Tech support team gets MECP certified

Many of us at Guidepoint have been around the mobile electronics business for several decades, and we know there is one thing you can always count on: technology doesn't always work.

There are lots of reasons why a product fails to deliver the expected performance, whether it be user error, installer error, product defect or my personal favorite: gremlins. When things don't work, we try to take an immediate and practical path: "Fault is irrelelvant. What's relevant is fixing the problem."

Enter our tech support team. Lead by James Wood (or "Woody" as he's known to everyone), Guidepoint's tech support team is really a customer-service unit in disguise. When stuff isn't working, they diagnose, advise and help fix the problem as quickly as possible. To that end, Woody has put his team through the paces of becoming MECP certified under the Mobile Electronics Certified Professionals program. Each of them has spent time in the classroom and under the dash to learn all the "what can go wrongs" in an installation and help create "Best Practices" for installers around the country. Currently, we have six MECP certified techs on staff that work 'round the clock.

"If a consumer has a problem in the middle of the night, we need to be able to assist," Woody explains. "Our products and services are evolving constantly as GPS and wireless technology advances, and vehicles are becoming more and more computerized. MECP certification provides an installer the necessary knowledge to integrate aftermarket accessories into today’s complex vehicles. This also proves to employers and customers that you have a professional commitment to expanding your knowledge of the job."

Tech support members include, Stephen Escamilla, Cesar Salas, Blake Mize, James Woody. There are also two employees on the graveyard shift (11 p.m. - 7 a.m.) that took part in the MECP training: Bryan Martinez, Chris Okon.

Another smartphone app - for Google's Android

Today, we're announcing the launch of another service-based app for smartphones, specifically the ones that run on Google's Android® operating system. The best-known of these smartphones is Motorola's Droid®, but the new Guidepoint App works on any of the other smartphones that run on the operating system.

Like the app we created for the iPhone, this new one is a service-based app that can be downloaded for free and allows users to control their vehicle or gain access to a variety of location-based services including stolen vehicle recovery, driving directions, emergency help and other assistance.

Guidepoint’s app uses a smartphone’s built-in GPS technology and its wireless connectivity to deliver the phone’s exact location to Guidepoint. Once the app is activated, users can set up an online account with Guidepoint and access services with just a few touches of their Droid screen.

Our CTO, Tom Gafford, said this: “We’ve designed our Android app so that users can quickly and easily access our 24/7365 response centers. The integration of our services with the available technology on the Droid and other smartphones that run on the Android operating system lets us quickly deliver whatever the customer needs to his or her exact location.”

Rand, our CEO added this: “The new Android app extends the availability of our award-winning services, which we’ve developed over the past decade. It’s another great example of why we focus on being a service company rather than a technology company. As manufacturers of unique technologies such as the smartphones continue to develop new technology, we want to partner with them to deliver innovative, highly valued services to consumers and business owners.”

Bottom line, we're beginning to leverage our capabilities as a service provider with smartphone apps, as well as some other projects we're working on with radio-nav suppliers, GPS companies and other technology makers who want to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Things are going to get interesting here in the coming months.