Nowadays, a monitoring center has the capacity to manage a much broader range of signals, offering value-added services to its customers. Such as checking the armed/disarmed status of systems and any deviations from the opening or closing schedules. The Central can send periodic activity reports, managing physical or virtual panic buttons, and video verification using installed cameras and NVR. With the spread of Smartphones among subscribers, it is now common to provide real-time information to customers via emails, text messages, or push notifications with detailed information tailored to each customer and event profile.

The ARC service can extend to preventive or corrective maintenance. And allow association with Patrols, First Responders, or any professionals using tools to respond. Patrols and Servicemen or Alarm Responders using Smartphones linked to the Central can perform task such as verify door locks, identify people on site, verify areas, and are tracked in real-time. With the apps, they can include activity reports, attach images and notes that
remain on file for administrators and customers when requested. The same concept applies to security picket interventions.

With the massive expansion of Fiber optic networks as the backbone of communications infrastructures, and the progressive disinvestment/removal of copper infrastructure by telecommunications service providers, the way is paved for a re-modeling of communication means and report formats, with IP-based communication becoming the new standard (supported by LAN or GPRS/LTE/5G connection).

On the other hand, alarm equipment manufacturers increasingly bet on formats that, although based on open standards, end up being closed and proprietary, forcing ARC to opt for solutions that allow aggregation of formats, or equipment and software adapted for multiple manufacturers. This involves associating the appropriate Management and Alarm Response Software, thus expanding its response capacity and market adaptability,
enhancing its value. Otherwise the ARC is restricting itself to a small number of manufacturers, potentially becoming “commercially hostage” to a single manufacturer.

In the case of self-monitoring, particularly in industry and large residential complexes, the role of the security department is gaining increasing prominence today, with simple and accessible technological equipment for implementation and such as using Alarm Receivers with web-based software or Smartphone apps that allows operators easy access to information.

In the particular case of the industrial sector, monitoring in guard booths can go far beyond the supervision of safety equipment, and can be easily associated with the monitoring of the status of a wide range of variables, such as temperatures, operational status of machines, energy consumption/non-consumption, among many others.