I remember talking to a CIO about our asset tracking solution and I listed all the amazing features. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "but does it work"? I was somewhat unsurprised, but I appreciated the candor. There is a lot to unpack with those three words; "does it work?

🤔 What are we doing here?

  • Customers who purchase location-based services expect a lot from these systems.
  • Location services have amazing features, but are we asking them to do the right things?
  • Hoarding is a problem but "everywhere" location tracking is not practical.

🔨 To whack a mole or not to whack a mole

  • Central Equipment wants to find hoarded IV Pumps with the new RTLS.
  • Do we send techs out to hunt for pumps?
  • Unless we fix the hoarding this is a game of whack-a-mole.
  • Maybe we can stop the hoarding?

⏸️ Pause for the cause

  • Putting a pump in the pickup location means I might not get a replacement.
  • Nurses need to trust they can get a pump when they need one.
  • Build that trust and they will stop the hoarding.
  • Even state of the art PAR stocking won't work without trusting the process.

🕵️♂️ Just the facts

  • Focus on the nominal flow.
  • Track the pumps into and out of the pickup location.
  • Track the pumps into and out of the stock locations.
  • Now it is in the data and it is fraction of the cost of the finding hidden pumps.
  • Track and trace and we know if the flow is working.

🎯 Blame it on the data

  • Part of the problem or part of the solution?
  • It's about the data, so show the data.
  • Show that the nurses are getting their pumps.
  • Get the virtuous cycle started.

❓But does it work?

  • Think workflows first.
  • Minimal infrastructure, maximum useful data.
  • RTLS likes being part of the workflow solution.
  • It does work!

➡️ What's next?

  • It has agents that are workflows, and those agents have sensors that find things.
  • "Close-the-loop" with a nursing agent and CE agent
  • Agents can work together.

⬆️ It's about outcomes

  • Digital twin is about outcomes measured with great precision.
  • Start with the nominal then fix the anomalies.
  • The digital twin can help find the cause of the issue.
  • It all starts with a model. Let’s build one together!

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