The Fire Protection Podcast: Episode #30 – Fire Protection Compliance & the Connection to Emergency Response

y better than I do. Um, uh, the compliance engine. I’ve had Matt on here before, but there are more of a, uh, compliance tool, um, for jurisdictions, for fire sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems. I wanted to have them both on here because they’ve, uh, they’ve recently announced an integration, uh, amongst their platform. So it’s really interesting to see what, um, different software platforms are doing to kind of, uh, mix together some of the data.

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And I think it’s, it, it’s a good, uh, discussion because I think there’s gonna be a lot more happening that here in the, uh, near future. So, um, little shout out, uh, to inspect point. We, or actually the Fire Protection Podcast is going live at the NAED Las Vegas and NAED Atlantic City Events. So, uh, if you are in town in Las Vegas or Atlantic City for those times, please, uh, please stop by. We’re doing a live broadcast right at the, uh, entrances and the registrations of those shows. So, um, north American Fire Equipment distributors. I think it’s June 3rd and fourth, and the 23rd and 24th, um, in Atlantic City. So, see you there. Thanks.

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All right. And we’re live. Thanks, Matt. Thanks Andreas, for, for joining me today on the on the Fire Protection Podcast. Uh, excited to have this is, this is, uh, exciting to have both of you on here. So thanks, drew. Thanks for having us. Yeah, no problem. Good to be here. So, um, we’ve got Andreas Hu Huber. Huber, or Huber, sorry, sorry, Andreas. Yeah. E either one works, uh, either one. Works Hub. Yep. Huber is good. He’s a co-founder of First do a fire service, uh, uh, platform. Um, and we’ve got Matt Rice, uh, CEO and co-founder of, uh, ricer, the compliance engine. Um, I know they have a few other tools out there, but, um, yeah, if you guys wanna give, uh, kind of the audience, Matt, I know you’ve been on the podcast before, but if you wanna just give, uh, just a quick, uh, intro of who you are, a little bit of your background, and we’ll get kicking.

Matt Rice: (00:03:03):

Yeah, absolutely, drew, thanks. Thanks again for having, uh, us on the Fire Protection Podcast. And Andreas, it, uh, I’m looking forward to, uh, our discussion today. Um, Bryce, or in the compliance engine is an 11 year old company that pioneered what we call compliance solutions. Applications, uh, the industry calls it third party reporting, uh, which again, in our last podcast, uh, drew, we believe that’s misnomer. Um, but what we do is, is we’re a web-based application to drive, track and drive code compliance, um, with the fire codes as it pertains to the inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire protection systems by third parties. Our whole goal is to drive life safety to, uh, increase the enforcement of, of that code, uh, due to, uh, lack of fire protection resources on the a HJ side. Um, ensure the integrity of the, of the city’s fire protection system so that they’ll work in case of an incident and, and as a result reduce, uh, unwanted nuisance alarms in the industry.

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Um, so we have a technology, it’s web-based application at www.thecomplianceengine.com. But really, while we call ourselves a compliance solution application rather than just a pure technology, is, is this, what we do is not just a technology by any stretch of imaginations. We put ourselves in the service category. We do have a software that acts as a tool, but what really drives is compliances is all the services that we provide, uh, on behalf of the ahj and the service providers. So in short, we’re a compliance solution application that drives the inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire protection systems in jurisdictions across country.

Drew Slocum: (00:04:41):

Great.

Andraes Huber: (00:04:43):

Cool. Um, all right. So maybe I’ll jump in. Um, thanks for that introduction, Matt and Drew. Thanks for having us. Uh, really excited to talk about, um, fire protection systems and compliance, and how all of this can make an impact, not just for jurisdiction hj, but also our first responders. So first due is a modern cloud-based end-to-end software suite for Fives agency who run their entire business on a single platform or a single system. So the areas that were, what we, what we mean by an end-to-end system is, um, software and modules for the aha. So fire prevention, fire inspections, permitting, licensing, invoicing, billing, um, fire investigations, uh, pre-sent planning and mapping DS, scheduling and staffing, um, for your entire agency. Uh, mobile response. So using software to respond to, uh, calls for service and assets, uh, and inventory management, personnel management. And lastly, incident across N first and, uh, NEMSIS compliant reporting. Um, really excited about being on the call with Matt today. Um, we’ve actually worked quite closely together, um, with our two products and bring a very cool, sort of first of its kind solution for, um, both the operational side or operations side of a fire department, as well as the ahj side. So, uh, really sort of meaningful outcomes, uh, as a result of fire departments using, um, our integrated solution, which we’re excited to talk more about later on in the podcast.

Drew Slocum: (00:06:37):

No, no, that’s great. Actually, you, you jumped, you jumped right on it. So I guess why I wanted to have you guys both on is because you, you’ve created recently in the last, uh, three to four months, uh, an integration between the two platforms. Can you, uh, both discuss that or one wants to go first, feel free, uh, of, of how they both work congruently together and provide a better solutions to the hj?

Matt Rice: (00:07:05):

Yeah, Andreas, I’ll, I’ll just jump in real quick. Um, here. So everything that we do here at Bryer and, and everything we, uh, we believe in first do is that they do is to bring value and life safety to the, to communities through the AHJs, right? So, uh, we’ve known Andreas, I’ve known Andreas for going on, I don’t know, 6, 7, 8 years now. Um, and we’ve got some, we had some mutual customers. And what, uh, Andreas was doing with the first due on the preplanned side was really exciting stuff. And, uh, mutual, a large metro, uh, wanted to have our information shared with, um, their, their pre-planned software at the time and, uh, to help their first responders. And so, from our perspective and what we do, again, everything we do is all about driving life safety and being able to provide information to those who needed it at appropriate time.

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We didn’t have a platform here at Bryer to provide to the first responders. We have, our platform is focused on the prevention bureau, right? So, uh, it was somewhat in my, in our opinion, a natural fit to, to add additional value to the value that, um, first two is already providing, uh, the first responders from a pre-planned perspective. So we’re, we’re sending over information, uh, on the fire protection systems, on whether they’re in good operating condition, whether they’re, they have any deficiencies on them, and in some areas, whether they’re red tagged, uh, depends on where you’re at in the country, but it was to send out over information on the fire protection system. So those first responders had a, had on incident commander there had an understanding of are these fire protection systems and sprinklers, fire alarms, palms, et cetera, working, uh, upon arrival at, um, an incident. So we’re, we’re really pleased with the partnership and the integration of our two platforms to, to drive life safety. Andreas, your thoughts? Yeah,

Andraes Huber: (00:09:01):

No, thank you for that. Um, and that, that is exactly how this had all come about, uh, from a large metro. Um, and it kind of really talks to one of the, there’s really two pieces, pieces of the pie here, I think, in terms of, you know, high level value to the end user, the customer of fire department. Um, on the operational side, there’s just always been, um, this information gap, uh, related to things like, um, fire protection system statuses, uh, just as one example. So when crews are responding to, let’s say, a fully involved structure fire at maybe a warehouse or some other commercial structure, and maybe the fire pump is, um, has been red tagged or is deficient or not operational or suppression system, right? That’s the type, that information could be really valuable to the first responder if they know that the moment the call, uh, comes from dispatch versus kind of figuring that out once on scene, um, really sort of powerful for the first responder to have that info immediately, right? And then the second piece is even on the fire prevention side. So having that data right within first do when, um, a fire inspector, fire marshal is on site doing an inspection, just having that information right there readily available for them, uh, can be also really helpful when they’re, when they’re, um, doing it onsite.

Drew Slocum: (00:10:24):

Interesting. Yeah, it, it’s, uh, obviously, I mean, all the data that they have, why, why not push it over to the, the people in the field that are responding? So I guess, you know, there’s some people that have been, you know, I have a lot of, a lot of contractor listeners or facility listeners that are, have, have used the, the compliance engine tool before. So, you know, they’re entering in reports, they’re entering in deficiency data. How does that actually push over to first do? Is it like a red, yellow, green that, hey, the pumps inoperable, certain control valves are shut, they’re not gonna show all the non-critical things, I’m assuming. Is that right, Matt?

Matt Rice: (00:11:07):

Well, yeah, I mean, so when you look at it, everything we try and do, um, is provide simple current information to the hjs, right? And so what we send over there through an API is it can be multiple, it can go, it can go to multiple layers. And where it’s at today is right now, for the most part, yes, it is, Hey, do they have a fire protection system? If so, what systems do they have and are they in good working owner? Are there deficiencies, right? Um, it’s not passing, you know, for right now the metro wants, are we passing over that, Hey, the gauges are bad? No. Is this thing in good working order, is it compliant or is it deficient? Is it working or is it not? Um, I believe in conversations with Andreas, his team as well as, as the hjs is that, uh, we have the ability on both our platforms to send more information over right now what, what they were looking for. And then, and we look to support what the, our customers are looking for on the, on the fire department side is, is they wanna know, Hey, is this in good working order or not? And what systems do they have?

Andraes Huber: (00:12:14):

Yeah, e e, exactly. And, and it kind of also falls exactly what you said, Matt. It’s all about a, it’s all about sort of a quick win. It’s, it’s about getting the right information to the right people in the right format. Because if, if we’ve seen so many different, um, service providers, uh, really, you know, vendors trying to push so much data in front of dispatchers, in front of crews responding, and if it’s not in a format that can, can be, can be consumed with a simple glance at the device inside the vehicle, the MDT or a tablet, whatever it might be, then it’s not gonna be operationally effective. So one of the things that’s quite unique with First do, um, is that we’re not trying to send to Matt’s point all the data. We’re, what we want to share is just the information that’s gonna be relevant and consumable to help make better decisions in the field.

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Um, and we’re doing that with, within our application, something we call our responder dashboard. And that’s where you’re gonna have something called alert icons or alert tiles that where there are, you know, hundreds and hundreds in the background just waiting for certain conditions that might exist at that structure or occupancy. Everything from basic contact info to the fact that there is, um, you know, a, a fire suppression system that’s not operational, um, along with a narrative that’s also automatically generated. So if a service provider has been out to that location and, uh, ran a test on the fire pump or the suppression system and ultimately fails, we don’t need to rely on traditional communication methods for crews responding to a fire the next day, the next week, right in. Instead, the system automatically is waiting for that condition. Now that it exists, we’re going to alert the first responder so that they don’t have to think about anything. They just simply look at the screen, which automatically matches that occupancy from the address coming from dispatch. So the experience is like very, very clean and slick for the first responder, cuz they’ve got too much going on to start looking for things, it needs to be served to them.

Matt Rice: (00:14:26):

And, and Drew, let me add to that into your question is, yeah, I mean, you know, what kind of panel is it? You know, pressures, reads, all that kinda stuff, right? Of course all that’s captured in, in the compliance engine and really focus, I mean, again, we’re, I wanna, I don’t wanna confuse anybody, there’s two people here, right? We’re talking about with what our integration with First do is, is really on the first responders and, and Cam moved down to when they do their, when the HA do their inspections, however, what the compliance engine, right? We’re focused on prevention and helping them enforce their code and, and, and get everybody compliant, right? So yes, all that information is here Yes. Can first do take all that information. Yes. Did it make sense for all that information? No, because the crew is responding to fire, uh, aren’t the ones who are responsible for ensuring that, you know, the sprinkler systems in good working order, right? That’s prevention. So just a bit of a clarification there, right? We’re trying, um, you know, what we do and what we can provide and information to first do is a benefit to who their target audience is for the tools that they use, utilize at first do, um, which, which continues to expand. So I just wanted to add that bit of clarification for everybody listening.

Drew Slocum: (00:15:32):

No, that’s, that’s a good point. I mean, there’s, there’s two really end users, right? There’s the fire prevention bureaus of the HJ or fire departments, and then there’s the first responders and the ones in the field that, that the first do is handling. Yep. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. It’s funny, I’ve gotten in, uh, a recent conversation on, and I know Matt, on your platform, you handle mainly fire alarms, sprinkler, a little bit of depression, and the whole thing with, you know, um, on the fire prevention side, what, what are you sending, what are you sending to your platform? Or even what are you sending to the hj whether they’re non-critical, critical or impairment, um, deficiencies is, it’s important at the end of the day cuz that, again, the HJ could get that information at some point. And whether it’s, whether it’s pushed to first do or just into their regular platform to, to respond to, I think that’s, uh, it’s a very gray area, at least in our world on the service provider and contractor side where, um, how do you tag something or give it a status, whether it’s critical or like an impairment where it’s some, the system’s actually shut down, right?

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So, uh, NFPA is trying to handle it now, but there’s, there’s not really in the code, at least for Sprinkler, uh, fire alarm. There, there may be something there. So there’s

Matt Rice: (00:16:57):

Some, there’s some more fire alarm. Look, our platform allows service provider to, you know, file n FPA on what they define as critical and not critical and, and impairment, as you said, not clearly defined, but, um, that’s up to the expert in the field making that decision, right? You know, clearly on our platform if there’s an impairment, right? Not only does the HJ in the Prevention Bureau get a chance to review it in tce, but they get an automatic email on it. So one ation here is, is non-critical deficiencies, they don’t get emails on that information, right? We don’t wanna inundate people. I I think Andres made a great point earlier in that, hey, look, we don’t wanna give ’em too much information, right? You know, when you’re making quick responses, right? So if there’s an impairment and a fire watch needs to be put on, yeah, they’re gonna get an email on that, right? And, uh, if, if it’s not, it’s not not critical deficiency and, and something needs to be corrected, um, that’s put, uh, at the hands of the SHA to address it, you know, when, when, when available.

Drew Slocum: (00:17:51):

Nice, nice, nice. So how, how many, uh, how many jurisdictions do you have kind of, uh, utilizing both tools integrated at this point?

Andraes Huber: (00:18:02):

So I would say, I would say we’re probably in the tens right now, probably. Oh,

Drew Slocum: (00:18:09):

Great.

Matt Rice: (00:18:10):

Andreas, I think we got 16 active and we got four more that are in the midst of the API being implemented.

Andraes Huber: (00:18:15):

Yeah. We’ve kind of, um, you know, just recently in the last couple months, let our joint customer bases know about it and now everyone is starting to ask for, which is really cool. And, um, that’s great. Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s fun to see the response from, from people. So it may, it, it definitely feels good, like we’re kind of making a difference, so.

Drew Slocum: (00:18:37):

No, that’s good. I thought there was only a few, but that’s, you only have, you have pretty much have 20 ready. That’s, that’s great. That’s great to hear. Um, so yeah, all, all that’s done through an API and all that, which is, which is, uh, makes it a lot easier, um, kind of transitioning, uh, we know who you guys are, why we’re connecting it, but, um, you know, over, over the last year, you know, with, with the pandemic and all that, I know, um, initially probably a year ago, the whole industry, fire Protection, fire service was, was very worried about, you know, what, what the outlook, uh, what the outlook of of 2020 was gonna be and even forward. Um, I know you guys have both made comments about just the fire service industry and, and what that looks like. Um, how, how is the fire service doing, doing overall over the last year, year and a half with, with the pandemic more in regards to, uh, moving to platforms like, like both of yours. Um, obviously there, there is a little bit of a cost and and budget there that they have to bring in. So, um, any experience so far in the last year and a half?

Andraes Huber: (00:19:56):

Yep. Matt, did you want to go first or? I’m,

Matt Rice: (00:19:58):

I’m happy to go first. Um, Andreas and, and I will have, uh, somewhat different experiences on this, but yet maybe related, and, and I say that from the perspective of again, right, we’re zero cost to the AHJs fire part, you know, fire departments. Um, so I, we may have, we have a little bit of a different, um, result as a result of that. Uh, you know, I looked at the International Association of Fire Chiefs Economic Task Force, right? And in 2020 they were saying there was gonna be a 395 million budget loss, right? And they’re estimated in 2021 an estimated of 350 million budget loss to fire departments, you know, due to tax dollars due to covid, et cetera. Um, I don’t, I did not, I don’t know where in the study they got that information. So, and, and I c I I trust what they say for sure.

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I just don’t know that on our end, we’ve actually seen that in some ways. It, um, COVID gave, uh, the Fire Prevention Bureau the ability to, um, slowed down a focus right? In prevention, um, right. Resources. Since 2008, they’ve been lacking the full resources that Fire Prevention Bureau should have. Okay. Uh, COVID is not helping that, as we all know, and, uh, all three of us run businesses here that when your budget gets cut, rarely does it come back. Um, so having signs of budget cuts from 2008 and then Covid and what these estimates, um, from I c you know, one, we, we tend to let lend one to believe that, hey, that’s not a good sign. What we’ve seen though, as far as adoption in, in, um, decision making from the fire department side is we haven’t seen, we saw in March, April and May a slowdown of last year, of 2020, we have seen that pickup direct drastically, um, since June of last year.

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And I think a lot of that allowed, uh, as a result, the fire prevention bureaus had, uh, time to actually delve down into what they wanted to do, who they were gonna do it with, do the research, um, and then make that, um, decision and, and present that to the higher obs within the city or the jurisdiction or the county, uh, to get things done. So we haven’t seen a slowdown other than, you know, half of, uh, March, April, may of last year, we’ve actually seen it pick up. Uh, and, and I and I part of that be, you know, part of I, what I believe we believe that here at Pricer is, is look, we act as administrative resource for these, uh, for these jurisdictions at zero cost. Um, so it makes sense, right? They’re doing more with less, um, and we can help in that arena. So that’s what we’re seeing. Um, I know Andrea, so we’ve talked and, and you’re seeing similar in, in aspect to ours mm-hmm. , but I can’t speak to, uh, I can’t speak to your business, uh, as well as you could. So why don’t you share with us with,

Andraes Huber: (00:22:53):

Uh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, so very similar in terms of, um, in terms of, uh, COVID and the impact it had on budgets, especially early on and, um, having sort of slowed down some, some buying decisions, just not knowing what the, you know, sales tax and some, some jurisdictions property tax related income, what that’s gonna look like. Um, and I think, you know, it, it largely, from what we could tell, you know, there were areas, suburban areas, you know, that saw a big influx of residents coming from major cities or cities in general. I think there was a surprise to the upside in terms of, um, what they thought their, their tax receipts would be. Then of course, there are plenty of others that, that definitely didn’t see that. Um, just kind of like, depending on the uniqueness of your jurisdiction, but, you know, high level general, there’s definitely, you know, the fire service, there’s plenty of folks who are still on pen and paper, but by and large that that digital transformation, if you will, has been in full swing for a while.

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And, and what I mean by that is, you know, people are using software to go out and do inspections. Um, there are a lot of products, uh, that are out there that have been around a long time that don’t have great mobile sides to them, or great mobile app. So, you know, inspectors are still going out and doing inspections on paper, coming back to the office, and then, you know, basically double entering it into then, uh, their software system. Um, you know, a lot of the, a lot of the more modern tools, especially like first do, they’re just, there’s no need for the paper anymore, which is really nice. Um, another piece that’s quite interesting that we saw a lot of demand for, uh, and still do is virtual inspections. So we saw, um, many departments, many agencies, many AHJs that wanted to limit the amount of contact their inspectors had with, um, other people during covid.

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So what I mean by that is just full stop. Either we’re not doing any inspections right now because we can’t be putting people in the field visiting these buildings because of covid, or they wanted to significantly reduce that. And so using our virtual inspection solution, uh, to be able to do inspections virtually kind of think about, think about it as it’s a really usable way of doing it over a zoom meeting, for example, with some other, you know, bells and whistles and location and identity checks, et cetera. Um, that’s been really powerful because the feedback we’ve had is, you know, we just don’t know what the coming years look like, vaccines and how that might change and, and whether or not this is something that could actually drive a lot of productivity, cuz maybe there’s a whole bunch of, you know, time savings, maybe a lot of these re-inspections and inspections can be done virtually. You don’t have to be on the road type of a thing.

Drew Slocum: (00:25:43):

So, oh man, you’re, you’re, you’re hitting to my eardrum pretty well. I sit on N F P A nine 15, which is the remote inspection standard. Um, and they’re, it, it’s crazy what the last year has done. Just, it, it it’s almost perfect timing with N F P A coming out, you know, it’s not a solid standard till 2023, but there are, there’s count, you know, there’s numerous jurisdictions, uh, utilizing, you know, remote inspection to this point. I mean, a lot of them, there, there were a bunch, you know, going into the pandemic that were, um, that were utilizing it. Some of ’em sit on the technical committee with me, but it’s, it’s becoming, um, more apparent everywhere. I mean, just near and dear to, to, to what what I do, the F D N Y launched it with, with fire alarm, um, their fire alarm inspections and, and now the Department of buildings is actually at it in, in New York City, you know, the biggest metro mm-hmm. , uh, area in the country are, are utilizing remote inspection, which traditionally New York City is usually a little behind with, with technology and all that, and they’re, they’re adopting it, which is, which is awesome. I think it’s, uh, and it’s needed to, so,

Andraes Huber: (00:27:02):

Yep. I, I couldn’t agree more. It’s, there’s, there’s a bunch of those sort of technologies that had been around and covid just right, just became a necessity and you needed that catalyst to get people to kind of change behaviors. I mean, TE Telehealth is definitely one of those, and certainly these, um, these remote inspections, all of a sudden you start doing it and you realize how great it is, and it’s like, well, if we don’t need to go back, why would we have a thing?

Drew Slocum: (00:27:31):

Yeah, totally. Yeah. And, and to Matt, what you said before on the, you know, what, what you mentioned the slowdown in, in, in March, April, may, you know, we, we had inspect point and, and just the, the service provider and contractor, uh, part of fire protection, same thing. And, you know, once N F P A and, and a lot of jurisdictions deemed it as essential, uh, that work just picked right back up and hasn’t really stopped, uh, since last summer. So it’s, it’s actually been a, um, a strong part of the fire protection industry, new, new construction, kind of, you know, it goes in waves and it’s, it depends on where you’re at, but the, uh, the inspection and service side of, of fire protection for the systems is, uh, it, it’s rock and rolling. So

Matt Rice: (00:28:22):

Yeah, I, I agree. And I, and nfpa A and NFSA both published something on this and afa, um, on being essential, and that was huge. And we had, we had a large regional, and here in the Midwest that furloughed 99% of their inspectors, uh, in, in, um, uh, may, uh, April and May. And when that came out, right, we were able to provide, they got it on their own, but we provided as well, uh, within a month they were back full staff. So, uh, I agree. I think an FPA did a, a stellar job in, in getting that information out. You know, one thing I’d like to add, I on this, you know, remote inspections, I think a lot of what Covid, um, pro provided, uh, the fire department, uh, world is, is time to assess how they were logistically performing their duties. Um, and I’m just speaking from the prevention side, certainly not from the suppression.

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And, and I think it opened it up. I think one of the challenges and frustration from some of some of our customers was, is, uh, think getting the decisions made, you know, because city councils right, weren’t meeting it and all of that, and I, and we have seen that that is a non-factor any longer. I, I gotta believe Andreas, you seeing the same thing, right? You had people involved, Hey, I can do more with technology and, and I need to get off this pen and paper, but getting a decision made, I think was really the issue. It wasn’t really on the ahj side. Um, it was really getting it through, you know, city councils and, and board trustees if you’re district, et cetera.

Andraes Huber: (00:29:49):

Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would totally agree with that.

Drew Slocum: (00:29:53):

No, that’s good. Um, yeah, that’s, uh, you know, whatever you guys see is, is what, um, a lot of the rest of the fire protection industry doing, doing a lot of the systems work, we’ll see, you know, moving, moving forward. So, uh, uh, that’s, that’s a good, uh, kind of headway into that. So I guess, you know, uh, you know, Andreas, you brought up something, you didn’t mention any names, but there’s a lot of, uh, current platforms. I mean, you know, um, HJS might not be, uh, on, on pen and paper, but they’re on antiquated platforms. Have you seen, um, you know, that are not mobile? Uh, and are those, are those, I know that there’s a big player out there in, in, in that market. Is is that kind of, is that certain softwares being sunset and there’s kind of an, a new wave coming in for, for cloud solutions or just different mobile solutions in, uh, in the fire service side?

Andraes Huber: (00:31:00):

Yes. Um, I, I definitely think so. It’s something that, you know, we’re, we’re definitely seeing, um, there’s really, uh, there’s kind of like two themes that we kind of, that we see, um, okay. And the backdrop is exactly what you just outlined. A lot of sort of legacy systems, a lot of products that have been in there for quite a long time, and products that started off as on premise and then needed to come up with a strategy to move to the cloud. As, you know, every other software company around the world has done, um, a little bit slower in, you know, Dov tech and in public safety software, but there are so many more cloud vendors today than they were call it five, seven, ten years ago. Um, you know, but one of the trends that we’re seeing is, is kind of a consolidation of vendors.

(00:31:51):

So there have been some new ones that have, that have come about, obviously ourselves included, where they, there’s now an option to, to basically, you know, do all of your business on a single platform versus having to stitch together these, these different software systems, um, even to the point where, um, some of them are even being sunset. Uh, you know, the second big theme, uh, is that we hear a lot and a lot of thought leaders in the fire service in particular talk about, and I’m hearing it definitely this year, way more and more is, you know, we’re kind of tired as an industry being, having the way we need to operate and do business shoehorned into what the software is set up for. It actually needs to flip the other way. The software needs to be modern and super flexible to adjust to how we need to run our business. And I think, you know, companies and, and products like first do that were sort of built that way from the ground up to start are are, you know, it’s kind of a big driver for why those are going to be selected more often than not, versus the, you know, kind of older, clunky, harder to set up, harder to maintain more rigid products that are out there

Drew Slocum: (00:33:09):

Yeah. That, that don’t have, you know, the API connections to other, to other platforms. We, we found that, you know, super valuable as well.

Andraes Huber: (00:33:17):

So it, it’s true. And even, even on the API side, I think, you know, we’re kind of, we’re kind of at a point now where a lot of departments, especially your larger ones, they’ve gone through the pain of stitching those together and building that hodgepodge and kind of, you know, vendors pointing at each other when, when something breaks. Uh, it, it’s a lot. And a lot of those agencies look up one, you know, four or five years down the road and realize they’ve got a ton of indirect costs in full-time employees that are only meant to make sure the systems continue to talk to each other properly, and they can get the reporting they need. You know, that’s another big thing. They’re getting more, their lives are only getting more complex with the, with the type of emergencies they respond to and their demands of the community, their city and county boards and councils or data are driven, um, requests.

(00:34:06):

You know, tell me why you want another to build a new fire station now, tell me why you need to, to make some major change or, or either, you know, hire more people. And if you, if you can’t easily pull that information out and provide those insights in a really easy to consume way, then you’re, you’re really gonna struggle. Um, and a lot of the systems and a lot of the software environments that departments have today make it really, really tough. Much tougher than it needs to be and much more expensive than it needs to be.

Drew Slocum: (00:34:39):

Interesting, interesting. Um, yeah, that’s, uh, yeah, you gotta have a flexible software. I think, uh, you know, and, and user interface is important. Just the open, the openness i, I always call it of, of the platform being able to mold it to the client because, uh, like you said, you can’t, you’re not in the world anymore where you, there’s so many different clients out there that have a lot of different needs, so you gotta be able to bend this software for that. So

Andraes Huber: (00:35:12):

A hundred percent. And like if you look at what Matt, what Matt is doing, right, with, with the compliance engine and then the integration with us, it’s kind of the exception. It’s kind of the, um, it’s not common for two vendors to come together, especially when one system has a ton of great information in it, and then just to say, you know, what we believe in, in life safety, and we believe in helping our customers, you know, make their lives easier and also run their business better, which means run a better response for a call for service nine one one emergency. And, you know, putting that, sharing that through another application to ultimately drive towards that collective goal of running better calls and getting better outcomes. That’s huge. You, the majority of, of, of other incumbent older minded software companies out there, they would look at that and, and view it as, um, it just goes against, they try to be very closed off because they, because they need to be for their own survival, their, their customer retention strategies are kind of rooted in, well, your data doesn’t really belong to you, it actually belongs to us.

(00:36:19):

Mm-hmm. We hold it hostage, and if it doesn’t contract belong to you, well then here’s a massive o w you know, here’s a massive cost so that you will decide not to do it. .

Drew Slocum: (00:36:31):

Oh, it’s, it’s crazy. The, the whole talk of data right now, uh, and who owns it and mm-hmm. and all that, um, that’s a whole nother podcast we can do. But

Matt Rice: (00:36:43):

To me, in today’s world, where it’s going, it’s pretty simple, right? Especially in software as a services, is that we, that we all are here on this conversation is the customer owns the data. Uh, I mean, at least that’s our perspective on it, right? Um, at the end of the day, Andre’s had a good point, right? It’s all about life safety and driving value to our customers, right? Right. That should be your retention plan. Are you providing value to your customer? Totally. Um, and so if you’re driving value to your customer, retention takes care of itself, right? Um, so, you know, we are to the APIs of the world and to inclusive systems, um, I’m probably not best suited to talk about that o other from the perspective of is we are seeing on the record management systems, um, people move to the cloud, uh, vendors move to the cloud.

(00:37:34):

I don’t know what that means. Um, I wouldn’t, I would certainly agree that, uh, the citywide RMS systems that were implemented, uh, that Andres was talking about, right, um, weren’t built for fire, right? Um, you know, you can look to large metro here in the Midwest, right? That was on, uh, aversion behind the rest of the city because really the application was built for, you know, the police, um, and not fire. So, you know, they try to force something that didn’t fit right. And additionally, I I, when you try and implement a citywide platform, uh, talk about trying to be all things to all people and pardon the palm, but drinking from a fire hose is, you know, the water department does not operate like streets and sanitations and does not operate like policing does not operate like fire, right? Right. That’s, that, that’s a, that’s a difficult thing to do from an all encompassing, right?

(00:38:31):

So if, if I heard you right, Andre, I said, please correct me if I didn’t. I mean, you guys built your pretty much for fire from the ground up, right? Yep. For all things that does. So, uh, but we are being asked, um, by our customers, um, to integrate with their applic, you know, with, with whatever system they’re using. And again, uh, you know, Andreas and first do is, is the only API we have right now, uh, with another vendor. Um, and again, that was driven by the need of a customer, and we all, both thought of our, both companies thought it was the right thing to do, first and foremost, and, and a good thing to do. Um, and, and I will, I do believe you will see a lot of more integration or attempts at integration with APIs, um, in the marketplace. Um, you know, well, you know, cause I applaud Andreas and first two for, for building what they’re building.

(00:39:31):

But there is also a reality of today, which Andres, I think you, you know, you wouldn’t disagree with me, is a lot of these people are in these old systems, right? And a lot of them, you know, are, do they have the budgets and when will they have the budgets? And then during that timeframe, until they can move to something that is built for them, that encompasses everything, you will see a need in the industry for systems to talk to. I’m not gonna sit, sit here and say it’s easy as well, especially on some of these legacy systems, but we are seeing a move to that. And when they move to the cloud, and, and certainly if they can get to the microservices, um, in the cloud, it makes that a little bit easier for everybody involved, you know? Yeah. I read an article that, you know, the Fire, fire fire departments were about 15 to 20 years behind the times when it came to technology.

(00:40:18):

And I’m not talking about first responders, right? I mean, hell, they’re doing really cool and sexy stuff on the first responders side, right? With fire bombs and drones and all that kind of stuff. Now I’m talking on the operational side, uh, of the house when it came to record, you know, court record management and data, right? And, um, and, and, and I think it was alluded to earlier, I think Andre said it, part of the problem in fire was, is they weren’t getting the budget right? Cause a lot of times they’re looking at the cost center, right? In jurisdiction versus where police generate revenue. Um, and police had data and police could go better armed to, uh, their city councils or city managers, mayors to get funding because they had data. And, and I think you’re probably getting to that in a little bit here, but, um, I, I agree, you know, when you get to reporting and really making that information, it’s gonna be, and, and we’re seeing it and we’re seeing it jump light years from where it was two years ago. That fire is going to get there and get there quickly on, um, the analytics, predictive analytics analysis, you know, all, everything revolving around community risk reduction, uh, and I think they’re catching up, uh, relatively quickly.

Drew Slocum: (00:41:25):

Yeah, no, I think, uh, you know, there’s some, there’s some pretty cool stuff that, that we’re working on too, uh, with API integrations to provide more data to, to the fire service as well. So, um, we’ll get into that at some point here on, on a future podcast. Um, uh, any other hurdles you see in, in the fire, you know, with the rest of 21 and, and 22? Is there any other, other hurdles out there that the fire services, uh, you know, I’m sure the pandemic’s put some weird constraints on, on the departments. Is there anything else that I’m not thinking of right off the bat, Andreas or Matt?

Matt Rice: (00:42:04):

The only thing I we’re, we’re seeing right now, which is some constraints and it’s all Covid related, is, um, and it depends upon where you are in the country, is we still have a lot of the prevention bureaus working from home right now. While I think you can work from home, uh, for certain things, um, I personally don’t believe you can be most effective at your job, uh, working from home, um, especially in the Prevention Bureau for what they have to do. Um, so that’s been a hurdle that I think that, uh, feedback we’re getting is, is that these people would like to get back into the office, you know, clearly there’s certain people that really enjoy working from home and there’s certain roles and responsibilities that that apply for. But as a whole, that’s about the only other hurdle is getting back people back to work and back in, in the offices and out in the field.

Andraes Huber: (00:42:56):

Yeah. Um, no, you know, drew, no, no major hurdles kind of come to mind. I mean, one, one just sort of observation I think, um, might be related just to sort of procurement and purchasing wise, I think, you know, the, the buyer, if you will, or the evaluator, the folks at the fire department or EMS agency, they’ve gotten pretty savvy, um, which is great, is what you wanna see. And, you know, we see it sometimes, or actually you probably see it often, where a really solid evaluation process can be run and managed by the agency. And, you know, fire departments know what they want for their people and for their department. They’ve identified a really awesome vendor, and there’s just friction at, you know, at times for that fire department leadership to get what they want. And it’d be nice if sort of, you know, some of those processes evolve over time into the future because it just ultimately delays, you know, the fire department realizing all the value from, you know, getting up and running and moving forward. So that’ll just be maybe that

Drew Slocum: (00:44:12):

Interesting.

Andraes Huber: (00:44:12):

Seems ready to change.

Drew Slocum: (00:44:15):

No, that’s good. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s ripe for change there. Um, yeah, this is may be more of a question for you. I mean, when we say authority having jurisdiction or hj, sometimes, most of the time we’re, we’re meeting the fire service or the prevention bureau, but I mean, you have a lot of, uh, you know, fire prevention compliance data. Have, have you ever been asked from the, the other hj the insurance companies to, to look at that data, um, and, and kind of compile it into, I don’t know, may, maybe it’s an apr, maybe it’s not, but bring some of that, you know, that compliance data into, to the insurance role. And I, I know that’s where your background’s from. So I, I’m curious to see if the insurer’s ever gonna get involved in this compliance space as well?

Matt Rice: (00:45:05):

Um, great question. Uh, yes, they are. Yes, we have been approached just by about every, uh, rating bureau or, you know, insurance company and platform or even associations. Um, and again, today we make that available to a state rating bureau out in the Northwest. But again, we’ll facilitate that. It’s the AHJs decision, right? That is they own the data, so we follow, uh, their lead if they want to, if that’s gonna help them and they believe it’s gonna help their constituents, we’ll do it right. Um, again, it comes back to the core philosophy of, you know, is, is driving value and driving life safety. So yes, I do think insurance companies are more interested in this. Uh, I think in the last POD podcast, we might have touched on it as well, drew, so I’m not gonna get deep into it, but, you know, 10 years ago, 11 years ago, they said, Hey, we’ve got our own underwriting, you know, models and our, our own actuarial data and our claim experience for 15 years and, you know, uh, law of our numbers and all of that, and we’re good.

(00:46:13):

But, you know, you’re starting to see, especially with some of this community risk reduction stuff and smart enforcement, uh, talk out there that the insurance companies do want access to this information. Now they can still get it a upon an incident. Um, but I think it’s gonna help, you know, ISO has added a couple questions on there that have to do with inspection, testing, and maintenance, so for their ISO ratings and these jurisdictions. So I think it, I think it is coming. Um, do would, I would I love to tell you that it’s coming and it’s coming quickly and it, and, and it’s gonna be overwhelming reaction. Yeah. I would love to tell you that. Do I believe that? No. Um, I think it’s, I think one covid probably slowed a little bit of this down. Um, and two, you know, people are gonna approach this in a smart way, right? From their own businesses. And so the insurance companies, uh, while very diligent in what they do, um, and invest a lot of resources in, in data, um, uh, they’re gonna do what’s best for, you know, their businesses and, and, and we’re not the top priority on inspection, testing, maintenance side of the

Drew Slocum: (00:47:21):

House. Oh, yeah. Plus, plus the data’s, you know, within the fire jurisdiction. So it’s be tough to compile that over a multiple jurisdictions, right? So

Matt Rice: (00:47:31):

Not if you had standard forms all across the country through

Drew Slocum: (00:47:34):

Ah,

Matt Rice: (00:47:35):

.

Drew Slocum: (00:47:36):

Yeah. Get, try to get that through. And if Yeah, I know, I think it comes up on every podcast. I know. Hey, that’s why I have a business, Matt.

Matt Rice: (00:47:45):

I know. Hey, we can all dream Drew

Drew Slocum: (00:47:50):

. I know. Um, all right, great guys.

Matt Rice: (00:47:55):

I think, and I think you’re being unkind to yourself. You have a business cuz you make what you guys do.

Drew Slocum: (00:47:59):

Yeah, no, no, yeah. It’s, it’s way beyond, yeah, it’s way beyond forms. And again, I don’t, I, I hate the word forms a lot of times. It’s, it’s more, more the data and driving it into to see how the systems are performing. You know, anybody, anybody can create a PDF or Excel form, right? That’s what you do after that.

Matt Rice: (00:48:23):

Yep.

Drew Slocum: (00:48:24):

Um, great. Well thanks guys. Uh, that’s kind of what the top is there. If there’s anything else, just let me know. But, um, usually at the end of, uh, every podcast I do something called the, uh, quick response round, which, uh, Matt, Matt made me know what’s coming, but Andreas does not.

Matt Rice: (00:48:43):

Yeah. Drew, can I underst interrupt you for one second?

Drew Slocum: (00:48:45):

Yeah, yeah, go for

Matt Rice: (00:48:46):

It. And I think Andreas, and I think this would be important cause one of the things we, we talked about when we talk about hurdles, right? It’s, you know, Andreas uses a great word. It’s an opportunity. I think there’s one thing that hasn’t changed in this’s, not affected by Covid or anything along those lines. It’s just been a historical issue for fire departments. And that is, um, the word data, right? Um, I know, and I’ll just speak to the pre-planned, what you guys do on the first two product there, Andrea says, are you guys aggregate a lot of data from a lot of places for that, right? And you guys were very helpful to the HHAs in doing that. And similar on our end is, look, the data they had on what buildings had, what fire protections and when they were due right, is bad in jurisdictions that haven’t adopted our applications.

(00:49:35):

You’ll see that their data is still very poor. I think that’s an industry problem on the fire service side of the house. Um, and one that, you know, with the adoption of these technologies is, is getting better. But you know, when you say it’s just a technology, it’s not, cuz I, I don’t wanna speak for you Andreas, but I’m gonna kind of, what Andreas does to get that data is not, is not technology, it’s not a software, right? That’s a service that he provides to his people. Exactly the same thing like us. And, and I’m gonna just talk about what we do. And then Andres, I think it would be really helpful, everybody on the podcast to help them understand what you guys do, you know, um, from the service side to get that data together. I mean, you know, for example, it’s a lot of work to get good data, right?

(00:50:19):

Someone’s gotta be very competent and diligent and focused on, right? So I just, I think it’s important that the industry understands is, you know, what are you doing? And, and to get that information. And I, and I’ll just tell you from what we’re doing here at Pricer and the compliance engine is we have somebody go live, right? You know, technology is helping us, but we provide virtual tours, we go into every single building, commercial building in that jurisdiction and identify what fire protection systems they have, right? I mean, you look at, there’s some powerful tools out there that we, we leverage to, to do that, right? Takes a lot of time and resources, data validation services, and I think Andrea should probably jump all over that one. Um, but you know, who are the right contacts? What’s the right email? What’s the right phone number, right?

(00:51:03):

What’s the right address for these folks, right? ArcGIS all the jurisdictions across the country, I shouldn’t say all, but a good portion of all invested in ArcGIS and have done a pretty good job on that, right? Which helps understand what’s my jurisdiction and what am I responsible for, and where does that property stand, right? Um, so there’s a lot of work on that, and that’s some technology, but also data validation services of, of verifying that this information’s, uh, that these systems are there, right? Building data on, right. How do you get that information, right? And, you know, tax assessors have a lot of that information, right? You have to have some, somebody actually go gather that information and put it into the app, into these softwares. Um, partnership with our service providers, right? Drew with all, with all of your, your constituents, your customers, right?

(00:51:49):

We utilize them, uh, as a form of crowdsourcing to improve this data, which benefits dha, but also benefits the contractors in return, right? Because now all the buildings are getting inspected, right? Um, and so, you know, with 40, 50 plus per 50 plus uh, percent of the olive buildings in America going down, inspect and test and maintained, you know, where there’s not a, you know, a compliance solution application, um, you know, that’s a lot of business for them. And not to mention the maintenance on the deficiencies. And then really another, another massive issue was, is, um, and I don’t know if you’ve seen this yet or not, Andreas, but I I really value your insight on it, is we’ve got a whole undeliverable mail program, right? That’s now automated, right? The tools made it automated. The fire department doesn’t have to see that, right? You send out a deficiency notification or a renewal notification, Andreas probably in your bill, potentially on your guys’ side of it, I’ll speak to us, right?

(00:52:39):

It comes back on deliverable. I can tell you that they don’t have the administrative support and resources in these jurisdictions, in these fire prevention bureaus to follow up on that information, right? And you, and you’re gonna get return mail if you’ve got bad doubt. So to be successful, um, as a solution or a vendor in this marketplace, you have to do more than just provide a technology. I believe. Uh, I know we do. Um, I believe, and I also believe strongly that, that Andres and, and his company, uh, do a lot of that from, uh, because, uh, for the reason we partnership with, with a lot of those services they were doing for their, their customers. And, and so I think that’s really important to understand is, you know, it’s not just, you can’t just drive compliance for this from, from my, and enforce the code and drive life safety, uh, with bad data. And so you can’t just be a technology, you have to provide all these services. And that’s proven probably is the number one. All the service we provide is the number one reason why we’ve had success in driving life safety with our partners. Andreas, I’d be really, um, intrigued to hear your comments on, on, on that aspect of service and getting the good data.

Andraes Huber: (00:53:52):

Yeah, for sure. I think, I think another, like another larger point that you’re hitting on is that, um, you, you need to come from, from a problem solving like a holistic solution perspective. Like it needs to be, not ju the software might be one piece of it, but there’s just so many other components that make it a successful thing, a successful new policy or a successful new implementation deployment, et cetera. Um, a lot of people, a lot of vendors will sell a customer software and then it might sit on the shelf and never get used. Um, further to the point of like, when you are a SaaS business or, you know, the same way that Matt’s running his business, it’s, it’s sort of like year in and year out. You’re, you’re rerunning, uh, the sort of business, um, on the data side. Yeah, data quality is really important and, you know, you can, you can help increase the likelihood of having good quality data with technology.

(00:54:53):

Um, but you, you will of course need some people there as well. You know, with the pre-planning tool that we have, we took a very problem focused approach to, to what the current status of pre-planning. If you ask everyone across the board, fire departments will haven’t met many fire departments that will raise their hand and say, we have an awesome pre-plan program, meaning, you know, we’ve got tons of compliance, we get to all our buildings and, and these things get used more often. They don’t. Um, most, most agencies struggle with it because there’s just no good way to, to kind of do it without spending hours and hours. Hours. And then what format are these pre-plans in? How often do they actually get used? And so it goes from being something that’s really important for life safety and to really help crews in the field to really falling back on this compliance driven task that I do because I need to for ISO or, um, you know, uh, accreditation, et cetera.

(00:55:49):

So our approach was quite different. You know, we knew that a lot of the information that’s being collected by a captain in the field on a pre-planned, um, may already exist in other disparate data sources, either within the municipality or outside of it. So, um, you know, there’s a little bit of, little bit of sort of work in terms of at, at times, you know, getting in touch with, with someone in, in the GIS department just to make sure that we have sort of the latest and greatest, uh, list of, of occupancies and address points. But we actually will got software that, and we have to use, you know, data validation tools that we pay subscriptions for as well. Um, to, but, but our own proprietary software will actually acquire most of the data from, let’s say the assessor, uh, department or the, um, the, the city building department or planning department will actually programmatically bring all that information in and then tie it together against every single address point so that a lot of the sort of baseline info across every single occupancy, including residential, is sitting there in the system and it’s being updated on a regular frequency.

(00:56:55):

So you can just imagine, um, how much less information needs to be collected physically on site, right? And it just sort of gives a lot of these agencies their time back, um, to focus on other priorities. And, um, you know, from that holistic solution perspective, we tie it to 9 1 1, we display it on all the devices we’re already using today and more. And so all, and in a format that they consume, they’re noter hunting for, for information and reading blocks of text or pulling up a complicated CAD drawing. They’re just sort of glancing at a screen, glancing at a map, and they’re able to consume that info quite quickly. And then, you know, they get all their points on ISO for the, that section. And community risk reduction, more importantly, you know, crews are able to get what they need, uh, on every call.

Drew Slocum: (00:57:45):

Yeah, that’s, that’s amazing. Yeah, the u user interface and just being able to, again, a lot of the data you’re pushing, uh, but getting the right data in there, whether it’s address or system data or whatever, um, is important. It was funny, I I just had a N F P A on the podcast talking about their data, uh, uh, N F P A Research Pro project, and, you know, that’s a huge, it, it’s more on system data and all that. And, um, I think we we said data about 150 times in the podcast, but, uh, making sure it’s right, um, from to start before you analyze, it’s, it’s very important. So, uh, cleaning it up and in, in getting that in there is a tough part. So after everything after that seems to be, uh, a lot easier

Matt Rice: (00:58:38):

And streamlining it, right, right. From, from where it’s captured to where it’s going. Whether it be from the service provider performing inspection to through tce to the fire department, uh, through to the first responders, first two whomever, maybe that that’s, that’s where I think we’re, we’re headed, um, is, is ease of use and streamlining that whole process.

Drew Slocum: (00:59:00):

Yeah. Yeah. Next, I just gotta get you all my, all our data, uh, Matt, and then, uh, then it’s, you know, we’ve kind of completed the circle.

Matt Rice: (00:59:10):

I hear you.

Drew Slocum: (00:59:13):

Um, anything else, guys, before we kind of wrap it up here in a second?

Andraes Huber: (00:59:20):

Not on end. Um, drew, just glad to, glad to join the conversation today with you and Matt. Um, it’s always fun and yep, nothing else really to add from my end.

Drew Slocum: (00:59:32):

So, um, how I usually end the podcast is a couple quick hit questions where, where you don’t know where it’s coming from to try to lighten it up a little bit. So, um, I know you guys are both, uh, big golfers and as well as, as I am as well. Um, Matt, this is a question for you right off the bat. What, what is, what is your preferred type of golf hole? A drivable par four or a reachable risk reward? Par five?

Matt Rice: (01:00:05):

Uh, par five risk reward.

Drew Slocum: (01:00:09):

Yeah. You just can’t reach the par four, is that what it is?

Matt Rice: (01:00:12):

Not as long as you and Andreas, I guess off the tee . All right. But if I do recall, if I do recall, I think my scorecard had a lower score than yours last time we played

Drew Slocum: (01:00:24):

At where in Chicago?

Matt Rice: (01:00:26):

Yeah,

Drew Slocum: (01:00:27):

I shot 75.

Matt Rice: (01:00:29):

Yeah,

Drew Slocum: (01:00:31):

You, I beat you by like three or four

Matt Rice: (01:00:33):

. Well, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll let the audience decide who’s telling the truth.

Drew Slocum: (01:00:38):

,

(01:00:43):

It’s entered into my gin, so I, that, that’s one of my most proudest moments, uh, you know, in the last few years. So, uh, uh, Andreas, um, I, I know you, you’ve been on some, uh, pretty big things over the years. Uh, what’s so great about Tony Finos golf swing?

Andraes Huber: (01:01:07):

Well, first of all, he hits the ball. He hits the ball farther. I, I got to play with him and I, he hit the ball. He’s hit the ball farther than anyone I’ve ever played golf with. Uh, just, he’s just a beast. Um, obviously sweetheart of a guy, awesome guy. But yeah, his, he actually changed his swing quite a bit, I think, you know, in the last few years on PGA tour and what it was like when he was kind of on his way making it. But, um, man, for such a big guy, uh, he’s got a super compact, incredibly, you know, technically sound, golf swing, um, and it’s gotta have a lot to do with all the success that he’s had in the last few years.

Drew Slocum: (01:01:45):

Yeah, it’s super sh it’s so short and, but it’s, it’s, uh, incredibly powerful.

Matt Rice: (01:01:51):

Is it shorter than John ROMs?

Drew Slocum: (01:01:54):

I

Andraes Huber: (01:01:54):

Think so. He goes to the show. You don’t need a long, you know, you don’t need a John Daley backswing to hit it that far. Um, yeah, but I mean, I remember he was hitting, you know, we played at C level in Orlando and he was hitting his, his, um, I think, I guess it was like a two hybrid carrying at two 80. Um, that was kind of like stock, you know, that wasn’t like swinging out of your shoes. Um, and his and his brother Gipper, I mean, is probably six inches shorter and hits it just as far , it’s just crazy. Like that’s 145 yard gap wedge.

Matt Rice: (01:02:32):

Yeah. Nice.

Drew Slocum: (01:02:33):

At sea level. Oh, man. Uh, good old golf talk. Um, uh, I guess last question for both of you guys. What, um, and, and, and nice short answer, what, what was your favorite part about starting the company? Matt, I’ll let you go first.

Matt Rice: (01:02:56):

Uh, the favorite thing. My favorite thing about it? Yeah, great, great question. Uh, I, I got a lot of high priorities on that, but, um, I’d say making a difference, um, in life safety is right there. And, and I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you, uh, you know, being my own boss, uh, was, um, was also, uh, is, is is right there, you know, one a, one a, one a off of the one, um, you know, if making a difference, uh, being your own boss and is, is one a for me,

Andraes Huber: (01:03:36):

That’s great. Yeah, I would, so on my end, I would say, you know, we, we kind of broke into this industry pretty quickly. Uh, didn’t not like we kind of came from, you know, it sound like my, my co-founder and I were first responders and I, so I think like in terms of when we started to sort of solve for this pre-incident planning problem in a way that no one else had, and to see the reaction from customers and have them agree with it, and then actually even like large metros in introduce new policy in terms of how they’re going to pre and plan and respond based on this was like a definitely a incredibly rewarding moment that both Rami and I, our co-founder, definitely look at each other and be like, wow, I can’t believe this is, you know, played out so nicely. And the feedback that, that part’s awesome. And then the, my one A would be on, you know, internally with our growing team, just when, when, when people on our team win, you know, when things are going well and people feel like they are, um, uh, moving their, per their professional careers forward and, and having success that we kind of helped build from scratch, that’s also incredibly rewarding as well.

Drew Slocum: (01:04:59):

Oh, both great answers. No, this is awesome, guys. Um, so, uh, I guess where, where can we find it? Any information about, uh, both first two and, uh, and Bryce is the compliance engine. Uh, just give some contact info and we’ll wrap it up.

Matt Rice: (01:05:19):

All right.

Andraes Huber: (01:05:20):

Oh, go ahead ma’am.

Matt Rice: (01:05:21):

All right. Uh, okay. Oh, you can find us at www.thecomplianceengine.com, uh, for information on who we are, what we do, uh, or you can give us a shout at 6 3 0 4 1 3, uh, 9 5 1 1 or email info my brier.com. That’s info my brier.com.

Andraes Huber: (01:05:43):

Cool. Yeah, and you can learn about first do at our website, which is first do size up, like size up.com. So first do size up.com. Um, all the info that I think you’d wanna know about the products and services are there. Um, we’re also, uh, info at first do size up.com and, uh, there’s phone numbers to get in touch with us as well, uh, right on the website.

Drew Slocum: (01:06:10):

Great. Great. Tha again, thanks, great conversation today. It’s, it’s kind of, uh, uh, where the future of, of fire protection, just the fire service is going, and it’s exciting to hear, uh, both your perspectives. So thanks again, guys.

Matt Rice: (01:06:25):

Hey, Drew and Andreas, thanks very much. Great to be with you guys.

Andraes Huber: (01:06:28):

Yeah, thanks, Matt. Thanks, drew.

Drew Slocum: (01:06:34):

This has been, episode 30 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect point. It’s kind of crazy. 30 episodes goes by very fast, um, uh, trying to do many more, uh, in the coming months. So, uh, please subscribe and like, share it with your industry friends or just any friend. Um, we are doing a live event in, uh, at naed at in June, two of the events in June of 2021, north American Fire, uh, equipment distributor, uh, conference. So, uh, please come see us live and, uh, we’ll actually be broadcasting it live. So, um, stay tuned. Thanks again.