Parker: My-eforce using technology to care for workforces

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Brennan Lewis had a bright idea to help law enforcement officers recover stolen property with the use of tracking devices. GPS receivers placed in automobiles and other high-value assets, with codes shared with policing organizations across Canada and in the U.S., alerted the law to act quickly in getting them back to their owners.

The success of the trials had Lewis toying with another idea, this one to harness the technology to be of more value in the care of human beings.

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Realizing he needed help, he called Justin Barber, whom he had met in the beer business and had been impressed with.

Lewis had earned a bachelor of management degree in economics and marketing at the University of Lethbridge, and worked in Calgary in the oil and gas sector. He says he was not enamoured with his job, and when layoffs occurred in the industry he decided to take a break and got a job delivering beer to downtown bars and restaurants.

That’s where he met Barber, who had made his career in sales after getting his bachelor of applied justice at Mount Royal University with the idea of joining the police force, but after failing a test for colour blindness had to give up that idea.

He joined the Big Rock sales team for almost four years before accepting a similar position with Wild Rose Brewery. As director of sales and business development, he and his team were responsible for $10 million in revenue. When Wild Rose was bought by Sleeman Breweries, Barber was asked to stay on and accepted the role of district sales manager. But he jumped at the chance to join Lewis after he explained his new proposal, and they became co-founders of my-eforce.

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There are safety companies that keep track of employees wherever they are, but Lewis realized that none could track their health, to see how they were feeling out in the field. His idea was to try to determine the current status of their health, and he is able to do this through the use of smartwatches.

After consulting a local cardiac specialist to understand the needs, an innovative, sophisticated, cloud-based software ecosystem was developed that continuously analyzes an individual’s location and vital signs directly from a smartwatch, triggering an alert when help is needed.

My-eforce connects an employee’s health status as they go about their daily tasks, ensuring rapid response with real-time precision and clarity. By combining both active and passive monitoring technologies, my-eforce automates the continuous connection and interpretation of mission-critical events.

Of course, the software had to be compatible with different brands of smartwatches, and after consultation with Apple, Google, Fitbit and Samsung, they all approved and became accepted partners. They commented that it was the first time a third party had asked to use their hardware — trailblazers.

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My-eforce has its own in-house software engineers plus use of external Calgary contractors and a strong local advisory team representing medical, security, technology and sales sectors.

Clients either use their own teams to monitor their remote workers or use a third-party centre to keep in contact with staff, whom they provide with a choice of smartwatches connected to their system.

My-eforce is rapidly becoming accepted in Canada and the U.S., and the Calgary company also has purchasing and distribution partners and clients in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and is working on establishing relationships in Asia-Pacific.

CEO Lewis and CRO Barber take safety to heart in making sure workers get home.

Notes:

The Canadian Council for the Americas Alberta (CCA), with the support of the Global Energy Show and its government partners — Global Affairs Canada and the Government of Alberta — is hosting its keynote annual CCA Breakfast of the Americas on June 11. The breakfast theme is Responsible Energy Production in the Americas, to be held in the Junior Ball Room of the new BMO Centre in Stampede Park. It will discuss different aspects that NOC’s, operators, private sector and government bodies are facing toward a responsible energy production that includes traditional sources such as oil and gas, and new sources such as hydrogen.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.

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