Frazer: Defining the future of mobile healthcare

Frazer, Ltd. leads the market for manufacturing generator-powered emergency vehicles in the United States. Its mobile stroke unit was the first of its kind, equipped with a CT scan that allows responders to start treating a stroke victim immediately.

The company also makes mobile clinics that bring immunizations, check-ups, and testing into communities across the U.S. One recent model features technology that screens and detects lung cancer in its early stages—an important step in fighting the most deadly cancer in the U.S.

Frazer’s customers dedicate their energy to saving lives, and Frazer takes this commitment seriously. The company constantly searches for ways to cut costs for customers and get new EMS modules or mobile clinics on the road as quickly as possible.

Frazer decided to improve efficiency by deploying an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software in the cloud. Frazer first contracted with a small, local hosting company, but it struggled with poor performance and support.

“We’re a company known for customer service. We wanted to work with a company that had the same values,” says Laura Richardson, CEO at Frazer, Ltd.

A systems administrator had been testing Google Cloud Platform, so Frazer took the leap and switched its hosting company.

“We doubled performance while cutting costs, which was fantastic. But just as importantly, we discovered that Google has a customer-first approach that aligns almost identically with our own,” says John Griffin, Jr., MIS Manager at Frazer, Ltd.

World-class service

Frazer migrated 95% of its business infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform. This includes not only its ERP system and business support software, but also its cutting-edge manufacturing systems. By dramatically reducing reliance on on-premises infrastructure, Frazer cuts infrastructure costs by six-fold while completely eliminating the associated maintenance costs. Frazer even canceled its disaster recovery as a service contract, saving tens of thousands every year with a much more robust backup scenario.

“Google provides us with outstanding levels of access and support,” says Laura. “With support from Google, we’re accelerating our business and freeing up resources to concentrate on products that impact communities and save lives.”

Laura particularly appreciated how Google worked with Frazer to right-size its investment. Google reps actively hunt down areas where Frazer can scale back and reduce its costs.

“We make the same sort of suggestions to our customers to help them utilize their budgets efficiently. We may be passing up earnings, but we’re building trust and engagement with our customers. Google has taken the same approach with us,” says Laura.

Developing the future of mobile healthcare

Working with Google Cloud Platform and Google Compute Engine, Frazer halved load times, queries, and other actions for its ERP, CPQ, and other business-critical software. Instead of taking hours to create new development environments, it’s nearly instantaneous.

For Frazer, this means developers can start experimenting with new services whenever they want. There’s no more waiting for the IT team to build environments or add capacity.

Even with the massive boosts to performance, Frazer shaved 25% off of its IT costs compared to its previous hosting company.

“The fact that we’re getting double the performance for less cost is amazing,” says John. “The cost of scaling a traditional architecture would have been outrageous. With Google Cloud Platform, we can start pushing the limits of development to come up with services that will help our customers save lives.”

From busywork to thought work

Switching to Google Cloud Platform liberates Frazer’s IT team from mundane, daily tasks. Team members replace time spent on busywork with deeper “thought work” that adds to the company’s bottom line.

“You don’t realize how much time something is taking until you don’t have to do it anymore” says John. "Our IT team saves hours each week by working with Google Cloud Platform, so we have more time to provide more support and services to internal and external customers."

Embracing a culture of collaboration

Even before moving applications into the cloud, Frazer embraced Google by running Google Workspace—including Gmail, Google Docs, and Sheets—on Chromebooks. With everyone working on the same apps through the cloud, Frazer fostered a collaborative approach that has increased efficiency and helped improve service.

Frazer started a single shareable file where teams track product quality. People from any team can see quality issues and take the initiative to resolve the problem before it ever affects customers.

“Our vision is to define the future of mobile healthcare. What’s great about working with Google is that they’re always innovating and suggesting how we can use advances to make our business better. It’s exciting to see what’s coming next,” adds Laura.