This year at APCO 2025, we had dozens of conversations with emergency communications professionals about their daily challenges. What struck us most wasn't the big, obvious problems—it was the small friction points that have become so normalized, people don't even think to mention them until someone asks the right question.
Take access pins, for example.
During our booth conversations, we discovered something unexpected: when we mentioned that our language interpretation service doesn't require access pins, multiple visitors stopped mid-sentence. "Wait, no pin entry?" they'd ask. "We always screw those up."
Conference attendees shared specific challenges they face:
One telecommunications supervisor told us, "We've just accepted that language line connections are going to be a hassle. It's part of the job."
But what if it didn't have to be?
The access pin issue illustrates a broader challenge in emergency communications technology: we've normalized friction points that don't need to exist. When you're dealing with a cardiac arrest situation and the caller speaks Vietnamese—to use a scenario we often discuss—every second of delay in establishing communication could be the difference between life and death.
Yet the current standard process requires:
That's seven steps before the real work begins.
At APCO, we also learned that faster answer times aren't just about having more interpreters—it's about how you connect to them. When we explained that our system rings out to multiple affiliate services simultaneously, with the first to answer getting the call, conference attendees immediately understood the value.
"So they're competing to answer faster," one director noted. "That makes total sense."
It's a simple concept that addresses a real problem: making language barriers less of a barrier requires making the technology itself less of a barrier.
These user experience insights extend far beyond 911 centers. During the conference, conversations naturally shifted to other applications where language access friction creates problems in healthcare settings, corporate customer service, and field operations where first responders need immediate language support away from the call center.
One particularly intriguing discussion centered around accessibility features like ASL interpretation. Several conference attendees specifically asked about American Sign Language capabilities, highlighting the potential for AI-generated avatar technology to revolutionize how deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals access emergency services—and eventually, how any organization serves this community.
The technology industry often focuses on groundbreaking features and revolutionary capabilities. But sometimes the most meaningful improvements come from eliminating the small frustrations that everyone has learned to live with.
When emergency communications professionals tell us they're "impressed" by something as basic as not needing an access pin, it's a reminder that innovation isn't always about adding more—sometimes it's about removing what shouldn't have been there in the first place.
The real measure of emergency communication technology isn't how many features it has, but how invisible it becomes when someone needs help. Every unnecessary step, every moment of friction, every "that's just how it works" assumption is an opportunity to do better.
Because when someone is having the worst day of their life and reaches out for help, the technology should never be part of the problem.
What seemingly small friction points have you encountered in emergency communications that everyone just accepts as normal? We'd love to hear your perspectives on where the industry can continue to improve.