STARS Air Ambulance is a non-profit organization which offers aerial
medical transportation to severely ill or injured people in certain regions of
Canada. According to their website, they currently operate in three Canadian
states, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Their mission is to save lives by
providing medical aid and transportation as rapid as possible. Due to the
nature of the business, one can already predict the high importance of
Information Systems (IS) in order to support such a time-sensitive operation.
However, since STARS Emergency Link Centre operates 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, one can mistakenly think that Information Systems are
important only to make sure telephones and computers are working properly
at all times. In reality, STARS’ needs for IS have evolved overtime to include
other aspects of the business such as optimization of operations and revenue
generation.
Optimization of Operations:
The Chain of Communication that STARS uses is above. As you can see,
there is certainly a mechanism that allows the communications to flow rapidly
and accurately between the time a 911 call is made and the time the patient
arrives to the hospital. As the organization expands, new hospitals will need
to learn how to communicate with STARS. In this situation, we can infer that
not only does IS optimize current operations but due to the uniform
communication process created, it can potentially help the business expand
much easier.
Revenue Generation:
Simply put, STARS has invested in a robust e-commerce platform. By
looking at the donations section of the STARS websitei, the various options to
