Customer Stories: SMS Security
SMS Security moves from wands to mobile, driving compliance and cutting admin work with Patrol Points
Background
Michel Lauzon, a director at SMS Security, sought to enhance its security operations across multiple residential and commercial properties. With a focus on streamlining patrols, incident reporting, and other security features, SMS Security collaborated with Patrol Points to adopt a more integrated and efficient system.
Challenge
Before Patrol Points, SMS Security relied on wand-based guard tour systems with metal checkpoints, base stations, and CD-installed software. Reporting required physically downloading a wand, then manually emailing PDFs to property managers. Hardware failures, software compatibility issues, and a roughly 1,500-scan capacity created delays and risked lost data. Guards also carried booklets to log incidents, then re-wrote reports at the desk, which added time and error risk.
Supervisors spent time troubleshooting wands, swapping cables, and driving to sites for fixes. If checkpoints changed or fell off, teams often waited for management to reprogram them.
SMS Security Results Through Patrol Points
Faster issue handling and fewer delays
Guards log minor or non-urgent issues during the patrol. Property managers see them immediately and can act sooner. Larger incidents still receive full reports, but small items no longer clog the pipeline.
Less admin work for supervisors and back office
No more base-station downloads, PDF batching, or onsite troubleshooting. Supervisors save about half an hour per day and can reallocate time to oversight and client operations.
Stronger compliance and clarity
Real-time visibility makes teams more diligent about completing checkpoints. If a point cannot be reached, guards log a reason so managers know what happened and why.
Stability without hardware headaches
After rollout, SMS Security reports near zero errors across 50 to 60 locations. No CDs, firmware, or USB issues, and no belt-clip wands to break or go missing.
Predictable costs
Repair and replacement costs from wand systems disappeared. While overall savings vary by site, the switch reduced surprises and call-outs, and delivered an estimated 10% operational cost reduction.
Conclusion
- 80% of permanent locations adopted Patrol Points within months (about 250 guards using it during shifts).
- 40 to 50 sites use Patrol Points daily
- More than 50% faster handling of non-urgent issues because guards log items during patrols instead of writing separate reports later.
- Supervisors save about 30 minutes per day by eliminating manual wand downloads and truck rolls.
- Almost no system errors reported across 50 to 60 locations after rollout stabilization.