What can clients expect from your group ? How do you plan to move forward as Service leader ?
MS : When I first started , I did a gap analysis of the low-voltage technology group . I looked into the issues like projects and backlog , markets , the process of project delivery , how we could best expand and the best ways to become even more efficient . I ’ ll have a comprehensive report on this analysis ready by early next year .
But I intend to do a P2S , what I ’ ve done before , which is to put together a strategy for Low Voltage Technology services for the next five years . I ’ m working on this now , and I ’ m keen to deliver it to P2S leadership for approval . Once approved , we implement it by talking to our clients and developing the markets we identify in the plan . I have a lot of experience in Aviation projects at places like LAX and Sea-Tac , and I plan to enhance our low-voltage technology services in this market .
Beyond growing the business line , I want to continue nurturing long-term client relationships and open communication , which we already do well . I also intend to improve the project delivery process wherever possible . I always want to improve things for clients .
You ’ ve written extensively about technology systems at healthcare facilities . How do you design technology systems for such a specialized setting ?
MS : If you consider facilities like classrooms or warehouses as one unit , hospitals are like a city . You ’ ll find restaurants and shops along with exam and operating rooms . Hospitals have almost any component that you can think of . Getting all these components to work well with each other through workflow optimization is the key feature of what we call « smart « hospitals . Operators and patients interact with the building , controlling light and temperature . Some hospitals are going the route of providing almost hotel-quality comfort and amenities . The most important elements of healthcare technology design are getting all the hospital systems to work with each other and withstand the test of time .
For example , in 2000 , one hospital spent almost 2 million dollars deploying a system to support pagers . Obviously , pagers aren ’ t a technology that ’ s around today , with most young people not even knowing they existed . Hospital owners demand , and designers must know how to develop flexible infrastructure to support systems that don ’ t exist yet . You can ’ t close a hospital to renovate it ; it ’ s like a running engine that you have to work on while running ; you can ’ t turn it off . You can ’ t even close a floor like the ICU ; sometimes , you have to do one or two rooms at a time .
Then designers also have to deal with the Department of Health Care Access and Information ( HCAI ). This is a good thing . I consider them very effective and good to have around in their role as peer reviewers . Hospitals have to remain operational during emergencies like earthquakes because they ’ re a place of last resort for injured people . HCAI oversight enhances how operations and things like generators and local IT systems work during emergencies .
Are there any new or upcoming technology design trends you believe our clients should know about ?
MS : We have been doing electrical systems the same way since Edison started the process . I also tell people that the combustion engine is essentially the same as when Ford did it 120 years ago , but now you have computers in the car and LED lighting and those sorts of things .
You can think about hospitals in a similar fashion . There are some aspects of a hospital that haven ’ t changed much at all since modern hospitals began . But other hospital design features have changed dramatically with smart , IP-based systems interacting with each other . New developments like AI ( Artificial Intelligence ), robots and IoT ( Internet of Things ) are also fascinating , and it ’ s incredible what they can do now . We , as technology designers , must design data centers and networks that can support all of these new technologies . If we do our job right , caregivers can quickly adopt the latest technologies at their facilities to improve care delivery and the patient experience .
Can you tell us about some particularly notable projects you ’ ve worked on ? What was unique about them ?
MS : I ’ ve worked on many large projects . A couple that come to mind are the Calgary Cancer Center and UCI ICMC projects , which are both new , billiondollar healthcare facilities . For UCI , I put together a very detailed integration matrix . We identified all the