MyGate is today at over 6,000 gates, processing a million entries for over 1.2 million homes every day. Each of these million entries represents the valuable saving of time or effort in an increasingly chaotic urban India. As you can imagine, this is an effort on a mammoth scale. The MyGate app and our 700+ workforce spread across our cities are certainly at the forefront, but we’re by no means alone. Joining us on this journey are tens of thousands of security guards who define a major part of the experience for our users and each of their visitors.
In case you’re wondering how they are able to operate the app, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the training process for our guards.
Initial Training
Before our systems go live, each of the guards at the society receives in-person training from MyGate personnel over four to six days. In the month of June 2019 alone, over 800 such training sessions were conducted.
We begin each training by explaining the purpose of MyGate and then move on to a demo of the guard device (note: this is a locked device on which only the MyGate guard app runs). Once the guards are familiar with its interface, we get started with the four main modules.
These are interactive sessions conducted in smaller groups over two hours across the week. To ensure that guards are not overwhelmed by the information, we have split up the training into the following modules: Profile Creation, Approval & Pre-Approval Creation, Pre-Approval, Leave at Gate and Overstay Alert.
At the end of the week, a test is conducted to assess the comfort level of the guards with the MyGate system. Until the guards do not clear this test to our satisfaction, our systems do not go live. In the past three years, over 1.5 lakh guards have completed their training. The ones that do exceedingly well here receive certificates of appreciation.
Certificate of Training awarded to a MyGate guard
Knowledge Monitoring & Re-training
For the bulk of the guards, this single training is sufficient, and it’s common for the majority of check-ins to be error-free from the first week itself. However, a single test can’t guarantee success. Therefore, our team also monitors guard performance on a regular basis. The first clue to inadequate guard performance is delays in the check-out process.
In case we find that a particular society is checking out visitors, particularly delivery executives, after a significant delay, another training is immediately scheduled. But this isn’t the only reason we go back to retrain our guards. There are even instances when guards themselves have asked for another training because they are keen on learning more advanced features on the app or wish to improve their performance.
Encouraging Better Performance
The MyGate guard app has a simple interface and is as intuitive as any other app with a high usage rate. To ensure that guard interest remains high at all times, we have also gamified the app to some extent, with a monthly leaderboard. Every month, in each of our cities, the guards stand a chance to win a cash incentive as acknowledgement of their good performance under what we now call the SuperGuard Programme. Since its launch six months ago, we have noticed a significant improvement in guard performance across the board.
A few of MyGate’s recent SuperGuards
Of course, no training would ever be sufficient if MyGate didn’t make the job of the security guard easier, more interesting and more impactful. From the feedback we collect from them, we know that it does all three. And if there’s one thing that makes us happier than good feedback on the app from our users, it’s hearing about the MyGate experience from our guards – the most active users on our platform. It is they who ensure convenience and security over a million times each day for our users.