Callouts Insight: turning raw data into operational decisions

Securitas ops teams could see raw callout totals but couldn't tell where to act. In roughly three months, working within fragmented legacy data across 50+ markets, I led the research and design of a KPI and reporting layer that turned that raw data into a decision-ready view, shipping a validated Phase 1 first and navigating a real finance-vs-operations tension over how cancelled callouts were counted. It moved teams from reactive firefighting to proactive service management.

• 40% less time spent analysing performance, as visual summaries replaced manual report digging.
• 25% faster to catch delayed responses, via SLA-benchmarked response-time buckets.
• Live across 50+ markets and referenced in 200+ client review sessions as the shared SLA source of truth.

Securitas is one of the world's largest private security companies, providing guarding, alarm response, and mobile services across 50+ markets. Clients needed more than raw data. They needed actionable insight into when, why, and how security incidents were managed.

Callouts, triggered by alarms or urgent needs, required rapid guard dispatch but offered clients little visibility into response times, outcomes, or escalations. The goal was an intuitive solution enabling transparent monitoring of field performance, insight into callout volumes and response efficiency, and stronger control over service validation, risk, and SLA compliance.

Clients needed better visibility into the callouts process: why callouts happen, their severity, and trends over time, so they could take the right operational or financial action. Users faced key limitations:

• Hard to access trends: data existed in reports, but insights had to be dug out manually.
• No instant overview: no way to assess efficiency, SLA compliance, or recurring issues at a glance.
• Limited predictive insight: demand and staffing remained reactive.

I used a blend of qualitative research and operational analysis to uncover pain points and expectations: workshops with client operations and dispatch teams, analysis of feedback from the existing summary dashboard, and a full audit of the callouts lifecycle. Partnering with business analysts, I mapped gaps in SLA enforcement and visibility.

I took a product-thinking approach anchored in design sprints, improving short-term clarity while laying the groundwork for long-term intelligence. I chose a phased release over a monolithic dashboard, which let us test, learn, and iterate faster:

• Progressive levels of data granularity (summary to detail).
• Status signals, SLA breakdowns, and site performance made easy to scan.
• Consistency with the wider insights platform.
• Phase 1 as a high-level KPI view, followed by Phase 2 for detailed drill-downs.

A callouts dashboard offering both immediate clarity and deeper exploration, surfacing performance issues and trends without manual analysis. Structured around core design themes: visual clarity, comparative trends, callout specificity (regular, cancelled, and escalated), and user guidance.

Modular, actionable components for both high-level scanning and deeper analysis:

• Performance Indicator Cards: total, real, and cancelled callouts with trend deltas.
• Response Time Buckets: under 30 min, 30 to 60 min, over 60 min, benchmarked against SLA thresholds.
• Trends Graph: current vs previous period, broken down week by week.
• Segment Control: toggle between Incidents and callouts, consistent with the wider platform.
• Empty and Error States: gracefully handle partial data and clarify expectations.

The interaction strategy aimed to build trust in real-time, data-driven decisions, translating backend complexity into intuitive, efficient interactions. Interactive trend graphs with hover insights, modular clickable SLA cards, and purposeful empty states. I worked closely with the engineering team to implement progressive data loading, allowing the UI to handle high callout volumes while remaining responsive, including fallback logic for edge cases such as partially available historical data.

Explore the interactive prototype below to see how the KPI and reporting layer comes together.

• Strategic alignment matters: phased rollouts enabled faster validation without losing long-term vision.
• Facilitation is a core skill: bridging product, engineering, and operations ensured usability and feasibility.
• Clarity over complexity: simple, transparent design choices built user confidence.
• Design is never one-and-done: real-world feedback shaped meaningful improvements.
• Listening beats assumption: research surfaced mental models a top-down approach would miss.

The Callouts Insight dashboard marked a fundamental shift in how Securitas tracks, manages, and communicates field performance. By replacing fragmented reports with real-time, insight-driven tools, we enabled faster decisions, more confident client conversations, and stronger SLA accountability across 50+ markets, turning information into impact.