New Solution to Enhance BPO Security
By Pankaj Maru
Mumbai, May 15, 2008

While the Indian IT and BPO industry takes a lot of pride on the number of people it employs, it does face immense social and media pressures, following acts of crime against its employees, especially women, during the past few years.

Such attacks have been reported in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, and Gurgaon, to name a few cities. In these cases the main culprits were the drivers involved in transportation of the employees. Hence, this critical situation demanded a reliable solution or mechanism for tracking employees and security, while they are being transported in vehicles from their homes to office and vice versa.

In a bid to tackle this threat, Lattice Bridge Infotech has developed Webtra - an innovative tracking and security product.

Webtra stands for website and tracking. This tracking tool is powered by speech recognition and mobile communication technologies. It's a web-based logistics management and multi mode contextual system designed for passenger security during transit.

According to Sankaran Namboothri chief architect (IT) of Lattice Bridge Infotech, Webra is a device independent security system that doesn't need to be fixed or installed on any vehicle. "The tool has 4 security functional options - SMS-based system is a low cost security solution and voice trigger system, where the server makes calls to employees," he says. Namboothri conceptualized the entire Webtra project.

"The remaining 2 are the speech recognition systems, where the employees reply to the system's call in a simple 'Yes' or 'No' and a speech biometric system, which works on the employee's voice. Voice is pre-recorded on to the system for login and logout with central system and again used for authentication," he adds.

The tool aims to facilitate virtual live communication between the employer and the staff during the transit. It's requires the company to feed all the key details to the central system, including a pre-defined road map, pick-up points, trip timing with arrival and departure schedule, number of employees and details such as name, mobile number, destination, blood group, and other information.

The tool has been programmed with 30 factorial scenarios, which are basically permutation and combinations of pre-defined events that alerts the central system and communicates with the employees and drivers via automated SMS and calls. These pre-defined crisis situations include car breakdown, tyre puncture, accidents, traffic congestion, and so forth.

About the working of security alert system, Namboothri explains, "The tool has 5 minute tolerance and in case there's any deviation or change in pre-defined routes, time schedules, pick-up points, employees, drivers, and even vehicles - the central system immediately alerts the system administrator,"

In case of high priority events such as accidents, breakdowns, or other unexpected situations, the system will inform administrative authorities like the police control room, hospitals, company officials, other employees in the vehicle, and even alternate vehicles.

According to S S Rajan, chief sales and strategy officer (CSSO) of Lattice Bridge Infotech, the entire communication process with the central system can be tracked using the Internet. "With this tool, IT and BPO companies along with other organizations can offer better security to their employees and also can keep a track of them while they are in transit," he concludes.


Related Links:
Security Update for Enterprises