I just had a great conversation with one of Xybix’s longtime customers in Joliet, IL. I still remember our presentation with Joliet/Will County. Sometimes you just know right away that it is a great fit, and this was one of those times.  

What got me excited to write this blog is that the furniture in Joliet is now 10 years old, and according to the chief administrator who has been there the whole time, it still looks new. I found this out as we were discussing depreciation rates of the dispatch consoles. This falls into how long you should hold onto your dispatch furniture. Each center is going to see things differently. In this case, they are looking at the 12-year mark, and they may go to 15 if needed.  

With another year of RSNA is behind us, we have had a weekend to rest up and now it is time to go back to work. With over 20 years of building and selling height adjustable desks for imaging centers and 24/7 markets I always like to cruise the show floor and see what is new each year at RSNA. 

In the business world, everyone talks about return on investment (ROI). Recently, I have been seeing this term pop-up more and more in relation to buying dispatch furniture.  It’s often illustrated like this:  

Cost of work station: $22,000.00

Longevity in years: 15

Cost per year: $1,466.00  

This magic number of dollars to return on investment is simply about profit margins and the bottom dollar. When in fact, ROI can actually be much more complex than this.

The right equipment and setup can make all of the difference in getting any job done right, and the world of telemetry is no different. According to lab managers and project managers here is what their technologists are looking for:

• comfort
• ergonomic chairs
• adjustable focal depth of  6-8 monitors
• adequate keyboard workspace
• clean wire management system

I just got back from a job site visit, and the 911 center I visited had their computers sitting outside of the consoles on the floor. Not such a good idea because of all of the potential hazards, such as tripping over the computers, accidentally unplugging them, and/or just knocking them over.

I asked the dispatchers what was going on and if they had run out of room, and they told me that the CAD computers kept overheating sitting in the framework of the consoles. In addition to that, all of the rear access doors were also open to help keep the computers from overheating.  

I want to ask a simple question: how often do you read the labels on your packaged food? Are you Person A, meaning you thoroughly inspect the label for hidden chemicals or cleverly-named additives, or are you Person B, which means you just toss the package/can in the cart because you know Uncle Sam won’t let companies put anything too crazy in the food?

Over the last couple of months, I have discovered that more and more agencies are wanting to go with a touch-screen phone system. This conversation is usually brought up when talking about the number and sizes of monitors agencies are looking to add to their workstations. Working in a 911 dispatch center myself, I have had a touch-screen monitor over the past eight years and rarely used it. You ask why? Well for one thing, the monitor is generally so far away from me, the end user, that I find myself reaching over to answer the incoming line. Personally, I would rather locate the mouse dedicated to the phone system on the desktop and click on the incoming line.  

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.  

Trade show floors can be intimidating and a bit overwhelming. After all, APCO 2016 is one of the largest, if not the largest, trade shows for public safety professionals all year. And, whether you’re a Supervisor, Director, Dispatcher, or Manager, odds are that you’ve got a pretty busy week planned for Orlando, FL. Hustling from one session to another, and obviously coming back to your agency with some key take-aways! Trust me, we know the drill.

So, let us help you by telling you why you shouldn’t come by Xybix’s booth at APCO:

What Does Your Makeup Say About You?

There’s a lot of talk about durability in the dispatch furniture industry, and we get asked a ton of questions. Is steel stronger? Is wood stronger? Is 12-gauge steel really better than 14-gauge steel? What is the lifetime of the furniture? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years? The truth is, a dispatch console could be made of bulletproof glass and hurricane-rated I-beams, but if the integrity of the completed product isn’t tested, it couldn’t withstand a Donald Trump temper tantrum, let alone the amount of abuse a console takes in a comm center!