Amir Elichai, Founder & CEO, Carbyne, an emergency collaboration platform provider for the Public Safety sector is a delighted man today. It’s being touted that Elichai is building what will be “the biggest public safety company in three years, serving 1.5 billion people.” He has been a transformational leader, combining business acumen with strong financial discipline, deep operational insights, and organizational management. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts from the interview:

Founding of Carbyne – The History

“The idea for Carbyne came to me when I was robbed while I was at the beach. After calling for emergency services, I was shocked to learn that they did not automatically have my location, and they needed me to tell them exactly where I was before they could send help my way” notes Amir. He adds that at this point in time he realized that if his life was in serious or immediate danger, no one would have been able to help him and thus the idea of Carbyne was conceived.

As a company focusing on enhancing communications and technology for emergency services, Carbyne acts as a gateway for delivering rich and smart data from citizens to public safety answering points. “We’ve also become the world’s largest provider of video to 9-1-1 services (which we’ve patented), delivering over 1 million live minutes between callers and emergency call centers and we’re the largest provider of instant chat to 9-1-1.”

APEX platform – The Features

Carbyne offers the premier cloud-based emergency communication platforms that emergency call centers all over the world have been waiting for. “Our APEX platform was built from the ground up to be the sole call management solution any call center would need and has been built to keep improving with the times. APEX provides PSAPs with cutting edge features like: real-time caller location, patented live video to 9-1-1, text to 9-1-1, instant chat, natural language processing, a real time Caller Aided Dispatch (CAD) API, and Z-axis location technology all on one screen.” APEX also has deep analytics and data capabilities to allow PSAPs gain more insights into the emergencies they have dealt with thus, helping them to improve response time and develop more advanced training methods. “With APEX, citizens and emergency call takers can get the emergency communication technology they deserve, and our first responders are now more prepared for before arriving on scene.”

Modernizing Critical Core Legacy Applications

Responding to a recent Gartner report that by 2025, over 50 percent of government agencies will have modernized critical core legacy applications to improve resilience and agility, Amir notes that the next disruption for government agencies is already here. The legacy technology and isolated systems that were built to protect emergency response agencies are now preventing them from working with other agencies effectively. He notes that changing this strategy of isolation from its core is an important challenge. “To prepare for the future, moving to the cloud is key. Our cloud-based platforms make it easy for agencies to communicate, share data and collaborate and this helps emergency agencies reduce response time and increase response accuracy while providing them the opportunities to seamlessly collaborate with other agencies.”

Challenges Galore

With the onset of Covid-19 situation globally, emergency agencies realized the importance of flexibility and upgrading to next-generation 9-1-1 to respond to emergencies more efficiently. This realization has led to two distinct challenges: digitally transforming our emergency communication systems nationwide and bridging the gap between emergency caller’s expectations of 9-1-1 call centers and 9-1-1 call center’s actual capabilities, he explains.

A Successful Case Study

In 2019, the company partnered with Cisco and Google to develop a better solution that worked directly with emergency communication centers and didn’t require an application. “This led to us launching in 27 different states in Mexico and catapulted us toward the success we’re having today. We knew we had developed incredible new capabilities and features and could genuinely help people. So, we made the pivot and it’s helping save lives every hour. I couldn’t be prouder of the team who’ve built these amazing platforms.”

A Transformational Leader

Amir recommends speaking with industry experts, who have been in the field for 40-50 years, and developing a process of creating, innovating, and optimizing based on expert feedback — to make sure you are providing the value they are looking for. “If you can successfully develop this loop, your product will provide real value and you are a leader, transforming an industry. We’re doing this for public safety and emergency communications.”

A Word of Advice

“Fear is paralyzing. Being afraid of failure is being afraid of learning and failing fast is much better than dragging out opportunities because you’re afraid of taking risks.” He also stresses on the importance of networking and truly believing in your message.