24/7 Software Blog

“A wire fox terrier named King has taken the crown at the 143rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. He's the 15th wire fox terrier to win "Best in Show,” writes Matthew S. Schwartz in their recent NPR article entitled “It's Good To Be King: Wire Fox Terrier Wins Westminster Dog Show.”

"You know, I love you all,’ said Best in Show judge Peter Green as he stood in front of the finalists. ‘Every one of you.’ Then Green, who spent years honing his own craft as a professional dog handler to terriers, raised his arm and pointed at the dog he apparently loved the most. ‘He's best in show," shares Schwartz.

According to the NPR article, “The 7-year-old King is ‘as good as it gets,’ Green said, according to USA Today. ‘The head, the expression. Everything is really, really as good as it gets. And then the handler has him in perfect condition," explains Schwartz.

"I look at King, he's like a beautiful painting, a piece of art,’ King's handler, Gabriel Rangel, said earlier in the day. ‘The way he stands and performs, he's the whole package," the piece continues.

Kudos to King and his handler, Gabriel, for a remarkable victory.

It certainly got us thinking about one thing.

Is your operation “as good as it gets” or can it be improved?

Can you get better?

We believe you can, and that’s because your operational environment is always changing.

It’s always evolving.

That requires you to rethink what being as good as it gets is – every day.

Now, that’s not a bad thing or something you cannot handle.

But, you need to have the right mindset, fierce discipline, and a proven methodology engrained into your operation, all the way from your team’s behavior to your processes to the technology you use.

Keep reading; we’ll explain.

Running your property’s daily operation is a breeze.

You’ve got everything down to a science.

Open parking gates, close parking gates, turn on escalators, complete this, and get that done.

It’s business as usual, and you believe you're a genius at it.

But, what happens when you host an event?

Tasks change and the number of tasks increases.

It’s not ‘business as usual’ anymore.

You have tasks to coordinate based on your event requirements, from consolidating alcohol kiosks to reversing escalators, to the unexpected things that need to get done.

Event day requires a lot of your team’s attention.

How do you manage task requirements for your events?

It’s a great responsibility.

But, you can handle the “task” like the proactive operation you are.

You already know you need to stop writing things down or trying to remember what needs to get done.

That’s how important tasks get missed.

But, you’re not sure how you’ll manage event day tasks that come in droves?

They’re not issues, incidents, or customer requests.

We’re here to help.

You need to utilize task management software in conjunction with your event requirements.

It’s how you’ll get stuff done for your event days!

“Last fall, Corey Chase drove 6,000 miles around his state to ground-truth what every Vermonter with a cell phone knows: there are many, many places in the state where you simply can't get a signal, not to mention the 5 megabits per second data download speeds the carriers were claiming,” writes John Dillon in their recent NPR article entitled “One Man's Quest To Prove Vermont Has Terrible Cell Service.”

According to the article, “The six-week effort involved six cell phones, a state-owned Prius and an app from a software developer in Bulgaria.”

“What Chase, a Vermont Department of Public Service employee, found is now part of a detailed challenge before the Federal Communications Commission that officials hope will bring federal dollars into the state to improve the wireless network,” explains Dillon.

The NPR piece continues that “Chase, a telecommunications infrastructure specialist, drove the equivalent of Montpelier to Los Angeles and back. But his windshield time was along state roads and through town and village centers, at a slow pace of 40 mph. And occasionally he found himself on no road at all.”

"There's apparently a road that goes from Stamford to Bennington. I tried to take said road, and there's a state-government printed sign on the road that says: 'Your GPS is wrong, turn around now,” said Chase, according to Dillon’s article.

“Although Chase saw lots of beautiful sights and foliage driving around the state, his excursion was really a massive data collection project,” Dillon clarifies.

Data collection?

Looking at the weakness in the infrastructure?

While the title of Dillon’s article alone intrigued us, this undertaking hit home.

We see lessons for property operations worldwide.

So many lessons: complacency, change management, identifying your weaknesses, and most important, recognizing that your operation is terrible reactive.

We need to change that.

But, as you’ve seen with Chase’s mission, that requires a lot of time spent collecting data and going places you’re not necessarily comfortable going.

Are you ready to do what’s needed to be proactive?

Your experience in Proactive Operations got you the Director position at your new property.

It’s like any other event for your new team.

But, a whole new world for you.

It’s your shot to prove what you can do.

You were hired to make efficiency improvements.

So, you’re charged with employing Proactive Operations here.

But, you’re not sure what to expect today.

Sixty minutes before today’s event starts, calls begin coming in through the incident management system and radio.

You notice something unusual but wait a little longer to diagnose the issue.

More calls come in.

This property has many more incidents than your former property, but they use the same resources.

“Jim, we have a wet spill at…,” you hear over the radio.

Everyone is moving around the channels attempting to get some clarity.

You listen to the radio but are struggling to collect needed information.

“That’s the problem,” you exclaim.

You look at your new operations manager, Chris.

“This radio traffic is the problem,” you tell him.

“Radio is not enough, and we need to free up these radio channels for high priority conversations,” you continue.

“We have too many incidents to communicate and manage,” you continue.

But, you know what to do.

“We’re getting mobile apps,” you assert.

Is your incident management bogged down by the lack of proactive communication?

Then, it’s time to change your approach – and reap the benefits of mobile apps.

“The Justice Department unsealed two separate indictments of Chinese telecom device maker Huawei on Monday. But only one of them reads like the script of a slapstick caper movie,” writes Laurel Wamsley in their recent NPR article entitled “A Robot Named 'Tappy': Huawei Conspired To Steal T-Mobile's Trade Secrets, Says DOJ.”

“That would be the one that describes the U.S. government's case alleging that Huawei stole trade secrets from T-Mobile, the wireless service company,” explains Wamsley.

“In the indictment, the government says that between June 2012 and September 2014, Huawei repeatedly made efforts to steal information about the design of a T-Mobile robot. The robot's name, adorably, is ‘Tappy,” the article continues.

Wamsley shares, “We would like to include a photo here of Tappy, but photographing the robot is expressly prohibited by T-Mobile, and Tappy is kept under very tight security in a lab at T-Mobile headquarters in Bellevue, Wash.”

According to the NPR article, “Tappy's job is to test devices before they go to market. With a rubber-tipped robotic arm, it touches the device screen, imitating a human using the phone — while at the same time tracking problems, measuring how long tasks take to complete, and monitoring how much battery is drained by each task.”

“At least at the time of the events in the indictment, Tappy was apparently the envy of other mobile companies, and only T-Mobile employees were allowed to operate Tappy. But eventually the company allowed employees from its phone suppliers to access and operate the robot – so long as they signed nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. Those agreements specifically barred suppliers' employees from attempting to reverse engineer Tappy, or to take photos or videos of it,” continues Wamsley in the piece.

Wamsley continues that “Meanwhile, Huawei China was reportedly trying to build its own device-testing robot — named, less cutely, ‘xDeviceRobot’ — and it was not finding much success. And Huawei's devices weren't faring well on T-Mobile's Tappy tests, failing more often than devices made by competitors.”

Now, chances are you’re not developing a top-secret robot to change the wireless provider game.

But you’ve most certainly got critical data about your customers, operational processes, and any other competitive advantage you’re leveraging.

That’s why it’s important to know how you can protect it.

We believe Proactive Operations that stick to the methodology get it right more times than not – way more than not.

It’s a disciplined way to keep your performance up and your property protected.

Keep reading; we’re going to share how to protect your figurative “Tappy” from others.

Your team is responsible for the safety of your property.

That means everyone from personnel to the guests that come and go.

But, you’re using an outdated software solution.

One that works… but doesn’t really work.

Agree?

It’s frustrating to you because you’ve trained your team – hours and hours were spent on it.

But, we’re all human.

So we forget things, and you cannot expect your rookie to remember every SOP you have.

You want them to, but you know you need to remove obstacles from their patch.

Setting them up to be accurate and efficiency is what’s important to you, their safety, and that of everyone on your property.

That’s why you need to choose a guard tour system that meets the needs of your property.

Not the property in front of you, behind you, or next to you.

Your property is different, and you know you need a software solution that’s different.

You need a proactive guard your system.