From the beginning, EMS Technology Solutions, the maker of Operative IQ, has been on a mission to help first responders. As we celebrate our 15 year anniversary on December 18, 2022, we thought it would be fun to look at where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going.
It all started with a simple inventory tracking tool that was built to help a local Georgia EMS Agency solve problems with stocking and ordering medical supplies.
They had a small space to store supplies and it was difficult for them to control supply costs and ultimately reduce the amount of on-hand supplies. The agency looked at inventory control software offerings but they didn’t find something that worked well for medical supplies. The solutions on the market at the time were designed for warehouses or big retail. Nothing seemed quite right for their needs.
That’s when EMS Technology Solutions was born.
Our Founder and CEO, EJ Aufderheide, started to build a software application that would be purpose-built for EMS Agencies to track medical supply inventory and control inventory costs.
Over the past 15 years, that inventory tracking tool has grown into a robust software offering that includes asset management, narcotics tracking, fleet maintenance, RFID solutions, and more.
Everything that EMS Technology Solutions has developed has been built with the customer in mind. Our Senior Business Analyst, Oksana Semenska, will celebrate 14 years with us soon. She said the company’s vision has “always been to help first responders be more efficient.”
As EMS Technology Solutions acquired more customers and learned more about them, the technology grew as well. Aufderheide said customers consistently asked for the company to design new solutions, and we rose to the challenge.
“Can it do this? Can it do that?,” the customers asked. “Next we built the purchasing module and then the assets module,” Aufderheide said.
Innovation has been driven by the ambition to anticipate and keep up with customer’s needs, as well as the changing technology that customers use to access the system. At first, it was rare to find customers that had wireless internet. Then, as the use of wireless internet became more mainstream, customers were switching from using Toughbook laptops to using iPads. More recently, customers have moved from using iPads to using smartphones.
“We are constantly challenging ourselves to keep up with the new technology,” Aufderheide said.
Over the years, we have introduced new modules and applications to support our customers, like 2022’s Operative IQ Front Line, which is built to function beautifully on laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
“We have developed faster ways to do everyday operations,” Semenska said.
EMS Technology Solutions has grown to support more than just EMS agencies. Wework heavily with Fire Departments, Police Departments, and Air Medical Agencies. Additionally, we support some Veterinary Clinics, Colleges, and Universities.
We have also developed RFID solutions that lead the market. In 2023 and beyond, we will be expanding on our RFID offerings to make it even easier for first responders to track their inventory, assets, and narcotics.
“We spent the last seven years educating people on RFID and people were reluctant because of the cost and now people are more comfortable,” Aufderheide said.
In 2023, we plan to introduce improvements to the Fleet Maintenance module and Operative IQ Front Line. We will also be rolling out a completely new module and a new RFID product. Our goal continues to be to support our customers and push the boundaries of innovation.
“We actually do what we say we are going to do,” Aufderheide said. “We make promises and then we actually deliver, we turn around and make things happen very quickly.”
Thank you for your support over these past 15 years, the best is yet to come!