Do you think that push-to-talk is old news? Think again! PTT services can be very smart and effective. Discover five secrets to PTT services that will really work for you.
Push-to-talk is a fast way to share information with a group of people.
Push-to-talk group communication is important for public safety and other professional organizations. In these organizations, people often work together as teams. Push-to-talk lets teams share information quickly. It can also be used to give instructions or commands to a team.
Simple push-to-talk uses walkie-talkies or a generic PTT app. This may be enough for simple purposes. However, a professional will need much more. Narrowband professional radios have very powerful push-to-talk features. Yet they cannot use multimedia. Even so, PTT is far from obsolete. Modern, strong PTT services offer many exciting possibilities.
What is “a strong PTT service”?
A strong PTT service brings intelligence to push-to-talk services.
- A strong PTT service can be connected to your IT systems and sensors.
- You can share video and location information to improve your operations.
- The PTT service can be integrated with dispatching.
Strong PTT services provide more than digital walkie-talkies can. They are a complete communication solution, designed for organizations whose teams need to communicate in groups.
How can strong PTT services help organizations or companies? How can you get PTT services that really work for you? The answer is in the following five secrets:
Secret 1: Choose a PTT service that lets you connect organizations and users
Secret 2: Find a PTT service that can track vehicles, units, and users
Secret 3: Get a PTT service for assigning tasks and alerting people
Secret 4: Prefer a PTT service that extends your communications coverage
Secret 5: Adopt a PTT service that will improve personnel safety
Let’s look at each of these secrets and what they mean for everyday work.
Secret 1: Choose a PTT service that lets you connect organizations and users
Organizations need to stay connected with their co-workers. Both internal staff and outside contractors need to be contacted. Shared talk groups are needed to communicate between companies. Each company also needs their own dedicated talk groups for internal use.
Strong PTT services can manage and control the different roles and priorities of users. They ensure confidentiality. A company or organization will not know how the other company is organized.
Strong PTT services can give each organization privacy and confidentiality. They will also provide joint groups to help workgroups and companies co-operate. Dynamic groups can be created when needed. This can be done without big investments in systems or new devices. Everyone can use their own smartphone by downloading an app. Strong PTT services can work with external systems, like mobile networks.
Secret 2: Find a PTT service that can track vehicles, units, and users
Knowing the location of people and equipment helps make work efficient. The system will send an alert if something is wrong or malfunctioning. It can be valuable to know if a truck is broken, needs help or is in the wrong place. The system can also alert you about intruders in your plant. Sensors would trigger such an alert. Your strong PTT service would then automatically deliver it to you.
Advanced PTT services let you control and manage your assets, keep an eye on your site and improve your operations. They can even help you be more profitable.
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Watch a short video and learn how a strong PTT service could make it easier for you to track and manage your assets!
And did you know that there is a way for enterprises and industrial sites to get a surprising benefit from Industry 4.0 transformation? Put your data backbone to work and you could fix things faster, get more flexibility with remote access, and avoid compromising security.
Secret 3: Get a PTT service for assigning tasks and alerting people
A sensor or an external system may trigger an alert. This can be about a broken part in a machine or a leak in a container. The people nearest the problem need to be alerted so they can fix it quickly. This can save time and money and maybe prevent lost production. Assigning tasks by phoning people can be time consuming and costly.
Some tasks do not require immediate action. Assignments can have priorities such as high, low or serious. This helps the maintenance teams plan their routes on the site and save time. When they confirm that the task is complete, it’s easy to follow up and later check the task assignments. Strong PTT services – Tactilon Agnet, for example – will keep a log of all activities.
It’s crucial to alert people quickly in an emergency. Everyone on the site needs to get the same information and instructions about the situation. There might be many companies and workgroups on site. They all can be alerted with one single group call. This feature is one of the most valuable functions of a strong PTT service. After all, it could even save lives.
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Watch what experts on mission critical push-to-talk say about assigning and alerting personnel in the webinar recording of “How to make strong PTT services really work for you“ by Airbus. How do automation, location or IoT fit into the picture?
Secret 4: Prefer a PTT service that extends your communications coverage
Operations can be more efficient if all team members are part of the same talk group, wherever they are. Supervisors could work remotely, even from the other side of the world. Perhaps these capabilities sound expensive to you?
Extending your communications coverage does not need a big investment in hardware. A strong PTT service such as Tactilon Agnet can do it for you. Talk groups are shared by users of TETRA or other radio systems. People who use smartphones are also part of the groups.
You also have tools to manage the groups. There is no investment in hardware, but the system is still future-ready.
Just think: your strong PTT services can be the bridge between your current system/devices and broadband/LTE/4G/5G.
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With PTT on your smartphone, you don't have to waste time making multiple calls to coordinate your team. But that’s just the start. Choose a strong PTT service and you can expect even more. How much more? Read these 7 tips about PTT services to find out. Some of them may surprise you!
Or watch a video: see a video on how to track and manage assets - at 0:50, you will learn how you can get extended coverage for your group communications.
Secret 5: Adopt a PTT service that will improve personnel safety
People need to feel safe and secure at their workplace. For the employer, all actions that can improve personnel safety are important. Especially if they can be done easily and automatically. One example of such an action is adopting an advanced man-down function in a device that personnel carry.
An advanced man-down function will notice if the person falls and stops moving and will trigger a high-priority alert to get help. This is extremely important for people working alone. A special emergency button can request immediate help for the employee.
These types of functions and safety features are possible with advanced PTT services on a smartphone. They are already in use at many sites. There are many ways to program the function as well as the emergency button to meet the needs of the staff and the organization.
Communication is very important in any organization or company. Making it easy, quick and smooth is the number one target. A communication system with talk groups is necessary for work teams so that they can share information instantly.
You need a “strong PTT service.” This is a complete communication solution, not just an app or a button on a device. Strong PTT services on a smart device bring intelligence to push-to-talk services. They provide more capabilities and functionalities for users. These include data, location and video.
Your strong PTT service is designed for group communications. It is also scalable and easy to take into use. See Tactilon Agnet from Airbus as a good example of a strong PTT service.
These were the five secrets to effective PTT services. Make the right choice, save money and enjoy the benefits of advanced PTT services that really work for you!
This guide tells you why industrial sites and enterprises should adopt advanced push-to-talk/push-to-x services on smart devices: “How to do strong push-to-talk services the right way”. Find your right way to the smart future!
