The idea of getting a new communications center, getting upgrades at your current center, or remodeling can be exciting, but there is also a lot to take into consideration. Typically, a comm center remodel involves several components, such as installing new flooring, painting the walls, implementing new CAD systems, finding new monitors, and of course, getting new dispatch consoles.

As you can see, there are quite a few moving parts involved in revamping a comm center. During this process, it’s natural to want to plan around a time frame estimate. A question we are frequently asked is "how long does it take to get new dispatch consoles"? To help  answer this, I’ll map out the typical timeline we use at Xybix, starting from the beginning.

Are you planning for a new dispatch center or is it time for a renovation? That’s fantastic! Do you have an architect? That’s also fantastic! Do you have a team of people with conflicting input and opinions? That’s not so fantastic. The good news is that I’m here to arm you with information that will get everyone on the same page and impress the pants off of your architect!

You’re right in the middle of shopping for new dispatch furniture, and you realize that you don’t know what to do about all the ancillary storage and furniture in the room. You can’t just keep the old steel HON file cabinets when they are ugly and do not match anything. So how do you complete your room after shopping for dispatch furniture?

Let's be honest, if you are in the Command and Control industry, you pride yourself in organization, optimization, effectiveness and efficiencies. Like the grease to the wheel, you like organization and to keep things working at their best. The placement of command center workstations in a control room should be just as important for the optimal performance of your operators. Having miss-used space or disorganization can cause the efficiency and effectiveness of the team to dwindle.

What is customization? I asked myself this question the other day when I was told by a customer that a competitor said that Xybix does not do anything custom. Whoa--that was a surprise to hear, as we provide custom furniture all of the time! The big question that should be addressed is how do you, the dispatcher, view a custom product? To answer this question clearly, I have broken the concept of customization down into two main categories to help you better understand what goes into a custom product when designing or updating a new room.  

The recent growth at Xybix has caused us to expand our design team, and we just recruited and hired another interior designer, which is much different than my pursuit of a sales professional!

So you have a "Meet and Measure" scheduled with a local dispatch furniture territory rep. You figure- hey, they'll come out, measure a couple walls, badabing badaboom! Not quite. Imagine your Comm Center has been selected for the HGTV show where they come and remodel your house or kitchen. You know, where a designer comes and talks to you about how you want things to look and function, then they team up with the architects to make your dream come true.

I had a great opportunity to go to an open house for a newly remodeled dispatch center. This was in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a city of about 30,000 residents.  They dispatch fire and police for the city.  

Being new at something is equally exciting and terrifying. On one hand, you’re in uncharted territory and you are constantly in awe – think Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz stepping into Technicolor. You are a sponge, absorbing as much as you can to learn about the new challenge. On the other hand, you don’t know what you don’t know and there is an overload of information to retain.

You can have say in what your reading room looks like! Every radiologist has sat at their imaging desk and thought how their life could be better if they just made a few changes to their room. Many radiologists come to us because they want to improve their room and their health. Some common issues we hear about room design:

• "I am facing the wrong direction and cannot see people standing over my shoulder."
• "Some light is creeping in through the blinds making it hard to read my screens."
• "I do not have control over the climate in my room, I'm freeze or sweating all shift long."
• "I cannot dim the lights; they are either 'off' or 'on'."
• "My own voice bounces off the wall, making my dictation difficult."
• "I’m stuck sitting all day and cannot stand at my imaging desk."