The Evolution of the Concierge

 

If you want to understand how things evolved into the current form of the Concierge then we need to take a trip back to history and be aware what the state of communications for The Eastwood Lafayette III (TEL3) has been in the past.

•    The PABX System.  I wasn't living in TEL3 when the system was at the center of communications. This is most likely driven by PLDT since our building was built with a PLDT room.

•    The PLDT Room.   When TEL3 was built this is one room housing PLDT telco switching facilities for several buildings in Eastwood such as The Eastwood Excelsior, The Grand Eastwood Palazzo, The Eastwood Lafayette I, II, & II 

• Perhaps this was housed in TEL3 due to the fact that the telecommunications manhole is right in front of our building doorsteps

•    Smart Pico Cells.   One of the things you'll notice in our building is that there are many pico cells spread all throughout.  Hence, Smart mobile gets good reception here compared to Globe Telecoms.

•    Destiny Cable Channel 33.  In the past Destiny Cable was the exclusive cable provider for TEL3 and one facility they have provided is a dedicated Channel  33 which acts as a lobby to monitor incoming guests.  So if you may be expecting a guest in the lobby then you turn to Channel 33 and a connected CCTV camera at the lobby will give you a view.  Nowadays of course such could have privacy implications as you can easily monitor and stalk movements of a person in the lobby area.  Eventually Sky Cable came into TEL3 and as Sky Cable grew it eventually gobbled up Destiny Cable and all analog facilities of Destiny was switched over to Sky Cable.

•    Guest Login Systems.   Way back in 2019 I was being bogged by requests for a Guest Login System for added security in the building.  There were actually options already  underway then.

•    iFAE Guest Login System.   One of the many things evolving in FOPM is the iFAE system.  But the problem those days is they cannot even do a proper demo of the system without hanging since their application is online.  
  
  My comments even then was that Guest Login Systems SHOULD BE LOCAL since guests do not come from the cloud (hehe😁) but locally enter your building.  But I do get the idea that online connectivity is necessary for remote notification of unit owners of unit transits. For your login system here are your GOALS :

• PRIMARY.   Recording building visitors going in and out just like security guards do in a logbook.  So your login application could just sit pretty on a local computer using a LOCAL DATABASE.  Internet connectivity basically not required but a basic local area network (LAN) would be necessary so the database could be shared by the Admin Office and the Concierge.

• SECONDARY.   Remote Notification of unit owners of unit transits (visitors).  If you can't do the Prime Directive 😉 then the secondary is useless.

• INTERNET REDUNDANCY OF PROPERTY.   Since TEL3 now has internet redundancies (multiple FREE providers) to keep the admin functions always online then iFAE systems is safe now, unless of course FOPM server is down... hence I said a LOCAL login system is better.

•    Primoo App.   This was introduced to me by a resident friend because she said one of her properties uses it.  It has lots of nice features but for me the main consideration of not using it is Data Privacy.  Using the app needs you to trust the 3rd party app developer that whatever information collected and processed within will not be shared elsewhere.  Yeah you may neglect all data privacy when you let apps like TikTok gather your personal data or even let SnapChat scan your face (who knows what they do with facial data?), but when it comes to other people's data I would really really be very careful. 

•    Contractor Referral by TEL3 Unit Owner.   Someone insisted that we use a professional company for such a system.  My argument has always been if the objective is to bring back the Destiny Channel 33 type of lobby monitoring then there is no need to hire a contractor as you can easily make use of messenger apps like Facebook Messenger, Viber or WhatsApp and you could view visitors from the lobby via smartphone at the comfort of your own unit PROVIDED there is a COMPUTER at the reception desk with the same messenger apps. I already repeatedly told her that there are apps like Primoo and even FOPM's iFAE...  So why pay if you can get for free?  Why pay... if you have iFAE? 😉

• But this someone insisted on this contractor so we gave in to the request for a presentation.  Myself, VP Des, and Corp.Sec Alan attended the presentation.  The system was nice with the visitor login hardware being able to send mobile notifications of guest entry and exit.  But here is one CAVEAT though : EACH UNIT OWNER will have to pay a MONTHLY FEE ... If I remember correctly about $10 or $20 since the system on the cloud is I believe foreign based.  I told them this MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION will not fly with our unit owners.  And again I told them there already are FREE OPTIONS.  I also asked them if they can just sell the hardware minus the monthly subscription but they said it comes in a bundle... So... partly nice, but no dice... I later found out that the owner of the company being pushed by TEL3 Unit Owner is the president of the association of which she happens to also have a unit in... So... uhmm... well... ahhh...

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