Security incidents and disaster relief require swift actions on the ground in order to protect property and save lives. Dealing with such situations also requires up-to-date information. The current process of writing incident reports is tedious and less productive, resulting in delays of follow-up action.

To better utilise modern technology to prevent incidents and save lives, eSoteria, comprising two students - Wong Wai Tuck and Kong Yu Jian - who are currently serving their National Service and would be joining SMU’s School of Information Systems in 2015, have developed an application which provides a quick and intuitive way to log events using photos.

The logged event will be instantly available to all logged users. Important events can be tagged and highlighted to all users as well. The app allows Near Field Communication (NFC) secured log-in without the need for keying one’s username and password. Another feature of eSoteria is the ability to manually tag the locations of all users indoors.

Their effort was duly rewarded when they beat some 30 teams across Singapore to emerge as winners at the inaugural ST Electronics Security Apps Challenge after two gruelling rounds.

Recollecting how determined they were despite some challenges, said Wai Tuck, "As National Servicemen, we only had time during weekends and at night to work on the app. Despite insufficient sleep and the difficulty in coming together to meet and discuss, we believed in the usefulness of our idea and were determined to see it to fruition. Participating in this competition has helped us realise the importance of designing a product with the end user in mind, and to have an open mind to embrace new emerging technologies that can enhance user experience. In our case, we used NFC as a way to launch the application and to authenticate the user.”

“This competition has provided us with invaluable experience, especially the process of idea generation, developing the prototype, and eventually the product launch. It has helped us gain insights into the process of software development, albeit on a smaller scale. We are also happy to have been able to put into practice a core value of SMU’s School of Information Systems, which is "Learning to learn". From learning new technologies, critically reviewing our ideas, to presenting our ideas, these are some important skills we picked up along the way. These would undoubtedly stand us in good stead when we enter SMU as students,” added Yu Jian.

The competition required the competing teams to generate innovative ideas about how mobile apps can help disaster relief workers and law enforcement agencies collaborate better and improve their operations.

The teams were judged on the usefulness, innovativeness and quality of their app.

Mr Lee Yeow Leong, Senior Lecturer at SMU School of Information Systems who mentored eSoteria for the competition said, “We are proud and happy for Wai Tuck and Yu Jian for winning this challenge amid stiff competition. Their ability to think out of the box and translate an innovative idea into a workable application is indeed praiseworthy. We look forward to welcoming them to SMU in 2015 where they will be taken on an educational journey that is holistic, enriching, and meaningful, thereby enabling them to achieve their education and career goals.”

[Featured photo: Incoming SMU students Wong Wai Tuck (extreme left) and Kong Yu Jian (second from right) walked away with $8000 cash award for winning the inaugural ST Electronics Security Apps Challenge. With them were Mr Jeremy Foo (second from left), President for ST Electronics (Info-Software Systems) Pte Ltd, and Mr Lee Yeow Leong (extreme right), Senior Lecturer at SMU School of Information Systems. (Photo: ST Electronics)]