Emergency Innovation: How a CIO Used a CAB to Transform First Responder Tech

Customer advisory board (CAB) veteran, Eric Prosser, CIO shares his view of CABs - Transcript

Irene Yam 0:00

Have another human connections, and I had to start with my really good friend Eric, who was also a pass customer advisory board member at a UCAS, a very large UCAS system. We don't want to get in trouble, because we're going to probably share a little bit about your experiences with the cab. I've known you for, Eric, about eight years. Is that correct? Yeah, it's good to see you.

Irene Yam 0:28

I want to talk a little bit about how I kind of asked the executives to get you into the customer advisor boards when I learned about you running CAL FIRE as a CTO and hearing how you use the product mobility wise, you were early as an adopter on the the apps, and so I had no clue. And actually, I've done as a little stint in wireland firefighting. So I was just really curious. So I invited you to lunch, and you took my ear off, I think, for probably two hours. And I still, I was like, wow, this is all great to me and and I thought that these use cases could be used with all our other customers in the enterprise, whether it be in hospitality or retail, like people who are in mobile engineering construction. So I went and I lobbied for you. And people like, oh, CAL FIRE, it's a small I go, No, it's not small. Like, they do really big stuff. And I just want to ask you, what did you get out of the cap?

Eric Prosser 1:33

Well, you know, I think the one big thing for where I was at the time in the fire industry, it was a voice at the table to be able to influence communications. And if you know anything about first responders, communications is the it's a huge piece of their network and how they interact with each other. And so whether it's a radio, a telephone or a computer device. So for example, you could be operating your business normally, and some sort of disaster or an emergency takes place, and you need to stand up a call center very quickly. And so you can do one of the old fashioned way is that you had a call center built and sitting idle until you used it, whereas with this newer technology, you could pre program it, set it all up, stick it in the closet, and when you're ready for it, you could pull it out and immediately plug things in and within. I mean, it really takes more time to set it up than it does to turn it on. Is that now, looking post covid is kind of interesting, because you literally could have everybody sitting at home not have any devices necessarily, that you put in the closet, and you literally flip the switch for that call center, that emergency call center that you set up or pre programmed, and those people could be now connected while sitting at home, and then you, as the caller coming in, would feel as though you're coming into a central place when it's actually very diversified and all over the world potentially. Yeah. So let's actually kind of get into what you're doing now. It sounds like you're doing a lot of fractional CIO work. You're out of government now you're on the other side. Are you able to take from what you've learned in Yeah? So working in government and into the other side, I guess, right? So I I've dabbled, actually, I've dabbled in the three areas, if you think of higher education, state and local government, and then also on the private side. So right now, I'm mostly in the private side. I've actually retired out of the state system recently, in the last couple of years, and now I'm just working mostly in the private sector. And so when you mentioned helping people, yeah, what I actually do is a lot of it's CIO work. So CIO Advisory type things, where I will go in and advise on what you know, how to set things up if they don't have things set up, clean things up if they need things cleaned up. And also help to hire their new CIO or their IT director, or whatever they're looking for. And I help them get past that. So I move them in that direction, working with a company called six, eight. That's a telecommunications company. We do a lot of that is helping others to get connected. And then I work with a company called entera, and working with them, they actually are for a first responder agency, if you will, piece of software. Okay? And so it's all based on maps and. Forth. And so we take that data and that kind of dabbles into the space of when we talk about, you know, the LA fires that recently happened. Yeah, that software gives us the ability to or somebody on scene, gives them the ability to look at what's happening, be able to see everything that's on a map. Look and see where people are, where the different trucks are, and everything when they're fighting the fire, they can see which the wind direction. They can anticipate where a fire is going to progress, and then plan their attack in that direction. So they can do that. It helps them to provide safety and structures. So if they need to fight the structure side of things, to keep houses from burning, because they'll see all this on the map, they'll anticipate and be able to know what to do. And what first responders do is they do pre planning. And so in that pre planning, the maps have all of this, tons of information, whether it's about fire hydrants, and I won't talk about the water situation, but it will tell them where fire hydrants are. It tells them water sources. It tells them where, like electrical power grid stuff are located, all of that kind of stuff on a single map. And so when they're looking at that, they can actually, it helps them to anticipate and then we do plane flights. And those planes, when they fly, drop images, and those images become a part of that map. Wow, we watch. They can actually watch a video of, you know, the plane flying over, and you can see where the parameters are and everything.

Eric Prosser 6:48

So it's really cool technology. That's another company that I've helped work with us in the first responder space too. So I think that's sort of your calling. I know you have held many C suite positions, but you're kind of the guy that just will roll up their sleeves and get working. I remember you even showing me in a fire department how you have you created this light when it rings, because you know when the sirens are going off, when there's a lot of noise, the different mobility modalities are modalities of the flashing lights and things you are giving signals. So like, if there's two lights, it was something and I thought that was brilliant. So I hope that you're able to continue consulting and making these connections with people. What do you what's

Irene Yam 7:38

what next for you? Eric, Well, Eric, you know this is about human connection. You have probably over 30 years of experience. For me, what drives me is, I love technology, but it's more fun when I'm taking a piece of technology, implementing it, and then having somebody like when you came in, your example that you gave earlier is that when I was sitting there in a firehouse, and I said, Hey, we can't just have sound all the time. We need lights. And so I worked with your team, and they, they sent some stuff to me. I developed triggers that would then get a light. But instead of a flashing light, I used a strobe light that pulsed so it would go in and out in a slow manner, so it wouldn't trigger, you know, anybody's anxiety or anything. And so I post those lights in a firehouse, and that was when the phone was ringing, and so they would be able to know when something was happening. So it was actually a different way of doing things, not your typical Voice over IP setup at the time. It was definitely integrating into a system with new stuff. But what was really cool was when you came you got excited about it too. So for me, what brought joy to myself is that I was able to turn you on to the very thing that you were, quote, unquote, supporting me on. You were then getting lit up about it, going, Oh, wow, this is actually really cool stuff. And I was sitting there going, I know this is exactly what makes it so much better for us, and it's enhancing our lives. I do that with everything. So whether it's email or email systems and stuff like that, the technology, to me, is becoming much more of a mobile platform. So that's kind of where I'm heading with it, yeah, and it's about people first. I mean, we're rolling out the technology, right? Yep, yeah, yes. Well, Eric, thank you. I know you have some meetings today, and I just.Appreciate your time, your friendship. Thank you for sharing your human connection stories. Absolutely.

FAQs
What is a Customer Advisory Board (CAB)?

A Customer Advisory Board is a strategic group of hand-picked customers who meet with a company’s executives to give feedback on product strategy, innovation, and customer experience. CABs create two-way trust and deeper engagement between customers and company leaders.

How did a CAB influence emergency response innovation for CAL FIRE?

Eric Prosser shared how CAB participation led to improvements like strobe light alerts for firehouses and deployable mobile call centers. These innovations were rooted in real-world needs discussed directly with product leaders.

What role does human connection play in CABs?

Human connection is at the core of a successful CAB. Irene’s relationship with Eric began with curiosity and deep listening, which led to mutual learning and lasting collaboration. CABs foster trust—not just transactions.

What’s the long-term impact of a CAB relationship?

For Eric, the value didn’t stop after the meeting. Ongoing relationships with company executives led to long-term advisory opportunities, cross-sector partnerships, and access to early-stage technology insights.

Who should join a CAB?

Ideal CAB members are curious, strategic, and hands-on leaders—like Eric—who want to help shape the future of the technologies they use. They represent their industry and bring real use cases that influence product design.