Setting up fire and/or security monitoring services for your business provides great peace of mind. But the process can be confusing, especially when multiple parties are involved in providing the services.
Koorsen Fire & Security utilizes only the best when providing monitoring services to our customers, which is why we work with CMS, who provides excellent service and a valuable end-user experience with their free online portal.
To better understand how your Koorsen monitoring services work, and to help you take full advantage of all that is available to you, read on to learn about CMS and their free online portal that allows you interactive access to your monitored alarm accounts.
Who is CMS?
Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS) is a monitoring agency that has been in business for over 40 years. They operate as the largest wholesale alarm monitoring company in the country and provide monitoring in partnership with over 3,500 alarm and security companies, such as Koorsen Fire & Security.
With three separate, yet redundant, 24/7 monitoring stations across the country providing monitoring services for responses to fire, security, two-way voice pendant monitoring, and more, they are ready to serve their customers whenever they need it wherever they are in the nation.
How Does CMS and MyAlarms.com Online Portal Work?
CMS’s stations are staffed with highly trained operators who respond immediately, according to their customers' specifications, when an alarm signal is received.
Security alarm customers typically request that the operator attempt to reach them first before sending emergency responders to help reduce false alarms. But, in the event the customer cannot be reached, emergency dispatch will be sent to the site.
If the operator does reach the customer, the customer can respond in one of three ways:
- Inform the operator that it is a false alarm. The customer will provide a verbal false-alarm passcode, which is a secret word chosen by the customer, to let the operator know they are who they say they are and that all is well.
- Inform the operator that it is a real alarm and that emergency dispatch is needed.
- If held in a hostage situation, the customer can give the operator the verbal duress code – another secret word– that lets the operator know the customer is in danger and needs immediate help. The operator will hang up and immediately send the authorities. Any wrong passcode given will be treated as a duress code resulting in the dispatch of authorities.
While, to a degree, the above operations are standard for many alarm monitoring services, what is not standard is CMS’s MyAlarms.com Online Portal.
The beauty of CMS’s MyAlarms.com Online Portal is that it allows you to do in seconds, with the click or tap of a button, what most monitoring customers have to type an email or make a lengthy phone call to do.
When you are a Koorsen monitoring customer, you get FREE access to MyAlarms.com Online Portal, giving you more access and more control over your monitored systems!
Benefits of Using the MyAlarms.com Online Portal
The benefits of being able to manage your monitored security and fire systems without having to make a single phone call include the ability to:
- Add and remove contacts at your convenience as quickly as you need to. When an employee leaves, you can immediately remove them from the contact list. Likewise, when a new employee is hired, you can add them on without having to make a phone call.
- Add and update verbal passcodes to be given to the monitoring center by your contacts in the event of an alarm. For security, it is recommended to change these passcodes regularly, especially any time an employee leaves or is let go.
- Put your system into test mode to avoid false alarms and related fines. You will want to do this whenever you are testing or performing maintenance on the system, or when doing renovations or construction projects that could accidentally trigger an alarm.
You can put either your whole system or specific zones into test mode for up to 4 hours, during which the monitoring center will know not to respond to any alarm activity at that site. - Review, in real-time, all event activity and history on all of your monitored accounts from your phone or tablet. You will be able to see the details of how many and which alarms were triggered and what, if any, agency dispatches occurred as far back as 18 months.
- Download event history reports for use as evidence or analysis to improve security and safety strategies.
- Check your system and zones status.
- Access MyAlarms.com Online Portal from a smartphone, laptop, or desktop 24/7.
The MyAlarms.com Online Portal makes managing your accounts extremely convenient and is a significant time-saver. You will have 24/7 access to all of your information, along with the ability to update it without having to wait for office hours to make a phone call and without having to wait on hold to make a simple change.
The portal also puts you in control, allowing you to make updates and changes when you need them and giving you knowledge of all your monitored accounts’ activities.
Ready to Set Up Your MyAlarms.com Online Portal?
If you receive monitoring services through Koorsen Fire & Security, you automatically have FREE access to CMS’s MyAlarms.com Online Portal. If you have not set it up yet, fill out the form below to get full access to MyAlarms.com Online Portal. When you fill out the form your request will be sent over for processing. Once you have been determined to have the authority to request this access you will be setup, at which time you will receive two emails from NoReply@MyAlarms.com to complete the registration process for your access.
