skip to main |
skip to sidebar
We’ve been hearing some noise in the industry that acquired technology is inferior to building it in-house from the ground up. Since acquisitions are part of pretty much any successful tech company’s growth strategy today, I thought it’d be worth some discussion. Technology just moves too quickly to invent everything all by yourself. It’s hard to name one successful technology company that has not made acquisitions. Cisco, as an example, has built their company around well-thought-out acquisitions that they then integrate successfully. Amcom, as well, has acquired companies to build out portions of our suite to fit customer needs with a broad solution set. Our customers have told us that this is what they want—a full set of software solutions that work together. This is preferable to having a bunch of software applications that are thrown into a ‘suite’ from several different companies’ technologies and crossing your fingers that they work flawlessly together without any help (because they won’t). The ultimate proof point of a successful technology company is having many installed, happy customers. Amcom has this in spades. Our solutions are field proven and in use every day. We don’t subscribe to N.I.H. (‘Not Invented Here’ - so therefore bad) but instead we strive to create solutions that work well and deliver value for our customers. Our customers also know that we will be around tomorrow. We have been in business more than 25 years, have more than $50 million in sales, and are growing and profitable. No one will wake up tomorrow and find that we are out of business. Incidentally, we spend more on research and development than some of our competitors have in total sales. We are building plenty of solutions ourselves and making meaningful enhancements to others all the time. We want to solve our customers’ problems so they can meet the requirements of the changing communications landscape. Most of what we deliver we will create ourselves. However, there is some functionality our customers want very quickly, and we will make acquisitions where it makes sense. We believe this serves our customers well, and serving customers well is our real goal. So when it comes to comparing buy versus build, it’s not like comparing apples to orangutans as some software companies out there want buyers to believe. Actually, it’s like comparing apples, to, well, apples in my book if the acquisitions are done well. As in the case of Amcom, we’ve built a lot of technology from scratch over the years. We’ve also made acquisitions. But the technology acquired was built from the ground up at well-respected organizations. And what we acquired was exactly that – organizations. So that means it’s solid technology but also much more. This includes development and QA teams, product experts, leadership staff, and other important personnel and knowledge. Drop us a note to let us know your perspective on the buy versus build topic.
We’ve talked about this important topic previously, but now we have an even clearer picture of what’s happening out in the industry. Based on the results of a hospital communications survey we performed (access survey here), hospitals are currently using 5.8 different devices on average within their facilities to communicate with users. Using pagers alone is not enough anymore. We discovered within the 300+ healthcare organizations surveyed that healthcare organizations need to communicate with a variety of devices, including pagers, smartphones, traditional cell and desk phones, Wi-Fi phones, Vocera badges, email systems, tablets, and more. In fact, different staff members tend to need different things. Nurses often rely on Wi-Fi phones, housekeeping on pagers, and physicians on smartphones. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Our research actually shows that hospitals will become more diverse in the number of devices they use in the future rather than less. But as long as messages reach the right people on the right devices at the right time, patient safety standards can be protected and staff can be satisfied. You should be able to send a notification from a single system and reach all message recipients simultaneously, regardless of the devices that they carry. What’s happening in your organization as far as device use? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
As you may have seen, USA Mobility has acquired Amcom Software. We’re thrilled about the promise this holds for our customers, partners, and employees.
The acquisition is about combining the two leaders in mission-critical communications. USA Mobility is the undisputed leader in paging -- the foundation of mission-critical communications today. Increasingly, however, the requirements of mission-critical communications are evolving.
Pagers were once the lone device option for urgent communications in healthcare, government, and public safety. But today’s leading organizations speed response by communicating with a diverse array of methods and devices. That’s where Amcom comes in as the leader in delivering software solutions which enable seamless, critical communications.
Amcom connects people across a universe of devices and contact methods that is always expanding. This powerful combination creates one company at the forefront of mission-critical communications, providing end-to-end solutions today and tomorrow so the right people get the right information on the right device at the right time.
Read the full press release.
Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
While the need to rally teams quickly in your hospital is certainly not new, there are an increasing number of ways to reach the right people when time is of the essence. Although pagers were once the standard for simultaneous communications, now staff can specify a wide range of devices on which they can be contacted.
For example, if you have a critical code, such as when a heart attack patient arrives, you probably have to let many people know that they will play a role in the very near future. The Cath Lab, cardiologists, nurses, lab technicians, and more can receive the appropriate message and respond with their availability. This is the key – being able to track responses easily and let alternate staff know if someone can’t make it. All of this can happen using common communications devices and systems such as smartphones, pagers, email, desk phones, and others. Logging all correspondence throughout the process also comes in handy when the Joint Commission asks for audit trails.
Best of all, better communications during emergencies helps improve patient care as staff focus more on doing their jobs and less on making multiple phone calls. Case in point, Amcom customer Goshen General Hospital in Indiana reduced its average time for treating heart attack patients (the “door-to-balloon time”) from 129 minutes to 68 minutes – a 47 percent reduction.
See for yourself how it all works in this video.
Drop us a line with your thoughts on emergency notification procedures.
Maple Grove Hospital truly embraces the latest technology, and we’re proud to be part of their communication solution. Built from the ground up and opened in 2009, this state-of-the-art facility is as quiet as it is modern. This helps promote healing and reduces stress for patients as well as staff.
Behind the scenes, Amcom middleware connects to the Rauland-Borg nurse call system and Philips patient monitoring units to send staff alerts on their Vocera badges. This allows the right staff members to receive notifications and respond to changes in patient conditions quickly – without a lot of noise and confusion.
Another interesting thing about how staff communicate is that because different alerts are sent to different staff members, general efficiency is amazing. If a patient presses the ‘pain’ button on the nurse call system’s bedside control unit, that goes to the appropriate nurse. But a request for ‘water’ or ‘toilet’ goes to an aide. There’s also an LED screen in each room where nurses can request supply replenishment as needed to avoid spending time tracking down particular items.
Right message, person, device, time. It’s hard to beat.
Learn more from Maple Grove’s CEO Andy Cochrane in Healthcare Executive Insight’s recent article.
