With the launch of Octave OnCall (formerly HxGN OnCall), the industry has seen a dramatic shift in incident management possibilities. Leveraging nearly three decades of domain experience, OnCall is the most comprehensive, next-generation public safety product portfolio on the market, transforming how agencies of all sizes make their communities safer and more resilient.
Adaptability has never been more vital for public safety agencies. As the product manager for Octave OnCall Dispatch (formerly HxGN OnCall Dispatch), I made certain that flexibility was at the forefront of our design. By allowing agencies to adapt more easily and economically, our new dispatch system will help agencies deliver better service and value, today and in the future.
Why OnCall Dispatch?
Over the last decade, new public safety threats have emerged, old threats have become more dangerous and agency demands have increased in complexity. While one-size-fits-all solutions may have worked in the past, user needs and public expectations require a different approach today. The demands of this new public safety reality require a shift in focus, starting with dispatch systems.
As the first point of contact during critical events, dispatchers need cutting-edge tools that help them quickly understand unfolding emergencies and take effective action. OnCall Dispatch allows agencies to leverage Octave’s industry-leading computer-aided dispatch (CAD) solution to provide superior incident management capabilities for public safety answering points (PSAPs), emergency control rooms, stations, units or anywhere first responders need to go. OnCall Dispatch accomplishes this task through on-premises, cloud or Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery.
Benefits of OnCall Dispatch
OnCall Dispatch’s flexibility provides several benefits to public safety agencies. First, it can adapt faster and more economically than legacy CAD systems. Second, it’s browsers and mobile apps are easier to administer and maintain. Finally, this dispatch system provides an exceptional user experience and streamlined workflows that reduce operator workload, increase productivity and boost PSAP capacity. To help agencies improve public relations, OnCall Dispatch enhances performance, lowers costs and generates data that supports better oversight, governance and community engagement. Let’s take a closer look at some of the other benefits.
Transforms call-taker and dispatcher experience
In critical situations, call-takers and dispatchers need reliable technology they can count on. Shaped by usability studies with customers and decades of public safety partnerships, OnCall Dispatch’s intuitive design delivers rich situational awareness without overloading operators and eliminates the need to switch between multiple interfaces and input devices. Best of all, the dynamic rendering feature enhances clarity and speeds operations by displaying information and tools related to operators’ current tasks. This means users can maintain awareness of important events without the distraction of opening a new dialog while responding.
Improves multiagency collaboration
Every agency has its own unique needs, but periodically, these demands will overlap with the requirements of other agencies. OnCall Dispatch meets these multiagency and multijurisdictional CAD deployment needs by allowing users to pool resources to optimize performance, increase resilience, and lower costs. This helps to spark collaboration across a wider response community than simply those in police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS). For example, co-dispatching with municipal services and by linking with OnCall’s collaborative major incident management solution.
Delivers better service and return on investment
Most public safety agencies share the same core goals: improve service and productivity, use resources efficiently and reduce total cost of ownership. Designed with these objectives in mind, OnCall Dispatch provides tools and workflows to enhance productivity, efficiently allocate resources, boost performance and deliver higher cost savings.
Additional benefits
The benefits listed above are only a fraction of what OnCall Dispatch can offer. If your current dispatch system is cost prohibitive, OnCall Dispatch can lower your overhead through browser clients and apps while also offering remote access. Need increased resiliency? The suite delivers by supporting load-balanced, redundant and distributed system design, cloud infrastructure and geographically separated servers and virtual machines.
Conclusion
Let’s face it – the public safety world is drastically changing. Agencies must adapt or risk falling behind and missing critical opportunities. OnCall Dispatch brings agile, next-gen call-taking and CAD capabilities together to make cities everywhere safer, smarter places to live, work and visit.