We’re Moving Away from User Interfaces—Here’s Why.
Josh Childs and Kevin Christensen
Technology changes, and we change with it. Recently, we decided to remove Actall-designed user interfaces from our offerings to keep our focus on delivering the best possible RTLS to our customers. Josh Childs, VP of Sales, and Kevin Christensen, Director of Engineering, dive into the reasons behind this shift and what’s on Actall’s technological horizon.
Why Remove User Interfaces? Flexibility.
In complex physical environments where Actall thrives—corrections facilities, behavioral health centers—a variety of systems work together to keep residents and staff safe and accounted for. From door-lock controls to video monitoring to intercoms to RTLS, there’s no shortage of technological enhancements to help a facility function at its best.
Many of these systems, especially video monitoring, come standard with user interfaces that make checking in on wings, rooms or yards very simple. And in control rooms, where desk real estate is limited, adding on yet another user interface—in this case, Actall’s—isn’t always an option. Adjusting Actall’s UI in response to change requests from users or convincing a control team to adopt another UI for their new RTLS system takes time and effort and, we found, distracts from our overall goal of delivering the best RTLS systems possible.
We also found that, with redundant UIs and associated increased overhead, our customers’ costs were going up—and the additional training and personalized integrations weren’t helping our bottom line, either. Put simply, it made good sense to focus our efforts on location data alone.
This new solution allows for greater flexibility for our customers and for Actall. From Kevin: “Once we decided to focus on only delivering location data, we realized we had to be pretty intentional about how we were going to deliver that data. We designed the new system to be built from the ground up on software industry standards and protocols that allow us to very quickly and easily send data to anybody. This means that we’re also not limited to sending data to just UI vendors. So now we’re free to pursue improving accuracy, network density and ways to locate while being able to deliver all of that to a broader scope of the market.”
Other Tech Upgrades on the Horizon
There are a few main improvements and upgrades coming over the next several months to enhance Actall’s RTLS capabilities. Location algorithm improvements—an ongoing effort, as location is our bread and butter—related to smoothing out location transitions in locator-dense or light building construction environments is at the top of the list.
Secondly, we’re working on backup and failover feature improvements for our three levels of product. We’re also commissioning tools and improvements for integrators and customers during installation and testing.
Finally, we’re also integrating additional device types, mostly focused on transmitters and tags, offered by various vendors to increase the number of system options and scalability. This could also lead to further advancements and the development of novel ways to locate people or things.