I’ll be honest: when Sentience was first developed, I wasn’t sure.
A cloud-based monitoring platform for fog generators sounded impressive, but I questioned whether customers would really use it. Would it make a tangible difference? Would it justify the effort we were putting behind it?
Fast forward a year, and the results have spoken louder than I ever could.
A major UK retail client rolled out Sentience across hundreds of their sites. Before Sentience, their fog activations had just a 56% reported success rate. The reasons were familiar, poor information and missed maintenance. In the remaining 44% of cases sites were essentially blind. Often, security fog will still be protecting sites and activating, but the point is that clients don’t have visibility to know this for sure, it isn’t collected as part of the system data and therefore can’t be managed. This is essentially like baking a cake and weighing half of your ingredients and then just doing the other half by eye. It might come out good, but it might not impress Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood. I like a bit more precision and control when I’m cooking.
From a marketing perspective one of my biggest concerns is how our products are perceived. I personally like to market products I believe in. And if I’m honest, I was deflated at these statistics. How the hell am I going to try to get people excited about a system that has a success rate which is so low. I had my doubts.
Obviously, I understood that without Sentience, a client is often operating in the dark. They can’t be certain whether their fog systems will activate when needed, and maintenance usually becomes reactive, problems are only discovered after a failure or missed activation. That uncertainty costs money through unnecessary callouts, wasted service visits, or worst of all, a system that doesn’t protect when it should. And so, I was happy to hear some affirmation that Sentience was doing its job.
After Sentience, those numbers transformed:
- 75% success rate nationally across their entire estate. (some machines aren’t yet connected to Sentience).
- 98% success rate on sites connected to Sentience.
- Full visibility of maintenance, meaning systems were always ready to perform.
For me, that was the turning point. Not theory. Not projections. Real, measurable proof from the frontline that Sentience doesn’t just work, it works brilliantly.
Why Sentience Matters So Much
Fogging is already one of the most powerful deterrents against crime. But fogging backed by Sentience is something else entirely.
- Reliability you can see: No more uncertainty about whether a system will fire when it matters.
- Smarter maintenance: Issues are flagged before they cause downtime, saving both money and frustration.
- Proven ROI: Reduced losses, fewer repairs, and undeniable data to justify every installation. As a loss prevention manager this is crucial in helping secure new budgets and please stakeholders.
- Peace of mind: At 98% activation success, customers know their systems will protect them.
Sentience has turned fogging into a living, breathing service, one that our customers can monitor, measure, and rely on with confidence.
Verified by Our Clients
For me, one of the best feelings in marketing is when a strategy doesn’t just sound good on paper but is validated by the people who use it every day. We’re so grateful for the data from the retailer which verifies not only the health of their own security fog estate, but also the entire concept of Sentience. That’s why it’s become the most important product in the Smoke Screen catalogue, because it makes every single system more effective, more accountable, and more valuable.
The Future of Sentience
This is just the start. We’ve seen the success with major retail chains, but the real future lies in rolling out Sentience as a tool for all our clients, not just the big players.
- Independent businesses can gain the same peace of mind as national chains.
- Other industries can ensure their sites are protected and accountable.
- Alarm companies can use Sentience to monitor all their clients’ fog systems from one platform.
- Even domestic customers will soon be able to have Sentience keeping an eye on their home systems.
Our vision is simple: if you’ve got fog, you’ve got Sentience.
From Sceptic to Believer
Looking back, I admit I didn’t fully see the rationale at first. But today, I can say with absolute confidence: Sentience is the future of fogging. It’s the key product in our catalogue, and it’s the tool that will take Smoke Screen into new markets, new industries, and new levels of reliability.
Sometimes, the best strategies aren’t clear until you see them in action. With Sentience, we’ve not only seen the results we’ve felt them. And that’s why I’m proud to say: this is the future of security fog. I am proud to represent and recommend this tool.
