Connecting to ASAP is an important milestone—but getting connected is only the beginning.
As additional emergency communications centers (ECCs) join the ASAP Service, monitoring centers have new opportunities to send alarm dispatch requests electronically instead of relying on traditional telephone calls. But realizing that opportunity depends on something fundamental: knowing which customer addresses are eligible for ASAP.
That makes address verification an ongoing operational responsibility, not a one-time implementation task.
Yesterday's Telephone Dispatch Could Be Today's ASAP Dispatch
Consider an account that wasn't eligible for ASAP when it was originally established. The monitoring center correctly configured that account for telephone dispatch because the serving ECC wasn't participating in ASAP.
Six months later, that ECC implements ASAP.
Unless the monitoring center has a process for identifying and revalidating accounts within that jurisdiction, those alarms may continue to be handled by telephone—even though a digital pathway is now available.
Multiply that scenario across hundreds or thousands of accounts and a growing network of participating ECCs, and the opportunity becomes significant.
Make Verification Continuous
Monitoring centers should consider establishing a regular process for comparing customer accounts against the current ASAP service footprint.
That might include reviewing newly onboarded ECCs, routinely revalidating accounts currently designated for telephone dispatch, verifying addresses when customer information changes, and incorporating ASAP eligibility checks into new-account and quality-assurance processes.
The objective isn't simply cleaner data. It's ensuring that every eligible alarm has the opportunity to benefit from automated dispatch.
Data Quality Has an Operational Payoff
Accurate, current address information helps ensure alarms are routed to the appropriate ECC and reduces the likelihood that an event requires manual intervention.
Increasing the percentage of eligible alarms transmitted through ASAP can also mean fewer telephone calls for operators, less duplicate data entry, more consistent information exchange, and greater utilization of an investment the monitoring center has already made.
As ASAP continues to expand, yesterday's account data shouldn't determine tomorrow's dispatch process.
Continuous address verification helps monitoring centers keep pace with that growth—and ensures that as more ECCs become available through ASAP, more customers can benefit from the connection.
A Question for Your Team
How often does your monitoring center revalidate telephone-dispatched accounts to determine whether they are now eligible for ASAP?
If the answer is only when there's a problem, it may be time to make address verification part of your regular operating rhythm.
