Simplisafe rolls out early-access live guard outdoor service
BOSTON – Home security company SimpliSafe has announced it will give select customers early access to its live guard outdoor protection service. SimpliSafe says its new monitoring service introduces a double-layer approach to home security, combining the power of artificial intelligence technology with a team of expert monitoring professionals to prevent crime before it happens. The new service builds on the company’s recently launched 24/7 live guard protection. “For decades, the home security industry has remained reactive, jumping into action only when a break-in is already in progress,” said Christian Cerda, CEO at SimpliSafe. “SimpliSafe has set out to challenge this standard and to offer our customers new, more proactive ways to feel and be safe. Live outdoor monitoring is our latest breakthrough, combining AI and advanced technology with expert monitoring professionals to stop crime before it even happens. This is a true game changer in customer safety.” Simplisafe says nearly 2 million people in the U.S. are victims of burglary and trespassing each year, often facing significant emotional and financial harm, as a result. Home invasions typically last only 10 minutes, according to the company, so every second counts when it comes to emergency response but once an intruder has entered the home, it’s already too late to stop the resulting damage. The new service addresses the need to be able to “arm” cameras, says Hooman Shahidi, SimpliSafe’s senior vice president of product. “With outdoor monitoring, it’s pretty simple for users - the most important thing is arming your system,” he said. “When your system is armed, our cameras’ advanced AI can detect any human movement around the perimeter of your home. If human movement is detected, the service will use automated face matching to assist our agents in determining if the person matches any of your saved profiles of family members or trusted visitors. These profiles are easy to set up on the SimpliSafe Pre Crime App (a temporary app that Beta participants will use during the Early Access period) and, importantly, the profiles are fully controlled by you.” As part of the early access, Shahidi says users will receive an alert on their phone via the SimpliSafe Pre Crime App alerting them that movement was detected and that one of Simplisafe’s monitoring agents is currently viewing their camera's live feed. Users will also be alerted if and when: • An agent initiates two-way audio communication with the individual(s) on your property • Two-way communication ends along with the outcome of that communication (threat vs. non-threat) • Emergency services are called to address a situation “Our cameras use advanced AI to differentiate people from other moving objects, such as cars and animals,” Shahidi said. “When human movement is detected, the service will initiate automated face matching to assist agents in determining if that person matches any of the customer’s ‘friendly faces’ - family members or trusted visitors that they have saved in their SimpliSafe account. Core to our product is the combination of technology and people, so once the service determines someone isn’t a match, our expert agents jump in to engage with the potential intruder, with the goal of deterring any possible crime and/or dispatching first responders when needed.” Simplisafe will make live guard outdoor protection available to all customers later this year.