Beyond the Launch: 911 Customer Success and Implementation Podcast

Hosted by Ivan Whitaker, Beyond the Launch is a podcast for public safety leaders, project managers, customer success managers and technology partners who know that implementation doesn’t end at go-live. Each episode explores Customer Success and implementation strategies that drive real adoption, not just installations; ensuring 9-1-1 technology is used effectively, consistently, and with measurable impact. We dive into the people, processes, and practices that turn new systems into better outcomes: faster response, smarter decisions, and improved service to the communities we serve. Because success isn’t launching technology. It’s what happens after.

Beyond the Launch: 911 Customer Success and Implementation Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Beyond the Launch: 911 Customer Success and Implementation Podcast, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  Episode #19

  Episode 19: People First, Technology Second: How Leadership Transforms 911 Culture Inside Out

  Aug 17, 202639 minS1

  What happens when a 911 center invests in the latest technology but forgets about the people expected to use it? In Episode 19 of Beyond the Launch , host Ivan Whitaker sits down with Adam Timm, President and Founder of The Healthy Dispatcher , for a powerful conversation about why successful transformation in emergency communications starts with people, culture, trust, and leadership, not technology alone . Adam brings a perspective forged from more than two decades in public safety. After beginning his career as a dispatcher with the Los Angeles Police Department, experiencing burnout firsthand, and ultimately transforming his own approach to the profession, he dedicated his career to helping 911 professionals and communication centers become healthier, stronger, and more resilient. Adam explains why successful technology implementation begins long before go-live, why employees need to be involved early in the process, and how poor communication can create resistance before a new system ever reaches the floor. They also explore the difference between simply deploying technology and achieving real adoption. Login numbers and system uptime may tell part of the story, but the real measure of success is whether dispatchers and supervisors trust the technology, understand its purpose, and believe it makes their work better . ⏱️ EPISODE TIMESTAMPS 03:08: Adam’s journey from LAPD dispatcher to creating a larger impact in 911 05:41: How “The Healthy Dispatcher” was born and why organizational health matters 08:13: What people-driven leadership looks like during major change 10:09: Why leaders must communicate early, often, and transparently 12:49: Why communication professionals can struggle to communicate with each other 13:11: How working the console shapes communication habits on and off duty 17:16: The biggest leadership mistake during a 911 technology go-live 17:36: Why employees must be involved before technology is selected 19:24: Creating a better blueprint for technology implementation and change management 21:09: Rethinking customer success in public safety technology 21:26: Adoption vs. utilization: Are people actually using and trusting the technology? 24:28: Why dispatcher satisfaction should become a measurable implementation metric 25:17: How better questions produce better employee feedback 25:47: Three signs that a 911 center’s culture survived a major technology change 29:16: Agency vs. vendor accountability when implementations struggle 30:19: Why the human side of change should be built into the project plan 32:46: The one leadership principle Adam wants every 911 director to embrace 34:18: Why genuinely knowing and caring about your people changes culture 36:02: The Healthy Dispatcher: training, consulting, culture assessments, and leadership development 38:08: Closing thoughts with Adam Timm Listen, watch, subscribe, and share this episode with a 911 leader, dispatcher, supervisor, or public safety professional who believes the future of emergency communications starts with its people. Featured Guest: Adam Timm President & Founder: The Healthy Dispatcher Host: Ivan Whitaker Podcast: Beyond the Launch

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  Episode #18

  Episode 18: How Data, Trust, and No-Cost Models Change the Game in Public Safety

  Aug 5, 202634 minS1

  Episode 18: Building Partnerships That Stick: How Data, Trust, and No-Cost Models Change the Game in Public Safety Technology | Beyond the Launch Most people hear “CARFAX” and think about buying a used car. But behind the familiar consumer brand is a powerful set of tools supporting law enforcement, emergency communications centers, and vehicle-related investigations across the country. In Episode 18 of Beyond the Launch, host Ivan Whitaker sits down with John Fisher, Senior Partner Development Manager for CARFAX for Police. John brings decades of public-safety leadership to his role. His career includes serving as Chief of Police in Bedford, Massachusetts; Chief of Police and Emergency Management Director in Carlisle; and 22 years with the Nashua Police Department, where he rose from patrolman to bureau captain. He also spent more than 30 years coaching high school basketball, an experience that continues to shape his leadership and partnership-building approach. Together, Ivan and John explore how CARFAX for Police developed a no-cost data-sharing model used by more than 6,500 law enforcement agencies, why a CARFAX investigative tool is run every 15 seconds, and how Driver Exchange 911 helps agencies manage property-damage-only collisions while keeping dispatchers and officers available for higher-priority emergencies. They also discuss what technology companies often misunderstand about public safety, why successful partnerships begin with listening, and what it takes to introduce new technology in an environment where trust, accuracy, and reliability are nonnegotiable. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Welcome to Beyond the Launch 02:22 – Meet John Fisher of CARFAX for Police 03:55 – The public-safety side of CARFAX 05:55 – Why agencies use a CARFAX tool every 15 seconds 06:52 – How the no-cost data-sharing model works 08:45 – Protecting personal information: vehicles versus drivers 09:23 – Driver Exchange 911 and how it works 12:27 – Reducing low-priority calls in the dispatch queue 13:54 – How officers can use the tool at the scene 15:09 – Making technology easier for dispatchers to adopt 16:40 – Earning trust inside a police department 19:37 – Integrating with CAD, RMS, and real-time crime centers 22:05 – Building partnerships at the speed of government 24:55 – What AI-powered startups get wrong about public safety 27:51 – Lessons from NENA, APCO, and industry conferences 30:02 – What technology founders underestimate about the market 31:12 – Behind the curtain: What’s next for CARFAX for Police 32:59 – Closing thoughts Whether you work in law enforcement, 911 operations, emergency management, GovTech, product development, or partnership strategy, this conversation offers practical lessons about earning trust and building technology that works in the real world. Subscribe to Beyond the Launch for more candid conversations about the work that begins after a product goes live. #BeyondTheLaunch #CARFAXforPolice #PublicSafety #LawEnforcement #911Dispatch #EmergencyCommunications #GovTech #DriverExchange911 #Podcast

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  Episode #17

  Episode 17: How Lived Experience Drives Meaningful Technology Adoption in 911

  Jul 27, 202645 minS1

  Episode 17: From the Headset to the Boardroom How Lived Experience Drives Meaningful Technology Adoption in 911 On this episode of Beyond the Launch, host Ivan sits down with Tipi Brookens, Chief of Public Safety Engagement at Govworx, for a candid conversation about 911 leadership, technology adoption, and quality assurance in emergency communications. Tipi spent 24 years inside emergency communications, starting as a 911 call taker and rising to Chief of Professional Standards and Development and Chief of Staff at Washington DC's Office of Unified Communications, one of the most publicly scrutinized 911 centers in the country. In this episode, she shares what it was like leading through intense media attention and political pressure, why she left a government agency career to join a public safety technology vendor, and how her firsthand dispatch experience shapes her approach to 911 technology implementation today. Chapters 0:00 Welcome to Beyond the Launch 1:55 Episode intro: From the Headset to the Boardroom 2:34 Life in the headset: her first version of herself in 911 6:49 Leading inside DC's most scrutinized 911 center 11:36 The practitioner turned vendor question 16:39 Why she made the leap to Govworx 21:19 The case for 100% quality assurance 25:13 How Comms Coach changes the evaluation process 28:27 What goes wrong in the first 90 days of implementation 33:16 Shifting a 911 center's culture around QA 38:12 Level Up with Tipi: why Govworx invests beyond the product 40:19 Advice for new directors and what's next with PROMOTE 44:07 Closing thoughts Tipi and Ivan dig into the real reasons technology rollouts fail in dispatch centers, why 100% quality assurance matters more than agencies realize, and how AI powered tools like CommsCoach are shifting 911 quality assurance from a punitive process to a coaching and protection model. They also discuss the trust gap between 911 agencies and vendors, the supervisor "trust shock" that derails new technology in the first 90 days, and how to build a healthier evaluation culture for telecommunicators. The conversation closes with a look at Govworx's new PROMOTE assessment for 911 supervisors and leaders. This episode is a must listen for 911 directors, communications center leadership, telecommunicators, public safety technology vendors, and anyone interested in emergency communications, dispatcher wellness, or public safety innovation. Topics covered: 911 leadership, emergency dispatch, public safety technology, quality assurance in 911, AI in emergency communications, dispatcher wellness, technology implementation, change management, Comms Coach, Govworx, DC Office of Unified Communications, telecommunicator training and coaching. Guest: Tipi Brookens, Chief of Public Safety Engagement, Govworx Host: Ivan, Beyond the Launch Produced by: Utah Podcast Studio Keywords: 911 podcast, emergency dispatch podcast, public safety technology, 911 quality assurance, AI in 911, dispatcher wellness, 911 leadership, emergency communications training, Govworx Comms Coach, public safety innovation

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  Episode #16

  Episode 16: Building World-Class Communications from the Ground Up in Qatar

  Jul 20, 202648 minS1

  Episode 16: Building World-Class Communications from the Ground Up in Qatar When Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, over 1.4 million visitors poured into 8 stadiums, and behind the scenes, one man was responsible for making sure emergency communications didn't fail. In this episode of Beyond the Launch , host Ivan Whitaker sits down with Dr. Andre Jones , PhD, Assistant Executive Director of Communications and Control Centers at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar, to unpack what it actually takes to build a world-class emergency communications system from scratch, in a foreign country, under a hard deadline, with zero room for error. Dr. Jones shares the real story behind recruiting 57 multilingual telecommunicators from Jordan, India, and beyond (53 of whom still serve today), deploying mobile dispatch units at fan zones, and the moment, just one month before kickoff, when a directive came down to replace the entire CAD system. With no time to procure a new platform, Dr. Jones and his team built a Microsoft Teams and SharePoint workaround that ended up outperforming expectations, connecting hospitals, FIFA delegates, and the Medical Command Center in real time. This conversation goes beyond the World Cup highlight reel into the harder questions every public safety and technology leader faces. How do you drive adoption when frontline staff don't trust leadership enough to speak up? How do you turn a "job" into a profession people build a career around? And what should a 911 director really ask before signing with an AI or CAD vendor? In this episode, you'll learn: How Dr. Jones professionalized emergency dispatch in Qatar, changing government policy to classify telecommunicators alongside nurses, paramedics, and EMTs Why frontline buy-in, not executive mandate, is the real predictor of successful technology implementation The behind-the-scenes story of the Microsoft Teams and SharePoint workaround that saved the 2022 World Cup's emergency response system Three things every public safety leader should do before signing a vendor contract Lessons on psychological safety, mentorship, and building organizational culture in high-stress, high-stakes environments Whether you work in emergency management, public safety technology, vendor implementation, or organizational leadership, this episode offers a rare inside look at what separates technology that works on paper from technology that works when lives are on the line. Guest: Dr. Andre Jones, PhD, MPA, ENP, CPE, CSSGB. Assistant Executive Director, Communications and Control Centers, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar Keywords: emergency communications, 911 dispatch, CAD system implementation, Qatar World Cup 2022, emergency management, public safety technology, dispatcher retention, organizational psychology, customer success, AI vendor evaluation

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  Episode #15

  Episode 15: Building the Future of Public Safety with Carbyne (Axon)

  Jul 13, 202633 minS1

  Beyond the Launch | Episode 15 Building the Future of Public Safety with Carbyne (Axon) How do you modernize one of the world's most mission-critical systems? In Episode 15 of Beyond the Launch , host Ivan Whitaker sits down with Amir Elichai , Founder of Carbyne and SVP of Global Strategy following Carbyne's acquisition by Axon , for an in-depth conversation about the future of emergency communications. After experiencing firsthand the limitations of emergency response during a personal emergency, Amir set out to build a platform that would fundamentally change how 911 operates. That vision became Carbyne, an AI-native, cloud-based emergency communications platform now serving more than 250 million people worldwide. Together, Ivan and Amir explore what it truly takes to modernize public safety, including cloud-native 911, AI, customer success, technology adoption, and the importance of creating seamless workflows for emergency telecommunicators. The conversation also examines the strategic combination of Carbyne , Prepared , and Axon , and how an end-to-end public safety ecosystem has the potential to reshape emergency response from the first 911 call through dispatch, responder operations, real-time intelligence, evidence management, and beyond. In this episode you'll learn: • How Carbyne was born from a real-life emergency • Why cloud-native emergency communications are transforming 911 • The biggest challenges agencies face during technology implementations • Why customer success is critical after go-live • How AI is changing emergency communications without replacing dispatch professionals • Why leaders should focus on outcomes instead of technology • The future vision for Axon, Carbyne, and Prepared as one integrated public safety platform If you're a 911 leader, PSAP director, emergency communications professional, public safety executive, technology innovator, or government leader looking to understand where the industry is headed, this episode delivers practical insights and strategic perspectives from one of the industry's leading innovators. Subscribe to Beyond the Launch for conversations with the leaders building the future of public safety technology, customer success, and emergency communications. #911 #PublicSafety #Carbyne #Axon #Prepared #NG911 #EmergencyCommunications #ArtificialIntelligence #CustomerSuccess #CloudTechnology #EmergencyManagement #PublicSafetyTechnology

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