3rings, a new online service that helps families keep an eye on elderly relatives, has been launched by UK tech entrepreneur Steve Purdham- the man behind the We7 music streaming service.
It links an elderly person’s landline to family or friends via an app, SMS or email to let them know they’re OK each day, or alert them if not.
The founder is Steve Purdham, who previously sold Spotify rival We7 to Tesco for £10.8m, and SurfControl to Websense for £267m.
Steve believes there are no direct competitors in the UK and based it on the landline to eliminate any techno-fear in the user’s home. Monitoring systems coming out of the U.S. rely on hardware and broadband installations which is what Steve wanted to avoid.
3rings links an elderly person’s landline to family members or friends, via an app, text message, or emails, to let them know they’re OK each day, or alert them if not.
In the days before mobile phones, giving someone three rings was a ‘code’ to let families communicate all was well. 3rings Care ltd is bringing that code back but this time for the internet generation. Based on the traditional landline, 3rings overcomes any techno-fear in the user’s home.
Elderly users receive or make a call to the 3rings automated service using their traditional landline. This then automatically contacts the network of family or friends using an app, SMS, email or calls, to let them know they are OK each day.
3rings has been developed as a cloud-based service allowing the company to scale easily in the future. Available online at 3rings.co.uk with free apps for iOS and Android, there are two paid-for services (£5.99/month and £9.99/month) and a free trial.
The UK target is 100,000 families using the service, before the company looks to expand into other regions. 3rings expects the primary audience to be women, who normally take responsibility for checking in on family members. Investment has been provided by the three founders; Steve Purdham, Gareth Reakes and Julie Purdham.
The inspiration for 3rings came from Steve’s mum Iris. Steve explained: “We wanted to create a simple solution which answered the question, ‘are my ageing parents okay today?’. 3rings removes the need for installing any technical equipment into the home of the elderly relative, relying instead on the familiar telephone which makes it easy to use. 3rings then bridges to the internet to communicate to family members using apps, email or text – methods that are now commonplace across a family’s demographic.”
Steve concluded: “3rings isn’t meant to be a replacement for personal calls and visits but helps ease the worry and spread responsibility between family members. Trials have shown families actually call each other more now, as the daily reminders mean family is always front of mind. We strongly believe that simple ideas can be transformational and this offering can be a catalyst for the changing family care of ageing parents in the UK.”
The initial design for 3rings used an array of sensors within the home to build patterns of ‘normality’ so that anything unusual would be flagged and families alerted. But introducing new technology within the home was deemed a barrier to use, so the company decided to go back to the basics.
Research commissioned for 3rings showed 40% of people were considering steps to support parents more in 2014. With half the population living more than half an hour away from ageing parents, many families are unaware of how loved ones are on a daily basis. 48% currently rely on neighbours and other family members to check in on them.
To find out how it works, watch the animated video below:
What Iris thinks video:
The initial users Talking Heads video: