The first topic is uh equality and diversity, and I think,
uh, in, in light of really the civil
reawakening, I'll call it here in the US and North America,
um, the topics are still very fresh and they're specifically relevant in
The 911-999 industry in North America and I hoped to share some of
the experiences that we've had here.
Uh, we have a tremendous amount, I would say almost a 70/30 split female to male ratio
on the line level in the control rooms, but the higher up in the ranks you go,
that, um, percentage actually almost swaps in the leadership roles and So how can we
ensure that we're um being inclusive of all members of our control rooms and
our uh space um and ensuring they have the, the right opportunities,
the same opportunities to grow and develop professionally.
That's from an industry centric perspective, but when we talk about serving the communities
that we serve, we need to be aware of what their particular challenges are and
how we can in our role of service to our communities, how we
can ensure we're doing all we can and being sensitive to the needs of their um cultures,
their. Social needs and.
Being inclusive in every single way to ensure we're not um fracturing or segmenting people
from levels of service that they should get when they call for help.
You know, I think for um many years, it has not.
Uh, I think in some ways.
Uh We have allowed things to.
Be status quo without challenging what's happening or how things appear to be.
We think we're being uh diverse and um inclusive of those communities that don't have
equal representation, and I think we just have to continue to challenge ourselves in the space
to ensure that we are uplifting um and providing opportunities for those who have
traditionally not have those had those opportunities.
Yeah, absolutely. Um.
So much like I was saying, I think we have to be almost like a continuous learning journey.
Um, we have to continually challenge the status quo, we have to continually challenge the
institutions that we work for and with, um, to ensure that we are providing all of those
opportunities and I'm hoping through the presentation that um.
I can offer different ways or different solutions that are working here in North
America that perhaps our European and UK counterparts can take advantage of or maybe
develop something that's similar to and build on from there.
The second topic is uh cloud-based services in the control room.
Um, here in North America, as I have to imagine is much the case in Europe and the UK.
And Much of the equipment is very expensive.
It's expensive to have a backhaul room that we call it here in the US,
uh, and the cloud provides an opportunity to, uh, diversify your equipment.
I love that word diverse, um, uh, create more redundancy, um,
your, you have multiple pathways then.
It if you collaborate with maybe some surrounding communities,
it can also uh improve your um ROI, your return on investment,
and not have to have such a huge capital investment by moving some of your solutions to
the cloud. I think both of those are, are really key.
You know, um, what I'm most looking forward to is continuing some of the conversations that we
were able to start at, uh, BAPCO in 2019.
I've been fortunate enough to have attended the National Emergency Number Association's event
that was held here in Columbus, Ohio, uh, last month.
I'm attending APCO International, uh, next week. That's, uh,
occurring here in San Antonio, Texas.
Um, a gap in time, even though we've seen one another virtually.
It's not the same as being, being able to collaborate in person,
um, network with, um, the professionals, find out what's happened,
you know, uplift one another for making it through really some unprecedented times.