As a mom, security is a priority in my life. When it comes to news articles about crime, I won’t lie – I usually put my hands over my eyes and read them through my fingers.
I don’t like thinking about it, but it is part and parcel of life, and the best we can do is protect ourselves, and have excellent communication systems that work with ease in times of crisis.
That’s why I got pretty excited when I heard about ICEPlus. ICEPlus has been created by the rather clever folks over at Always Active Technologies. I’ve had the pleasure of working with them on a few projects, and their forward-thinking nature, can-do attitude and focus on delivering products that not only work, but inspire, has always made me excited to talk about them. By way of transparency, this is not a sponsored blog post – this is not me getting paid to say nice things. This is me saying these things, with purpose, and because I believe in them.
Simply put, their basic product package, ICEPlus1 is a free panic button service that works on your mobile phone. It doesn’t matter the model of your phone, they have a solution for you. Using either a speed dial function, or an application you install on your phone, ICEPlus1 is your backup communication plan in an emergency. I was signed up to a service like this a few years ago, but that was a paid service, and it did not have as many features as this one!
When you sign up – did I mention this is a free service to subscribe to? There are no subscription fees ever! – you assign 4 cellphone numbers and/or email addresses as your emergency contacts. You can either create a speed dial key on your mobile handset, or download the app (by the way, the app is fab. Gigantic red panic button, that is simple even for young kids to use – this is important!) and hey presto.
When you hit the panic button, your 4 contacts are immediately sent an SMS and an email, which details your location, a map, nearest police station and hospital. Even more so, when you sign up, you’ll input all the important medical information that applies to you – including your doctor and medical aid). That gets sent via email to your emergency contact too, so they have it on hand, immediately, and nobody has to dig around trying to find your most important details.
This then enables your emergency contacts to act upon your distress call – whether it to be to get to you straight away, call you, call your security company, etc. What could be easier, especially in a crisis situation?
I chatted with Alan Haarhoff, Business Development Manager at Always Active Technologies recently, and he let me in on a few secrets that ICEPlus are looking into for 2014. What comes in 2014 in ICEPlus and their bigger packages ICEPlus2 and ICEPlus3 will… blow your mind and definitely help you sleep better at night!
You can sign up to ICEPlus here.