figure out what's going on and even dispatch if necessary.

What Is AG Chat Built To Solve?

AG Chat really is built to achieve better communication between members of a contact list. One thing that we run into quite often is that when we call people, about 60 percent don't answer the phone. AG Chat allows those people to get into a secure communication platform with each other without answering their phone. They can use Chat in a meeting, they can use it out and about, and they're able to communicate and resolve their alarm without ever having to pick up the phone.

Can You Give Us A Use Case Scenario?

One example we see a lot with AG chat is when a child gets home from school, they accidentally trigger the alarm. From there, the Chat message is sent to everybody on the contact list where they're allowed to collaborate on the event. For example, the child could say, "Hey, I triggered the alarm when I got home from school," and they are able to disregard that alarm without police being sent, and without a phone call being made. And most importantly, the parents are able to know that their child is safe and secure home.

What Are The Results?

Since we first implemented AG chat with some of our dealers, we've seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of false alarms that we dispatch on. We're seeing right now about 38 percent of alarms are being disregarded because of AG Chat, which helps a lot with things like false alarm fees. Certain counties and jurisdictions have legislation that charges the dealer or charges as a subscriber for dispatching on a false alarm. This tool has really helped alleviate some of those costs and that pain which comes along with that legislation.

Because AG Chat has been so effective in reducing false alarm dispatches, we feel that it could help prohibit further legislation from being made against alarm companies and false dispatches.

Does It Help In Places Like Sandy Springs, GA?

As many of you are aware, in Sandy Springs Georgia, there are very steep prices for false dispatches. Those are directed towards the dealer rather than the subscriber, so it's coming out of out of your pockets. What AG Chat has been able to do is, put subscribers in a secure group chat and get a verified response when they ask us to dispatch. At that point, we have a Verified Dispatch, whereas if we use our traditional methods of calling and we just don't get an answer on the phone, we're actually making an unverified dispatch which will result in the false alarm fee.

Why Do Subscribers Like AG Chat?

The subscriber feedback that we've received with AG Chat has been really positive. As I mentioned earlier, about 60 percent of the time that we call our subscribers they don't answer the phone. So AG Chat has allowed very busy individuals who have an alarm system and want to feel secure, but don't have time to answer the phone, to interact with their alarm system and to be able to resolve their alarms without being pulled out of a meeting or getting called when they're out and about running errands. It allows them to communicate quickly and disregard if necessary. And they're able to resolve their alarm right then and there.

Why Do Dealers Like AG Chat?

From a from a dealer perspective, AG chat is a great value-add to your business which is offered to you for free. So whether you choose to mark that up or not is your perogative. But from our side, it's completely free, easily implemented, and easily maintained and managed. Now you're able to provide your subscribers with a feature that a lot of other companies can't offer, and at no cost to you.

What Are Some Common Concerns With AG Chat?

Dealers are often concerned with the delay between the time that an alarm is triggered and the time that an operator will begin calling on it with AG Chat. What we've seen on our sid, however, is instead of calling down the call list sometimes three four or five contacts, which can take us three or four or five minutes, We're sending out an immediate notification to everybody on the contact list at the same time. In the case of a true emergency, they are able to dispatch directly from the chat so that dispatch can be requested within 10 seconds of an alarm going off rather than five minutes if you happen to be the one who answers the phone and your contact number five.

Is AG Chat Easy To Implement?

Currently (October 2018) we have over 120,000 subscribers using AG Chat. So our team is experienced at implementing AG Chat, experienced at teaching dealers how to manage AG Chat, and we are also experienced in explaining to subscribers and dealers how AG Chat functions along with all of the benefits that come along with it.

How Do I get AG Chat?