911’s Emergency Upgrade
By Greg Kahn
Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO
Published on August 15, 2023
We’re so used to our connected devices automatically updating with regularity, we tend to take their continuous functionality for granted. Similarly, we don't often think about the maintenance of those larger, every day services and systems we depend on; even to the point of neglecting the need for major overhauls.
The nation’s 911 system is one such service. We often take it for granted except — when we’re in trouble. For a long time now, it has been in dire need of an upgrade.
The potential benefits of an upgrade are enormous: According to a recent WSJ article, U.S. regulators have estimated that as many as 10,000 lives could be saved every year by reducing 911 response times by just one minute.
So what’s the solution? One startup is making a difference.
Plagued by bureaucracy, government systems are slow to reform. But simply turning these systems over to private contractors isn’t a solution either. Instead, startups can play a clear support role in quickly revising, rather than doing a wholesale takeover.
That’s why it makes so much sense to see local governments turning to RapidSOS to provide that 911 enhancement. [Full disclosure: I am a proud advisor to RapidSOS.]
RapidSOS’s tech platform uses cloud communications and data analytics to funnel crucial information, including a smartphone or smartwatch user’s exact location, from their device to the nearest 911 emergency center in case of an accident or injury.
Making Old Tech New Again
At a moment when fears of crime and natural disasters are dialing up our national anxiety, modernizing the country's 911 technology is both absolutely urgent and eminently doable.
“We’re using 35-year-old technology today to deliver 911 calls,” Patrick Lustig, Program Operations Team Lead of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, told the WSJ. “Everything else has changed except the 911 system.”
The availability of our exact locations are readily available to a ride-hailing or food service app is commonplace to just about everyone. And yet, current 911 systems have not harnessed this technology.
No Text Zones
During a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007, texts from students and witnesses poured into 911 lines. All went unanswered because 911 centers weren’t equipped to receive texts.
Sixteen years later this is still the case.The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) which sets 911 teams’ standards and offers training estimates that between about 40% to 45% of the country’s 911 centers still can’t accept texts.
“Thinking that I can text a picture to my mom of something, that’s great and grand that’s going on, but I can’t send a picture of someone who’s an active shooter to 911 is kind of a crazy concept,” said Aleisha Rucker-Wright, deputy executive director of the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority.
Solutions, Thank You
This woeful situation would seem hopeless without entrepreneurs like RapidSOS Co-Founder and CEO Michael Martin.
The company is demonstrating the depth of geolocation’s value beyond the usual consumer-facing channels. RapidSOS uses cloud communications and data analytics to funnel crucial information, including a smartphone or smartwatch user’s exact location, from their device to the nearest 911 emergency center in case of an accident or injury.
The service is having a giant impact. In 2022, 165 million calls went through RapidSOS; there were 550 calls per second during this past New Year's Eve. As Martin has previously said RapidSOS is “only starting to scratch the surface.”
What other public interests are being best enhanced by private companies right now? Drop me a note.
Greg Kahn
Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO
