Our latest episode of Public Safety Speaks – Hexagon’s vodcast series that focuses on timely and critical topics in public safety – focuses on fire department operations and how technology brings about improvements, helps create safer communities and moves the entire public safety industry forward.
In “Hexagon and the fire service: Progress through partnership” Hexagon’s Chris Carver (an FDNY veteran) is joined by FlowMSP’s Michael Gordon, Emerging Digital Concepts’ Lori Preuss and Columbus Division of Fire Lt. Chris Pillar in a lively discussion about the benefits of modern technologies and the access to data that comes with them.
Full transcript below
Chris Carver (00:02):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of Hexagon Public Safety Speaks, our vodcast series on critical topics affecting public safety communications and technology in the United States, North America, and really, around the world. Today we have three leaders in the space that deals specifically with technology or operations surrounding fire departments and fire department technology, and how fire department technology is able to, well, bring about improvements, help create safer communities, and really help move the entire public safety industry forward. That’s what we’re here to talk about today. We have two vendor partners on with us today as well as a Hexagon customer, and I’ll let them introduce themselves before we get started. I, of course, my name is Chris Carver. I am director of market development for Hexagon based here in Columbus, Ohio. And with me today, first I’ll let Michael Gordon introduce himself. Michael, thanks for being here.
Michael Gordon (01:02):
Thanks for the invitation, Chris. My name is Michael Gordon, I’m the national sales manager for FlowMSP, a pre-incident fire plan tool for the fire service.
Chris Carver (01:12):
All right. Thank you, Michael. And again, thanks for being here. And next up we have Lori. Lori, please.
Lori Preuss (01:18):
Hi there. I’m Lori Preuss and I’m the director of marketing and communications with Emerging Digital Concepts, which is a CAD-to-CAD interoperability organization.
Chris Carver (01:28):
All right. Thank you, Lori. And finally, certainly last but definitely not least, Chris Pillar.
Chris Pillar (01:34):
Thank you, Chris. Yeah, I’m Chris Pillar, Lieutenant with Columbus Division of Fire in Ohio. I’m the communications liaison officer and I also manage and run our communications dispatch center.
Chris Carver (01:48):
All right. Thank you, Chris. Really appreciate you and all of our panelists being here today to engage in this conversation really about where technology is and where it’s headed for the fire service and why that’s a really important topic. So, the first thing I’ll put out for the panel here today to debate and discuss and talk about is an idea that this is one of the most exciting times ever for technology in the fire service. I’d like to go through and see if our panelists today agree with that assessment and if they do, why? What are some of the reasons they think this is such an exciting time for public safety technology? Lori, would you mind going first?
Lori Preuss (02:25):
Absolutely. I do think it’s an exciting time for the fire service because everyone is becoming more willing to embrace the various technologies. We’re breaking down the data barriers and allowing for shared information, breaking down those traditional silos and allowing for mutual aid and/or automatic first response, which is going to be a powerful game changer for public safety fire services.
Chris Carver (02:52):
All right, so helping communities share resources when it’s important to do so. That’s absolutely a great, phenomenal thing to be doing in the fire service, especially with response times being so important. Michael, how about your perspective? How do you see this being a time for fire service technology enhancements and change?
Michael Gordon (03:12):
I couldn’t agree with Lori more. It’s very much an exciting time because departments that I used to call on traditionally have been reluctant to seek those types of data points, keeping things rather simplified are now embracing the ability to pull in additional data points and tools to help them do their jobs more efficiently. So, it’s exciting to talk with some of those small- to mid-sized departments that are now behaving very much like some of our career fire departments across the United States. It’s been good to be a part of that conversation.
Chris Carver (03:55):
Thank you Michael. And that’s a topic we’ll return back to, is the fact that now, for lack of a better term, technology is for everyone, and I think that’s a very important element of where we’re seeing the industry go. Lieutenant Pillar, how about you? From your perspective being involved with one of the nation’s largest and busiest fire departments, where do you see technology today in the fire service?
Chris Pillar (04:17):
I want to go back to Lori’s point where the data, and that was something that I’m seeing, just we’re getting access to data now that we’ve never had before, so we just went with gut feeling or what we saw on our little station or corner of town and then now we know the work we’re doing compared to other people and we’re seeing that everyone is doing a lot of work. The run totals, the response times, everything is just available to us and I think that helps steer our decision-making going forward and we were doing it on gut instinct I think, or just what it felt like versus the reality. So just access to data has been gratefully beneficial.
Chris Carver (05:02):
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. So starting with you, what are some real-world enhancements as you’ve seen that have improved operations or some real-world ramifications that technology has helped with in the fire and EMS service?
Chris Pillar (05:17):
So the GPS location tracking and then tying that in with our dispatching. So we’re actually dispatching based on where that vehicle is in real time, not based on where it should be, in its station, if it’s not there. So just having that real-time, location-based dispatching obviously improves response times, gets better responses. And then again, we’re collecting all that data so we’re seeing areas of town where we might need more resources or somewhere where we have too many resources, we don’t need as many, we can shift some of those around. And just the willingness now, I think with the newer firefighters coming on, this younger generation is more tech-savvy, they’re just accustomed to technology, whereas older generations of firefighters might’ve been reluctant or a little fearful. We’re not seeing that as much now.
Chris Carver (06:11):
That makes a lot of sense and certainly response times are one area that demands attention, because response times for many emergencies are absolutely critical. Lori, how does the effort that you’re undertaking with EDC and how do EDC solutions help improve response times?
Lori Preuss (06:31):
We have a multi-pronged approach to reducing response times. The first is no call transfer and many states across the nation are already starting to implement state statutes that say stop transferring 911 callers around. If you answer the call, take the call and send the data to the correct agency if it’s not yours. And within an exchange, that is absolutely possible and instead of two and a half plus minutes to transfer a call, you can do it in under seven seconds. So that is absolutely getting those responders en route to the scenes in a much quicker timeframe. Additionally, we also have a challenge of all this data that is coming into the 911 center and instead of it dead ending in the 911 center, it’s being integrated into the CAD so it can be pushed out to the field. So the incident commander can have all the information that they absolutely need on scene through the integration without extra apps, without extra screens that are all slowing things down.
(07:38):
And also we permit automatic aid in first response, including the AVL that Lieutenant Pillar referred to so that the closest available unit response, it doesn’t matter what color the engine is or what color the medic unit is, if it’s the closest, it needs to respond to the emergency. And that’s providing better public service to all of our customers.
Chris Carver (08:01):
Now Lori, one of the things just to talk about, nearest unit responding to events. One of the things that we do have agencies concerned about though is the ability to make sure that for certain things, maybe their department responds no matter what, say for administrative complaints or low acuity EMS incidents where they have a specialized responder that they want to go. Does your technology and does technology that you’ve seen in the fire service and EMS service, does it support the ability to be that granular about how agencies respond or is it a one size fits all approach?
Lori Preuss (08:34):
Oh no, it’s very adaptable. Also, you would sit down within the region and set up your MOUs and your policies long in advance so that it was a known factor. If this is something that your organization is going to do or not going to do, then that can be built into the regionalized program and also within the integration.
Chris Carver (08:55):
All right. Thank you, Lori. I appreciate that. And not only in terms of responding to emergency events across borders is technology important. It’s also important once we arrive, knowing more information about the buildings and of course ahead of time, planning the type of responses that we are most likely to face inside our communities and sharing that information out. As I understand it, Michael, that’s really FlowMSP’s mission in terms of the fire service. Am I characterizing that correctly? And could you talk more about it?
Michael Gordon (09:25):
Yeah, absolutely. That’s correct, Chris. We’ve been able to provide the fire service with a pre-incident fire tool that’s efficient, easy to collect the information. And while we’re on the subject of data, we’ve found ourselves at the intersection of many different data points that we can now leverage. Departments have traditionally been collecting inspection information, occupancy data that has lived in certain silos and has been available to various members of the fire department. But to have that all pulled into one spot now through FlowMSP, when you go out on a call and that dispatch notification populates in Flow and links that call to the pre-plan that’s been created for that commercial occupancy, now you’ve got that information in real time in the palm of your hand if you’re looking at this through our mobile app or through the MDT.
(10:20):
We’ve also seen the ability to pull in other data sets that have traditionally lived in other areas of the fire department such as Tier II HAZMAT reports, easy access to that information. If you’re called in to respond to a Tier II facility, not only do you now have the pre-plan, but you have access to the Tier II chemical roster and NIOSH Pocket Guides and ERGs that are available now for those first responders.
Chris Carver (10:47):
And what’s the real-world implications, Michael, of having that type of technology at your fingertips?
Michael Gordon (10:53):
It just means that that first responder is no longer having to wait for other resources to be pulled in or having to click around looking for other data points and other mobile applications or other programs. It’s all housed in one spot so they don’t have to go out looking for that information, wasting valuable seconds and minutes either en route or once they get on scene.
Chris Carver (11:16):
So it saves time, but it also improves firefighter and field responder safety, right?
Michael Gordon (11:22):
Firefighter safety is of the utmost importance here. They know what to expect before they even get their turnout gear on. We were talking a little bit about turnout time, and some of the things that Flow has been a part of with Hexagon is the ability to do what’s called pre-alerts, giving those firefighters an advanced 10 to 15 seconds before that actual call gets pushed across dispatch just to alert them that hey, a call’s about ready to hit. So it gives them an extra couple seconds head start as they head down to get their turnout gear on.
Chris Carver (11:56):
Okay, thank you. I appreciate that, Michael. So Lieutenant Pillar, from your perspective, what are some of the other tools or strategies that you’ve brought to bear or are considering bringing to bear to improve response time and the amount of information available to field responders?
Chris Pillar (12:16):
Like Lori said, with the CAD-to-CAD solution, something that I’m looking into for our area. I think she’s absolutely right that transferring a call is antiquated, it’s time-consuming. We are sometimes calling multiple agencies requesting if they can respond and then going down a call list if they’re not available. So that’s all time that’s spent trying to find a truck to respond versus knowing that that truck is available and sending that information and getting their route. So that’s something I’m excited to pursue. Hopefully we can get some interest in my area for that. I think it should be the standard for how fire departments operate.
Chris Carver (12:58):
No, I appreciate that. Thank you. And I know one of the other things that we’ve talked about and I know I’ve talked about with others, that there’s a lot of interest about, and this is going to be the subject of a future chat, is ASAP to PSAP. Lieutenant, do you have some experience with that, at least in the consideration of it? And can you shed some light on why that’s an important tool for fire departments and EMS agencies as well?
Chris Pillar (13:25):
Yeah, absolutely. In my agency and my call dispatch center, we are limited by human resources. I think everyone faces that. So the calls are only increasing in number each year, but my ability to answer and process those calls is limited by the number of humans I can have in councils in answering those. So as I’m at capacity, I need alternatives to process calls that are just data, alarm companies calling in. It’s just a data dump of an address and what’s going on. I don’t need to answer that call. I can have that information go directly to my CAD and write a run and send it from there. So that’s just eliminating probably at least half of my calls right now if we were to implement something like an ASAP to PSAP solution.
Chris Carver (14:14):
So that saves time and saves burden on an already stretched thin workforce, and that’s really important. Lori, with your background in 911, and I know you have many years of experience in this field and experience leading agencies, what are some other developments and trends that you think are important as we look at fire and EMS dispatch, as we look at fire and EMS technology? Are there any other considerations that you think we should be aware of as we move forward?
Lori Preuss (14:45):
There is a lot of various technologies. ASAP to PSAP is absolutely phenomenal and that is going to be very beneficial to the organizations, as is the integration of telematics into your center so that those calls from the vehicles will automatically come into the centers, much like ASAP to PSAP, allowing you to do more with less personnel because you’re not going to be tied up on the phone. But I really think that also we need to extend our boundaries and realize that we don’t have to have forced co-locations or forced regionalizations of centers because interoperable data allows you to do more with less anyways. So we’re going to have the information integrated, we’re going to put so that all that information comes into CAD so that the 911 operators’ focus can remain on their main focus, on CAD, and that’s going to get the incidents registered faster and a quicker response.
(15:43):
So I think that there’s a lot coming into the technology world, and I think really it just requires us to be willing to say, “hey, wait a minute, there’s a different way of doing business.”
Chris Carver (15:56):
Oh, I think you just absolutely started something really important, Lori, which is identifying. It’s one thing to have the technology, but the technology is only as good as the organizations and the people that are implementing them and using them. And I think one of the things, especially from projects that have a regional nature to them, the vendors and agencies alike can share experiences from how they did that, how they get people to collaborate and drive forward successful projects. So Michael, I know that in many cases FlowMSP is a regionalized product or at least one that’s shared across agency boundaries. How have you seen some of the successful strategies play out to get neighbors to partner with each other to better share information and improve their effectiveness?
Michael Gordon (16:41):
It’s a great question. And from the outset, Flow has envisioned a mutual aid, data-sharing component to its software. So being able to share that information quickly with auto aid, mutual aid departments in a county area or in maybe a case like Illinois where there’s a MABAS division that they are coordinating with. One of the things that I’ve seen too is the streamlining of the pre-plan process. If we talk about pre-plan for a moment, the unique nature of that could really depend on what the target hazards are like in a given area. But if there’s some standardization around what that pre-plan looks like regardless of who’s creating that pre-plan, the neighbor to the north and the neighbor to the south might have different structures, but the pre-plan essentially is the same information. So you’re not having to spend time or waste time really trying to understand what the information is. It’s all very standardized at that point across those departments are sharing that information.
(17:51):
So that’s the way we’ve seen it done and we encourage that through our training processes and bringing in maybe intel from other departments that have done things exceptionally well and sharing that with other agencies who are maybe struggling with creating some standards and SOPs around how to create a better pre-plan.
Chris Carver (18:10):
All right, so that sharing of best practices is a really important strategy. Lieutenant Pillar, how has your process worked engaging and learning from others and ensuring that people share things that they’ve learned or share things they need to learn?
Chris Pillar (18:26):
With my department, we are large and that can be a problem for sharing information internally. We have different bureaus and I’m finding that one bureau is looking at a solution and another bureau is looking at a solution. And it could be the same problem, but we’re not talking to each other. We just recently had a technology committee that I’m a part of, so to try to prevent silos, looking for solutions for the same problems and we’re talking to different vendors. But I think that should be maybe a regional thing. I’m on a committee for our radio channels for Central Ohio. We share the radio channels with police, different fire agencies through the Central Ohio area. So we talk and share what needs are common. That should be almost the same with technology, the CAD-to-CAD solution, we don’t all use the same CADs, but mutual aid agreements, response plans, that should be more of a shared discussion and then a regional committee maybe just for that type of conversation.
Chris Carver (19:36):
So it comes down to facilitating the communication and knowing what everybody’s up to and sharing those best ideas and starting from there, right? It sounds like that’s where it begins. Lori?
Chris Pillar (19:47):
Yeah. Back channels that I do, I’m just reaching out to colleagues in other departments, but it’s a less formal process. I think we need to look at formalizing it and having it led from the top-down. And I’m doing more of a grassroots strategy at my level with trying to get projects that I’m looking to get done or move forward, but it’s not a framework that’s built up. So that’s missing. There’s something I desperately look for, hey, how do I get the word out about something I want to do? And then dispel any fears we have. Columbus, the biggest agency in this area, there’s a fear from some of the townships that we want to take over, and that’s not the case.
Chris Carver (20:36):
And that happens almost everywhere when you have regionalization of even technology or ideas, that helping shepherd everyone through that process. So they learn, in time, to not see it as a threat, but to see it as an opportunity and something that can benefit everyone. I think that’s a component of technology and transformational change. Almost everywhere it happens. Lori, I’m certain that you’ve had experience with that, whether through EDC or some of the dispatching responsibilities that you’ve had in your career. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Lori Preuss (21:11):
Absolutely. There’s three steps to this really, and the first one is to make a decision that you want to move forward. You have to knock down the old silos of information and realize that it’s time to share information. Then you have to establish a level of governance where you’re going to be willing to sit down at the table with the other agencies and say, this is what we do, what do you do? And create some standard protocols, some standard policies, MOUs in place, get the paperwork done and get the relationship building. And then you have to decide on what technology solutions you’re interested in and become enabled with those technology solutions. So I think it really does come down to being uninhibited, being willing, and then being enabled so that you can move forward and share the information and create the future for your organizations.
Chris Carver (22:08):
And I think that’s a really powerful point as well, Lori. I thank you for bringing it up. If we don’t engage in creating the future that we want, oftentimes the future gets created by people that maybe don’t have the same perspective or maybe aren’t aware of what’s available, and so we miss out on some of the positive change that can happen with projects. So we’ve talked about some of the technology, we’ve talked about the capabilities that are out there and some of the potential that we have. And we’ve talked about the power of people and the necessity of people to be engaged in those conversations. Well, there’s a last part that we haven’t talked about yet that oftentimes is a stumbling block and understandably so, but that’s the money part and how do agencies fund this?
(22:54):
So I’d be really curious to get each of your takes on how customers have found funding, how they’ve leveraged whatever processes or things that are out there that help them acquire the technology that they need because this stuff is largely not free, so they have to figure out a way to acquire it. So I’ll start with you, Michael. How have you seen, through FlowMSP, some customers obtain funding for critical technology projects?
Michael Gordon (23:24):
That’s a good question. It’s been unique in our space where departments have been eager to look for different avenues for say pre-incident fire plan. They started an evaluation process fairly early. They’re looking at a number of different vendors. We’ve got a robust evaluation program that allows them to try the product out. They’re looking for budgetary avenues, typically something that they can leverage, maybe their technology funding. But also I’ve seen grants written around this particular product as well. Those are always available. So I think for us, just working in tandem with those departments, understanding what their cycles are and what their avenues for funding are and just being willing to work with those departments at the point in time that they find themselves.
(24:27):
It is a challenge though. Our piece of the puzzle is relatively inexpensive, I’ll say, by comparison to major CAD upgrades and things of that nature, but often we’re bundled in with those initiatives, so we have to play by those same rules and timelines. So it can be a challenge, but helping those departments find that funding, looking for other avenues. If I hear something interesting going on in a particular area of the country or maybe a new funding source, I’m always very excited to share that with other departments who are struggling with that and maybe just didn’t know of that opportunity to pull in some funding from that source. So being a resource for them, I think is key.
Chris Carver (25:18):
No, I appreciate that very much. Lori, from your perspective, how have you seen some of the issues around funding solved?
Lori Preuss (25:27):
I think it’s a multi-pronged approach. I agree completely with what you said about being a resource for your customers. And honestly, in my previous lifetime, I did a lot of grant writing for our organization so I’m constantly looking for grant funding. We’ve also seen grants coming out through the national 911 office that were allowable costs for CAD-to-CAD interoperability. Additionally, we’re also seeing, how should I say it? States that are implementing statutory requirements to reduce 911 transfers, making it now state 911 reimbursable for CAD-to-CAD interoperability so that the agency has the capability of doing no-call transfer. So if we can create regional exchanges within that state that will support that 911 caller not being transferred from one to four agencies popping around, then that funding is there through the state 911 funding through the phone company fees that everybody has pay every month. So that funding is there as well.
Chris Carver (26:47):
All right. Thank you, Lori. I appreciate that. For those that are maybe not aware, as both of our speakers on this question so far have mentioned, there are multiple sources of grants available for technology projects for public safety agencies. Not all of them are open at all times, but it is absolutely worth an investigation at the time you’re considering a technology project to investigate the types of grant funding that may be available and the best practices around writing those grants. Those can come, as Lori and Michael mentioned, a couple different ways. Actually, there’s probably seven, eight, 10, 12 different ways, starting with the FEMA Authorized Equipment List is a good place to begin. Then search for what it is you’re looking for. That will then provide you a list of the federal grants that are eligible to be used for that acquisition. Then there are also state-level grants.
(27:39):
There’s also NG911 related grants, oftentimes state regional level. There is the pending funding down the road in a large-scale level of Federal Next Generation 911 dollars. The language around that and the really exact legislation is still working its way through Congress. We’ll see what comes eventually. There are even private grants that can potentially provide things, especially if you have a large employer in your area, or disaster planning grants. There’s literally a mountain of possibilities in that area. So I’d strongly recommend you take a look at that, do some research, and if you’re affiliated with the department or you perhaps have a grant writer that might be a great resource to reach out to to investigate funding possibilities to support the kind of projects that we’re talking about today, that might relieve some of the burden. So Chris, I know this is an area that you’ve dealt with and researched in Columbus as well. What’s been your experience with funding from the perspective of one of America’s largest cities?
Chris Pillar (28:44):
For funding, and my background is the firefighter paramedic, riding the fire trucks, the medic vehicles and supervising them, but my current role, I’m dealing much more with the technology and different needs. So we had grant writers for fire equipment and if we wanted new air packs or new cardiac monitors, there was grant writers for that, but nobody knew about the technologies for communications, dispatching 911 operations. So there was a vacuum there. I’m trying to put those pieces together. Now what I do appreciate on my end, as Michael and Lori mentioned, is the vendors supporting with advice and guidance on funding options that I might not know about. So that’s been beneficial to me, gives me some pointers when I’m looking for solutions. I think we need help with some visions on how we are going to fund this, and then I can take that up to my chain of command and push that forward. If I bring them a solution and a potential way to fund it, then that increases my likelihood of getting that implemented.
Chris Carver (30:02):
Well, thank you, Lieutenant ’cause I think you just hit the nail on the head about this entire issue in a way, which is it really takes all of us. Public safety is not something, from my view, and I’d love to get each of your comments on this, it’s not something where there’s a wall, it’s just the vendor selling the thing to the agency and the agency goes off and does it. It really works best when it’s a long-term partnership where we help each other learn about capabilities and best practices and funding opportunities and really move forward together other as partners to enhance the public safety of the communities that we serve. And I think we have that shared objective. It’s not just transactional, it’s much more relationship oriented. Lori, how does that comport with your view of the relationship between vendors and the public safety world?
Lori Preuss (30:57):
Oh, absolutely. We become partners with our organizations. We need to work together to find out exactly what’s out there, how it’s going to work best. And we are quite frequently modifying, making little tweaks that somebody requests and then pushing that out to all of our customers because if it’s going to benefit one person, it’s going to benefit another agency. So you have to find an organization that’s going to be your partner, your long-term relationships. It’s not, like you said, just a transactional thing, but really to become a team with our organizations. And that’s one of the things that we enjoy, is those long-term relationships and then we’re getting the real feedback from the users and we’re also being able to work together on creating new technologies that might be needed or new integrations that the marketplace is looking for.
Chris Carver (31:53):
No, thank you for that, Lori. I appreciate that. Michael, from FlowMSP’s perspective, how do you see the ongoing relationship with you and your customers?
Michael Gordon (32:04):
I would say to any department that I’m talking with, if you’re talking to various vendors and they’re not asking you about your long-range plans or goals around these types of technology challenges, you should focus on vendors that are asking because it really plays into the relationship wanting to see them succeed with this program and really a variety of different parts and pieces. We don’t see ourselves as a standalone product anymore. We have to work in tandem with other pieces of technology. So understanding where we fit and where we can do our best work within that puzzle is where I think we could be valuable in guiding those departments to encourage them to look for resources and other areas that maybe we don’t specialize in. We’re not trying to be the one-stop shop. There are a lot of different technologies here that when all working together can solve the common problem. So one takeaway would be just to be looking for those vendors that are encouraging you to share the long-range goals and plans that you have for your agencies.
Chris Carver (33:24):
All right. Thank you, Michael. I appreciate that. So as we wind down here towards the end of our conversation today, I want to thank our panelists for being here and talking through these various issues. I think there’s been a lot of great information that’s shared, but I’d like to end with one question for each of you. As each of you have managed or dealt with technology projects from your own perspectives, especially in new areas that are exciting and offer really great enhancements and capabilities for the departments you serve either as a member of that department, thank you, Lieutenant Pillar, or as a vendor serving the department, what advice would you give the folks that are watching this, that are out there?
(34:06):
Maybe they’re facing a CAD purchase, maybe they want to reduce response times, maybe they’re concerned about pre-arrival information and they’re concerned about CAD-to-CAD exchange. They have all this giant list of things that they’re considering on top of their day-to-day responsibilities. What advice would you give them? And I’ll start with you Lieutenant. What advice would you give them about moving forward in how to make sure that their efforts are successful?
Chris Pillar (34:32):
I think I’d started by reaching out to vendors. I initially had a fear of not wanting to lead them on thinking, oh, we are a potential customer when we may not be. But just reaching out saying, what do you do? How can you help me? Here’s my problem. And then sending an email or making a phone call and just starting those conversations. And they’ve, for the most part, been worked out really well. Most have been honest and say, “Yeah, we don’t do that.” Or, maybe, “That’s not something we can help you with.” But they can maybe point me in a direction that will. So just don’t be afraid to reach out and investigate what’s out there and communicate.
Chris Carver (35:12):
I think that’s absolutely phenomenal advice, Chris. And I just have to chuckle because at every conference we go to, you’ll see some attendees walk by and pretend like they don’t even want to be seen because they’re afraid, I think, we’re going to steal their credit card while they’re walking by the booth. And I’ve never seen any vendor do that yet. And we love to talk to folks ’cause we learned as much from people that come up and talk to us as they do, I hope, from our conversations. And then those are the kind of things we love to do. And I can’t speak for every vendor in the world, but I know that’s my mindset about it. So Lori, how about you? What advice would you have for those that are starting out and just looking at what’s going on?
Lori Preuss (35:51):
Well, absolutely go to those conferences and vendor shows and take the time to pick up the literature, take the time to have the conversation with the individuals because they’re going to be standing there whether you’re talking to them or not. So you may as well talk to them, learn a little bit, get the literature so you can go home and study it in your downtime. And then also, I really think that one of the most important ways to learn is to find an organization that’s using the technology and call them and say, “How did it work? How was the implementation? Are you happy?” And find out where they went and got the different technologies or the different systems. Because I think that you learn more from the users that have implemented the systems, and that is going to show you how it positively will impact your jurisdiction.
(36:40):
So I think it’s twofold. First, you have to educate yourself and then you have to go talk to others. And honestly that’s how I end up with a lot of phone calls, is because somebody’s gone and talked to a previous customer and they want to talk to us and get moving forward.
Chris Carver (36:55):
All right. Thank you, Lori. I appreciate that. And lastly, Michael, how about you? Advice for agencies looking at enhancing and improving their technology?
Michael Gordon (37:04):
Be a part of your user groups. I know a lot of vendors, most vendors, large vendors will have organized user conferences where they bring their current customer base in to comment and roundtable certain topics and maybe improvements for the product over the long term, maybe some problems they’re seeing in the industry that the vendor isn’t aware of yet. So I think those are always very useful. And not being afraid, as Lieutenant had said, to take that demo and be upfront with the vendor and say, we’re just in the early stages of evaluation. I’d love to hear more about your product, but setting the expectation early that this is going to be a longer-term evaluation helps the vendor understand where they can be helpful in the process too. And I think all the reputable vendors that are out there will appreciate that and will work within those parameters. So those are the two things that I’d say immediately come to mind for me.
Chris Carver (38:11):
All right. Well, thank you, Michael. And I think that brings us to a great closing spot as it reminds us that it is progress through partnership, and that partnership can be our neighboring agencies as we perhaps evaluate data sharing. It can be other customers of the same vendor we may be evaluating or are in a different part of the country we may have never met, but can offer us insights for how we would implement. It can be folks in our own department who maybe have an equal interest in new technology, but we just don’t communicate with all the time. But we have a shared interest in moving the organization forward. Whatever it is, we’re in a world today where it requires partnership, not just to do our day-to-day stuff, but to move forward. And that is especially true as new technologies and new challenges layer on top of the challenges and technologies that we already have.
(39:03):
Thankfully, there are some great folks out there that can help support those conversations. I have been honored to be joined today by three representatives of great potential partners. Thank you so much, Michael from FlowMSP, it’s been great to have you here. Lieutenant Chris Pillar from the Columbus Division of Fire, thank you. I know the hard work you all are doing. And of course, Lori from EDC, it is always an honor to chat with you. Thank you again for sharing your insights and perspective today on Hexagon Public Safety Speaks. Please feel free to email me with any questions or any follow up items or maybe future topics you’d like to see us cover. And as everybody mentioned, if you see us at a conference, any one of us, please stop by and say hello. It’d be great to meet you in person. Thank you again for being here and have a great rest of your week. We look forward to speaking with you soon. Thank you. Bye.