Interview with Martin Strand
We sat down with Martin Strand, Head of Product at Skyresponse, to talk about their alarm management platform, our collaboration, and current trends in the alarm industry. Read the interview with Martin to see what he has to say!
Martin Strand, Head of Product at Skyresponse
Martin, can you tell us a bit about Skyresponse and your role in the company?
Skyresponse develops a cloud platform for receiving and distributing alarms in a smart and efficient way. We handle alarms from sensors, devices, and other systems. When something happens, our platform gets notified and forwards the alarm to a recipient according to defined rules, ensuring that the right person gets notified at the right time.
I work as Head of Product and have previous experience from using the platform from working as Product Manager at our partner iZafe before joining Skyresponse.
Who are your customers?
Skyresponse targets three main verticals – Care, Safety and Smart Buildings. Our initial focus was on security, but today you’ll find most of our customers within the care sector. Security and care are similar in that sense that situations involving alarms are often urgent. Someone needs help immediately, otherwise there might be fatal consequences. This puts key requirements on the system. This is different compared to customers within proptech, who want to get notified about issues such as a leakage in a building, or within IoT solutions where we handle alarm events from sensors. More seldome these events are usually tied to critical occurrences.
Another customer segment is alarm response centres using our alarm centre software for receiving and handling alarms in a smooth way.
We currently have customers spread across the Nordic region, the UK and the DACH region. Some are solution providers that put together complete end-customer solutions from an ecosystem of suppliers, normally bundling our platform with physical units and other systems.
You recently expanded to the UK with a focus on the telecare market. Why now?
The UK has been on our radar for a long time. The fact that the analogue telephone network is being shut down in 2025, makes it a good time to approach the UK market now. We timed the digital shift in the Nordics quite well, especially in the care area, and the UK is a few years behind. Entering a new market takes time, so now is a good time to start.
Can you tell us about the Skyresponse alarm management platform?
The Skyresponse platform is a 100% cloud, multi-tenant solution built with modern technology for top performance and scalability. It is a true SaaS service; we grow with our customers. Our initial focus on the security segment laid the foundation for what our platform is capable of. The robustness and flexibility of the alarm distribution is key. Our platform is easy to configure and provides guaranteed response and full traceability.
We have open APIs for sending alarms to our system and to connect with our admin interface. The APIs are well documented, free for anyone to access. All projects include integrations of some kind, for example with public alarm centres for security use cases and care management systems for care settings.
How do you use iotcomms.io in your platform today?
We started using iotcomms.io for receiving care alarms via SCAIP, a standardized protocol that gives both systems and devices the opportunity to talk, including two-way communication. iotcomms.io handles the whole package sending events and status codes to enable two-way communication between users and agents. Today around 9 milllion SCAIP events are sent through iotcomms.io each month.
We are currently including more Alarmbridge functionality, for example support for several alarm protocols. We want our platform to support the current situation in Europe and as the majority of all European care alarm devices are analogue today, we need to support analogue protocols.
Apart from alarm handling, we are looking at other functionality that can further strengthen our platform. Communication between operators and patients, but also with field workers, increases the need for modern ways to communicate. There are many cases where video communication would be a better choice than voice calls. We have solutions that handle cameras from security alarms, but currently they don’t include two-way communication.
What are the strengths of iotcomms.io – as a company and platform?
iotcomms.io allows us to handle variations, whether it is various protocols or devices, in a unified way. We would otherwise need to build quite a complex structure within our own platform. With iotcomms.io we can reduce the complexity and move fast to the market.
Apart from the functionality offered in the service, we find you very knowledgeable in this quite complex area and extremely easy to work with, which are the very basis for a long and successful cooperation.
I would absolutely recommend iotcomms.io to others!
What is the key to building a modern alarm management platform?
‘First, it must be scalable in all dimensions – number of customers, users, devices, events etc. Secondly, it needs to be configurable to suit different purposes, verticals, and markets. And thirdly, well-documented APIs is a key.
We strongly believe that an open platform capable of quickly adapting to market demands is a must to succeed in today’s connected world.
What distinguishes your platform from competing services in the market?
Amongst alarm centre software currently on the market, I would say that we are one of the most modern alternatives, both when it comes to user experience and user interface, but also since we are born in the cloud while traditional players are exactly the opposite. The combination of being cloud native and a flexible, fast, and robust core, is what customer typically values.
Being 100% cloud native can sometimes be a challenge. Some companies associate the cost saving aspect of implementing a cloud service with cutting staff. For others, particularly within the security sector, local regulations may apply such as restrictions on how the software should be installed. The Covid-19 pandemic was an eye opener for many companies, showing the importance of being able to quickly adapt to new situations. Cloud services that can be accessed from anywhere have an advantage to locally installed software under such circumstances.
What trends do you see in the alarm industry in general?
Multiple things are happening that drives the alarm industry forward. Some of the trends I have noticed are:→ Moving from analogue to digital to smart
Many systems today are digital, although some sectors and markets are still in the process of transitioning from analogue to digital. The next move is from digital to smart systems that can do calculations and predictions based on data from multiple sources.→ Shift from reactive to proactive solutions
There is also a shift from reactive to proactive solutions. Within telecare this is often referred to as the Spanish model which implies a digital transformation to offer a personalized service with a proactive approach and a highly predictive nature.→ Organised and complete capture of data
We will see more and more devices and systems being connected, which puts a premium on data traceability. The number of devices is increasing in our daily lives and when today’s population is aging, there will not only be traditional telecare, but modern care that includes IoT-devices and sensors in your home. Everything that is handled through Skyresponse is logged, which is important when you evaluate whether you deliver a good service or not.→ Anytime, anywhere care
Another trend is distributed alarm handling which includes field workers and mobile teams that can help on site. Skyresponse supports flexible alarm routing rules ensuring that the alarms are always handled or escalated by a relative, the nearest care workers or, ultimately, a response centre. The future of alarm management is being shaped as we speak, partly driven by all new gadgets that have found their way into people’s everyday lives. Our platform is strong in the sense that it is easy to jack on smart systems to get the best effect and value for the end user, both now and in the future.ABOUT SKYRESPONSE
Skyresponse is a leading supplier of all types of alarm management and deviations for connected products. Their dynamic services build a nerve system that reacts to incidents and guarantees that the right person, resource, or system is always reached. Skyresponse cooperates with leading partners and their cloud-based system enables the development of new service packages together with their partners’ products. With its state-of-the-art technology, in-depth experience, and flexible business models, Skyresponse develops services that are sector independent and ideally suited to the growing IoT area.
