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What is the biggest challenge to running an emergency response service nationwide from a technology perspective?
Sanger: I deal with two unique set[s] of buyers. Those buyers include cities/ municipalities who today are beginning to realize that a 911 service is much more than somebody picking up a phone and calling an ambulance to respond to a potential heart attack that a grandmother is having. How important is it for that response to be 6 minutes vs. 9 minutes? How successful are the protocols that you guys implemented? And how does this all get collected and assessed? This is a relatively new phenomenon that has occurred in the last three or four years in EMS [emergency medical services]. The only way to answer that question is with technology.
Then you have the other buyer, and those are hospitals. They say, "Demonstrate that you have the ability to manage resources effectively so that when I need a patient transferred from the hospital, you'll be there in 15 minutes, and if I need you for two hours next Wednesday, you have the technology to ensure that happens."
It gets back to why MIP is so important. It's all about deployment of assets.
Tara: We're a relatively low-margin business, and there is just a huge amount of unpredictability in a day at the local level. Local factors like traffic patterns and the macro things -- public and national conventions, hurricanes on the Gulf Coast of Florida, an earthquake -- all of those things affect our local decision makers. The flip side of that is if we have too many resources on the street, not doing anything -- well, they can impact our bottom line. So how do we strike the tradeoff? How do we improve service and on-time performance? Our call takers, and we've got some of the best in the world, can use their experience. But to fine-tune that, you need real-time information. It's the difference between managing by the numbers or by the seat of your pants.
When it comes time to negotiate, who sits at the table, talking to vendors?
Sanger: That's a Bill Tara job. He's the guy you want to buy a used car with. Bill does a very good job. He's used to negotiating with these sophisticated vendors. I have a high degree of confidence. I would much rather he sit in the negotiations, frankly, than, say, my director of purchasing.
Tara: You look at every project and you go, "What is it going to take to be successful? And are we completely convinced that this tool can solve that problem?" Someone from that vendor has to look me square in the eye. If this thing goes south, I want their home phone number. I want someone to own the success of AMR within than vendor organization. And I put this all on the table right at the very start of the sale.
So how is Bill Tara best described? Is he a CIO that is a business guy with a tech background -- or vice versa?
Tara: That's a great question. The customers would describe me as a technology guy with a business background. To my employees -- I'm technically obsolete. [Laughs.] They would describe me as a business guy. I see myself exactly in the middle. I view myself as a business guy who knows how to use technology.
And where do you see him, Bill?
Sanger: I go back to the way I hire any of my executives. I always first look for an executive talent and then I look for the subject matter talent. So I hired a business executive who knows a lot about technology.
Ellen O'Brien, a former senior editor at CIO Decisions, is now a senior editor at Storage magazine. Write to her at eobrien@techtarget.com.
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