New Video, New Reports, and Questionable Contract Terms

This Week

​This week we’re sharing some new reports, a new video, a reminder that you should never sign a long-term contract for fire alarm monitoring, and a few other updates.

Floor Plans in Reports

​A couple of newsletters ago, we mentioned that we were developing a range of new reports that incorporate floor plans where they’re available.

The example below shows one of the new reports, displaying the detectors that have changed state between two points in time, along with the relevant details for each detector.

We think these reports will be particularly useful for annual surveys, commissioning and general troubleshooting. As always, we’d welcome any feedback on them and ideas for how you’d like to see them used.

Just Say No to Long Term Contracts

We’re not currently the largest fire alarm monitoring company in New Zealand, but we are the fastest growing. We believe that’s down to the service we provide, and the time, energy, and money that we reinvest back into providing new solutions and features for customers and the wider fire industry.

Our contract terms are deliberately simple and fair: a three-month minimum term and a three-month cancellation period. That’s it.

We’d rather customers stay with us because of the value and service we provide than because we’ve locked them into a long-term contract.

We’ve become aware that one of our competitors is locking in customers on extremely long term multi-year contracts. If they were innovating in any way other than how to charge their customers more money that could be explained, but they’re not. They’re also nearly always more expensive than us.

All but one of the fire alarm monitoring providers in New Zealand offer terms broadly similar to ours. So if you’re not currently with AFAM and your provider asks you to sign a long-term contract, just say no.

There’s simply no need to lock yourself in. Migrating to AFAM is free, and you’ll generally be financially better off as well.

Before you sign a multi-year contract, talk to us first.

Becka Intro Video

​Anastasia and Becka have put together a short introduction video. You may have already seen it on LinkedIn, but if not, click on the image below to have a look.

Fire NZ 2026

​As mentioned in our last newsletter, Fire NZ 2026 is being held in Christchurch from 8–10 September.

Anastasia and Kieron will be attending the conference as delegates, while the rest of the team will be visiting the trade show at various points throughout the event. If you’d like to catch up with anyone from the team, just let us know.

We also enjoy showing people around our Christchurch office and giving them a first-hand look at how we’re set up, what we’re working on and what we have in development.

Our office is only about a 15-minute drive from the Fire NZ venue. If you’d like to visit while you’re in Christchurch, let us know and we’ll put the kettle on.

Looking Ahead - 3D Spatial Building Models Questions

​Our post a couple of newsletters ago generated a few questions about the 3D spatial building models we’ve been working on.

As a reminder over the past few months we've been quietly exploring ways to transform our existing two-dimensional floor plans into fully interactive 3D building models, with every detector accurately positioned using latitude, longitude and elevation coordinates. 

Traditionally, creating models like this requires every detector to be individually surveyed using GPS or laser measurement equipment, making the process both time-consuming and expensive. We've developed a much faster and lower cost approach that derives the 3D model directly from the existing floor plans.

If you click on the image below you’ll see a short video of a model of a real multi-storey building in Wellington rendered in 3D space.

The questions we received were mainly about how the models could actually be used.

The 3D rendering itself, while interesting to look at, isn’t something we see having much practical application on its own. Where we see the real potential is using the underlying model to enable other functionality, particularly augmented reality applications.

For example, a technician could point a phone running the AFAM AlarmTech App at a ceiling and instantly see the detector above them, along with its current status, history and other relevant information through an augmented reality overlay.

Another potential application could be for FENZ. Imagine being able to see which detectors have activated inside a building before deciding whether and where to enter. This could be particularly useful when responding to false alarms.

While that might sound a little far-fetched, developing what we already have to provide this type of functionality isn’t actually a giant leap into uncharted territory. Much of the underlying technology would already be in place.

For now, there’s limited demand for this type of functionality, so it will remain in our ‘future development’ pile. But we’re always looking ahead. If customer needs change, we’ll already have much of the technology required to make it possible.

Out and About

Over the next fortnight, members of the AFAM team will be visiting Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton, Wellington, Invercargill, and Christchurch. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks!

If you’d like to arrange a meeting, grab a coffee, book a demonstration or discuss how AFAM can provide greater visibility across your fire alarm portfolio, we’d love to catch up.

Next Time

​In our next newsletter, we’ll share more of what we’ve been working on and what’s happening around AFAM.