Chicomm Blog

The communication in healthcare trends for 2018 will continue the industry’s trajectory of improving access, tightening security and the leveraging of innovation in wireless technology.

As in years’ past, the next year of healthcare technology will be be powered by wireless communications, from digital two-way radios, to IP phones, to radio frequency identification, to nurse call systems and smartphone apps for healthcare.

Even with the uncertainty for the overall industry’s future, here are some things that are certain about the 2018 trends for communication in healthcare.

In manufacturing environments, radios are a given, smartphones are proving to be less than ideal, and WiFi phones are holding their own.

As wireless communications helps power advances in manufacturing technology, advanced connectivity is making purpose-built WiFi phones a solid option for everything from the front office to the factory floor.

With the unique requirements of the industry in mind, here’s a quick look at some benefits of WiFi phones for manufacturing.

No part of the hotel and resort experience is immune from today’s fast-moving hospitality technology trends, and that includes connectivity in lobbies and lounges.

No longer is the lobby a pass-through point or the lounge a place just for breakfast and happy hour. Business travelers, in particular, want connected communal public workspaces where they can hold informal meetings, socialize with their smartphones and finish up the day’s work.

So let’s take a look the hospitality technology trend of connected lobbies and lounges.

Ask for manufacturing technology examples, and most people will list the usual suspects of manufacturing engineering technology.

The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIOT, 3-D printing and cloud computing get all of the attention, but there is more innovative manufacturing technology out there to explore.

Here are three surprising manufacturing technology examples to keep things interesting.

For healthcare users, radio frequency identification, or RFID, isn’t just convenient technology, it saves lives.

Healthcare technology leaders say being able to electronically track medication, assets and people has increased patient safety and decreased mistakes due to human error.

With safety in mind, here’s a quick look at three healthcare uses for radio frequency identification.

In the hospitality business, delivering a flawless guest experience requires seamless communications, from before guests arrive, to the duration of their stays, to after they check out.

Two-way radios have long been the backbone of hotel and resort communications and hospitality management, and their features and functionality are catching up to meet the demands of increasingly more connected consumers and guests.

Is your current radio solution ready for the future, or is it time to upgrade? Start to assess with this two-way radio checklist for the hospitality business.

It’s hard to imagine now, but manufacturing technology used to refer to the handmade tools people used in their homes to produce their own food, clothing, furniture and everything else they needed for daily life.

At a time in history when we can have almost everything we need delivered to our doorsteps in less than two hours, that seems like a million years ago. Thanks to increasingly rapid advances in manufacturing engineering technology being driven by innovation in wireless communications, the world has changed more quickly than our ancestors could have dreamed.

For you history buffs, let’s take a look at how wireless communication is tied to the evolution of manufacturing technology.

What does WiFi stand for? Well, everyone knows that. It stands for wireless fidelity. Right?

Wrong. But good guess! It’s a misconception that has been plaguing the ubiquitous term since its very beginning. In fact, few things that are so widely used are as widely misunderstood in terms of naming.

What does WiFi stand for? We bet you’ll be surprised.

When you talk to leaders in healthcare information technology about their top concerns, one theme keeps recurring: security.

In one healthcare technology survey, 52 percent of respondents cited security as an area where they planned to make upgrades in 2017, with app security and network security at the top of their lists. Federal data shows they’re right to worry, with breaches compromising patient information and costing health systems millions of dollars.

With the risks to both patients and providers in mind, here are several tips for strengthening healthcare information technology security.

Captain George Rabiela has retired from the Chicago Fire Department, but he and his companion Brady the Fire Dog are still having a positive impact on people’s lives.

ChiComm has been fortunate to volunteer alongside Captain George at the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 Toy Parades, and we recently donated a lightbar to his efforts to help others.

We’re thrilled to introduce you to two of our favorite partners and tell you about their inspiring work.