How cloud-based comms can boost security at sporting events

The 2016 Olympics saw 1.17 million visitors from all over the world – made up of athletes’ families, media personnel and sports fans – descend on Rio De Janeiro.

Such an influx of people posed some serious challenges for organisers, who had a duty of care to protect visitors, competitors and staff.

While the Olympic and Paralympic games were a celebration of sporting excellence and culture, large-scale riots, the targeting of athletes and spectators by criminal gangs and fears about the impact of the Zika virus, meant the event was overshadowed by security fears.

Despite the fact the Rio government deployed an 85,000 strong security force (that included 23,000 soldiers) to patrol and monitor the games, the event was marred by an influx in street crime. One of the most high profile incidents saw the Chief of Security, Felipe Seixas, the victim of an attempted robbery at knife point outside of the Maracanã stadium following the opening ceremony.

For the organisers of high-footfall events—in this case, Brazil’s National Olympic Committee (NOC)—implementing effective security measures and practices can be a serious challenge. Coupled with the increasing regularity of critical incidents worldwide—such as the attempted terrorist attack at the Stade De France in 2015—organisers of all major sporting events need to readdress and improve their safety and security procedures.

Fast-changing situation

To ensure that it is best placed to manage a crisis, organisers need to have the tools to be able to communicate quickly and reliably with large numbers of people. When incidents like the rioting close to the Rio Olympic park take place, how can organisers make people aware of a fast-changing situation and what actions they should take to keep themselves safe?

One solution is to implement the use of an independent, cloud-based critical communications platform to manage emergency responses and to prioritise the safety and security at sporting events of everyone involved.

Had the Brazilian authorities had a critical communications platform when the riots broke out, they could have sent out an emergency notification to everyone in the area warning of the danger and providing actions to guide them to safety

Used by emergency services in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013, the Everbridge cloud communications platform was recently implemented to manage all communications in the lead up to, during, and after one of the biggest sporting events in the world—Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. With more than 1.1 million people in attendance during Super Bowl week, emergency services, local authorities and organising bodies ensured visitors were kept up-to-date with all of the latest information as the week unfolded.

These notifications included the latest travel information such as rail or road closures, live traffic and parking updates, weather news, and any emergency alerts that required immediate action.

Had the Brazilian authorities had a critical communications platform at its disposal when the riots broke out, they could have aggregated geo-location data from the platform to send out an emergency notification to everyone in the area warning of the danger and providing actions to guide them to safety. At the same time, the platform could have notified on-duty security staff of the incident and ensured that securing the area and minimising any immediate danger became top priority.

This technology enables organisers to send out emergency notifications via more than 100 different communication channels and devices including: SMS, email, VoIP calls, voice-to-text, social media alerts and app notifications. The platform continues to send out alerts until an acknowledgement is received. Responses to these notifications would have provided emergency services and security officials with clear visibility of an incident, streamlining the process of understanding which people were at risk and what resources were available to manage the crisis.

By automating the time-intensive emergency cascade process, resources can be deployed more effectively and efficiently than before, ensuring that the safety of everyone involved is better protected

Keeping communication open during outages

Implementing a cloud-based communications platform has many advantages for organisations. By having a system that operates independently of an internal communications network, organisers are ensuring that the bilateral lines of communication between safety officials and visitors remain open—even in the event of a cyber-attack or IT outage that may compromise an internal network, or a rush of calls which may overload a telecommunications mast.

Organisations can also use the technology to capitalise on data already being gathered—via Wi-Fi networks or stadium access cards—to gain an even greater understanding of where staff and spectators are located at all times.

For instance, if a fire broke out in a specific area of the Maracanã Stadium, organisers could aggregate the location data to instantly know which staff are in danger and make communicating with them a priority. Whilst at the same time, they could send out a notification to all staff operating at the location to implement emergency evacuation procedures via safe routes.

By using cloud technology to automate the time-intensive emergency cascade process, resources can be deployed more effectively and efficiently than before, ensuring that the safety of everyone involved is better protected.

As attentions turn to the next major sporting events—such as Tokyo 2020 and the FIFA World Cups in Russia and Qatar— organisers will look to implement new strategies to improve the safety and security of those attending. Harnessing the power of the latest technology to help ensure that the security issues seen at Rio 2016 are a thing of the past will surely be high on the agenda.