After a 23-year stint in Silicon Valley – and working across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa – Cisco’s former Executive Vice President (EVP), Chris Dedicoat, is back in the UK, where he continues to champion fast-paced technological innovation.
So impressed with Purple’s ability to make highly intelligent technology easily accessible and maximize ROI, Chris joined the board of directors here earlier last year and he’s already playing a critical role in our development, both at home and overseas.
Here he explains why he is confident that Purple’s technology is the future, and why you can be too.
Shaped by experience
My time in the US was a defining part of my life and those years in Silicon Valley will always stay with me. It taught me a way of thinking that is different and because of my experience, I know that technological progress can solve so many of the major challenges we face today – be it economic, health or security – while also supporting growth.
More than ever, we need to remove the barriers to change and the only way to do that is to understand what those barriers are. When it comes to digital transformation, it’s often the cost of new technology, and the inability to experiment quickly with it, that holds progress back.
Purple understands this and that’s why it has the power to do so much.
Making smart tech simple
What many organizations don’t realize is that the technology they already have in place has considerable potential and Purple works with its clients to explore the capabilities of their existing tech.
In doing so, it can often identify a number of untapped opportunities and implement simple yet effective techniques to help businesses make full use of their current assets, at a much quicker rate than if they were to invest heavily in brand-new technology.
By removing the barriers to change, it enables businesses to keep up to speed with the pace of digital transformation at a time when it’s needed the most.
“The implications for every sector are huge”
Take healthcare as an example. It’s absolutely crucial the sector is able to make full use of the resources available to it, however amongst the multitude of challenges it faces:
- £300M of medication is lost or wasted in the UK alone each year.
- If you take the US into account, it’s a further $800M.
- 1 hour in every shift is spent searching for equipment and medicine
- Another hour is wasted in nurses helping lost visitors
Purple already provides reliable WiFi to a number of healthcare providers across the globe, but it goes beyond the limits of everyday WiFi and helps to directly address such issues.
60% now use apps on their mobile phones for work-related activity and this cannot be overlooked.
Purple’s Digital Wayfinding technology allows hospital visitors to navigate their way to appointments using Bluetooth on their mobile device, with personalized routes and turn-by-turn directions.
In partnership with VCU Health, Purple helped to create a personalized navigation app for its eight buildings, the VCU Medical Centre, and parking decks. Now, all patients need to do is download the route and it will take them from their front door right to their appointment. They’re even able to search for food and dining facilities, or on-site shops – and can return to their car or other saved locations.
Crucially, the technology allows staff to locate missing patients and with 6 in 10 mental health patients found to wander, it provides the teams looking after them with the tools they need to keep them safe.
Purple’s technology is being used by healthcare providers to improve the patient experience while saving valuable time and money – and more are expected to swiftly follow suit – but the same technology is being applied in a number of other settings and the implications for every sector are huge.
A force for good
From a security perspective, the technology has a vital role to play, and – whether in a stadium, a train station, or a workplace environment – Purple’s customers use it to simultaneously identify potential threats and manage large crowds.
Retailers, on the other hand, often use Purple’s Guest WiFi technology to send personalized messages to customers while they’re shopping in-store. When you look at research recently carried out by Purple (which found that 77% of shoppers are more likely to shop at a retailer that offers a more personalized experience and 83% are happy to share their data in exchange for tailored offers), the gains are quickly realized.
What’s more, the technology is even being used by the hospitality sector to tackle the recruitment crisis by turning happy customers into employees, simply by sharing information about the roles available through the guest WiFi and encouraging instant applications.
A train operator was even able to make use of Purple’s WiFi Analytics tool to see if energy savings could be made without impacting the customer’s comfort and experience.
Over the course of a month, customers on board were asked for feedback on the temperature in the carriages. More than 263,000 responses were collected and the data found the equivalent of 165 homes’ daily electricity consumption could be saved.
“Collaboration underpins everything”
As you can see, Purple works in completely different industries with completely different requirements, and this is just a small measure of its capabilities cross-sector.
A focus on knowledge exchange is key and collaboration underpins everything at Purple.
It asks the right questions of the relevant people. It stays current and learns new techniques. But ultimately, it offers its customers greater return on their investments and can change the way the world embraces innovation.