AngelTrack is 100% Pure Cloud Based
A cloud application like AngelTrack lives on the internet. It runs in a dedicated server machine, locked away in a datacenter somewhere safe. Its users access it over the internet, from any location, from any device, without ever knowing (or needing to know) where the server is physically located.
To access the cloud application and make use of it, you just need a web browser. A workstation will do; but so will a tablet computer, a phablet, a smartphone, a notebook with a wifi connection… any device with a web browser.
This is called “Bring Your Own Device“, and it is how software should be.
AngelTrack is a cloud application. Every employee in every role at your company accesses AngelTrack from whichever computer or mobile device is convenient. They can work at the office, on the road, in an ER, at a restaurant, and from home. It no longer matters where your employees are.
Genuinely Mobile -- No Docking or Uploading or Synchronizing
Cloud applications access their data right over the internet, in real time. There is no need to dock your mobile device back at the station in order to upload your work. Crews on the road can record some vitals using a tablet in the ambulance, then add an assessment while waiting in the ER, and then later compose a narrative using a full-sized keyboard back at the station.
Nor is there any waiting for data to be sent up or down, or synchronized, or converted, or imported or exported. All data is available to all permitted users, all the time, immediately.
And None of That Remote-Access Nonsense
If you previously used an old-fashioned dispatch application like Zoll or MRES, you probably installed it on a computer at the office, and then set up a remote-control or dial-in system so that your night dispatchers and supervisors could access it. You had to open a big security hole in your firewall and in your organization, not to mention the problem of coordinating multiple simultaneous users.
When the application crashed, somebody had to drive in to the office and try to restart it.
Cloud software does away with that nonsense because cloud software is already accessible everywhere, including your home… and it is specifically designed to serve hundreds of simultaneous users.
Saves Money and Hassle, Now and Later
To appreciate how cloud software saves money and hassle, think back to the last time you had to install and maintain an old-fashioned application, and then compare it to a cloud application:
- No need to buy or allocate a computer to be the application’s server.
- No space set aside in your office for the server computer.
- No need to buy a UPS, or buy replacement batteries every couple of years.
- No need to pull a network connection in order to expose it on your network.
- No hassle keeping the server’s room locked, or maintaining access control.
- No up-front cost to purchase the application.
- No hours spent installing the application and getting it working.
- No opening ports in your internet firewall for the application to use.
- No hassle setting up a remote-access system to allow remote employees to access the application; it is always accessible to everyone from everywhere.
- No need to purchase data backup hardware and software; your cloud server is automatically backed-up for you every night.
- No hassle offsiting the backup media on a regular basis; the backup media lives in a private cloud.
- No worries about the server running out of diskspace.
- No scramble to find replacement hardware when the server experiences a hardware failure.
- No periodic headache installing updates and patches; your cloud server always has the current version.
- No worries about the server being hit by a rogue employee or a leaking water pipe or a long power failure.
- No IT staff required.
In other words, cloud applications do not have the many hidden costs of traditional software.
You connect to the internet and then the application just works.
Nothing to Install, Nothing to Update
To use cloud software like AngelTrack, there is nothing to install, on any computer, ever.
Nothing. Ever.
There is nothing to download. Nothing to configure or deploy. Nothing to set up or tweak or grant permissions. No cause to wonder which version or which updates are loaded.
Nor do you need Java, Flash, .NET, Silverlight, or Acrobat. You can finally clean those platforms off your computers, and be forever free of the constant security vulnerabilities and patches.
If you buy a new workstation, just plug it in. If you add another tablet, just open its web browser. If you hire a new employee who has his own smartphone, just give them the web URL.
Nothing to Get Lost
Cloud software protects your data from all of the bad things that happen to computers. With cloud software, computers are no longer used to store your data; they are now used only toaccess your data.
Suppose an EMS company runs a traditional PCR application on its toughbooks, and one day a toughbook goes missing. How much patient data was on it? Were all the reports uploaded? Whose HIPAA data was compromised? Does anyone even know?
Suppose an EMS company runs a traditional dispatch application on a server in a closet at headquarters. One day the server crashes. A five-cent capacitor has blown in its power supply. The vendor agrees to ship another one out overnight. Meanwhile the dispatch schedule is totally inaccessible for thirty-six hours.
Suppose an EMS company runs a traditional paper-based billing office, with stacks of stacks of folders of stacks of papers, covering every square inch of desk space. Sprinkle assorted Excel spreadsheets liberally about the premises. Only the mind of the biller knows what state the receivables are in… and then one day she quits without notice. Now what?
Mitigate all these risks by moving your entire operation to the cloud.
AngelTrack was Born as Cloud Software
AngelTrack was written from scratch, starting in 2012, as a cloud application. It was built specifically to live on the internet, lifting the burdens of communication, bookkeeping, and paperwork off the shoulders of an EMS company.
It doesn’t have “a Windows component” or “a station component” or hardware to buy, or any of the other nonsense seen with older applications converted to run online. AngelTrack doesn’t have that baggage because it was born in the cloud era. Your crews don’t have to lug Toughbooks around any more, and you don’t have to install those ridiculous docking stations in your ambulances and stations.
There is nothing to install and no need to sit at a desk. Take a new tablet out of its box, open its web browser, and immediately begin using 100% of AngelTrack’s features.
Rural Solutions, Too
Just because your operation is rural, doesn’t mean you must avoid cloud apps.
For rural services, where cellular signals are spotty, we recommend installing a cellular booster in each ambulance. The WeBoost Drive Reach OTR is a good choice, or the Drive Reach Fleet… but there are many others to choose from. It will cost less than one grand per vehicle.
With those devices installed, your crews can then use ordinary tablets and smartphones. This is better than an offline PCR, because it allows live progress data to flow back and forth between crews and dispatchers.
That said, AngelTrack’s PCR has an offline mode, for times when no signal is available. It allows the crew to mark progress, take signatures, and fill out their charts without having an internet connection. It automatically uploads and syncs the data whenever the signal returns.
