Why This All Matters: Getting to the Point

Every piece of technology has a story behind it. Not the specs. Not the features. The why.

In our first episode, hosts Andy Middlemiss and Brandi Mentele share the story behind Get to the Point — how an idea born inside High Point Networks turned into a podcast built around one simple mission: technology is more interesting when you understand what it actually does for people.

From a wireless network that helped a university attract and retain students, to a Real Time Crime Center in Pueblo, Colorado that helped save lives and find missing kids faster — this episode is a reminder that the tech on the surface can seem unremarkable. What it enables people to do is anything but.

Andy and Brandi also share what listeners can expect going forward — real conversations, practical takeaways, and a commitment to cutting through the jargon so that technology feels approachable no matter your background.

✨ In this episode:

→ The origin story behind Get to the Point

→ Why the "why" behind technology matters more than the tech itself

→ What's coming in future episodes

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🕑 Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction & welcome
0:56 - The origin story behind Get to the Point
3:45 - Why the "why" behind technology matters
6:30 - The City of Pueblo Real Time Crime Center story
7:45 - What listeners can expect going forward
9:00 - Outro & CTA

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New episodes every other Wednesday.

Connect with us: 🌐 highpointnetworks.com 📱 LinkedIn, Instagram & Facebook: @highpointnetworks

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Get to the Point is produced by High Point Networks for informational purposes only. Guests include High Point Networks professionals as well as subject matter experts from across the industry, each speaking from their own experience and expertise. Content shared is intended as general information and should be evaluated within the context of your specific organization and circumstances. Views expressed by outside guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of High Point Networks or its affiliates. High Point Networks assumes no liability for decisions or actions taken based on content discussed in this podcast.

Transcript

Brandi: 0:00

One day we're in my office and Alex says we should start our own podcast. And I was like, interesting. What a simple concept. Tell me more.

Andy: 0:11

Welcome to Get to the Point, the podcast where we chat with real IT experts about real it, and we're gonna dig into the deeper why behind the tech. It's all around us and hopefully make it a little bit more human.

Brandi: 0:28

And fun.

Andy: 0:29

And fun

Brandi: 0:30

because we're here.

Andy: 0:30

Fun is good. I'm Andy Middlemiss.

Brandi: 0:32

I'm Brandi Mentele, and this is episode one.

Andy: 0:35

So excited to get to do this with you.

Brandi: 0:37

Me too,

Andy: 0:38

Brandi, my friend. Ugh. Um, so today we're getting to the point of what this podcast aspires to do. Um, how we plan to share this space with our listeners and our future guests and why it's so important to us.

Brandi: 0:53

Yeah, and like every good journey, there's a story.

Andy: 0:57

Love a story.

Brandi: 0:58

I would love to share this story about how this podcast came about. So, you know, our good friend Alex Conner. Works for High Point Networks. Just a phenomenal human and just a, a great asset to the High Point team. He and I used to do these little brainstorming sessions and it was our way to. Get outside of the normal everyday business, day-to-day working kind of grind. And we would just try to innovate. And so like any good brainstorming sessions, there's ideas that are flowing all over and some of them are really good and some of them are really bad. And so we would try to sift through the good and sift through the bad. And one day we're in my office and Alex says. We should start our own podcast. And I was like, interesting. What a simple concept. Tell me more. And when he started to explain the vision of taking what we do and sharing stories and the why behind the technology and sharing that with others and the impact that it could potentially have, it was just like the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. And I thought, wow, we do so many things. And again, on the surface, the technology isn't really overly, like, the tech isn't overly interesting, but what the tech can do and what it can enable PE enable people to do, uh, we thought was really impactful. And so that's why we talk about the why of technology and that's why we wanna Get to the Point so that people can sift through all the garbage in the tech industry and get right down to insights and practical, easy to understand. Conversations about technology.

Andy: 2:39

Yeah, I love that. You know, just this concept of, of digging into the why behind. The tech, I think is, I think is interesting and I think we're guilty, um, as an industry frankly. I mean, you know, from sales organizations to IT departments, to um, you know, all of the end users. We, we kind of get enamored with the flashy tech stuff and what is what it is that we're deploying and we kind of tend to lose sight of. Why are we actually doing this? And if you can really grasp that, um, it becomes a much more interesting story. It's kind of a point that people can really rally around and, you know, I think of, uh, a higher education customer that, um, recently I thought did a beautiful job of just capturing the why. And getting everybody to line up around this mission, and it was, the project was very simply just rolling out a new wireless network that would be pervasive across the, across the campus, so that the idea was that students, no matter where they were, indoor, outdoor, anywhere, and even in the parking garage in the dorms, could get the same consistent experience. And that supports their, their social activities, their entertainment, their scholastic pursuits, all of their study work. Doesn't matter where they were, this is their vision. The why behind that was that it is becoming really difficult for a higher ed institutions to attract and retain students. And so providing a really excellent, um. User experience for the students was their mission, uh, to really support this growth in, in the, uh, university of student body. And it was neat to see how they rolled this out because it wasn't just the IT people, it was the faculty and the executive staff, and even the student body. Everybody understood that was the mission. This was the why. They're trying to get to, and it was just this battle cry that everybody rallied around and it just made everything just go a lot smoother. The other thing that's interesting, if you can really get to the why behind something, is it's way easier and way more interesting to look back and say, Hey, did we actually accomplish our goal? As opposed to just, you know, a check mark. Yep. We put in a new network. Did we actually accomplish. What we were trying to do by rolling this thing out in the first place. The why is hugely important and I think we would be well served if we could spend more time thinking about that.

Brandi: 5:23

That's incredible. I love that story. It reminds me of my aha moment in the tech. Right? You know, I've been doing this for a long time and, and I know enough about technology to be dangerous, but definitely not enough to go install something for sure. Nobody wants me out install. We don't want want you to do that. Nobody wants me out doing that, but. It was the project with the City of Pueblo in the Real Time Crime Center. You know, I had heard about this project, it was something new that we'd never done before, and hearing about it is one thing. But walking through the doors at the city of Pueblo, our team was able to go there and really learn about what it's actually doing in their community. And I'll tell you what, that it gave me chills. When I walked through the door and talking to the deputy chief and the IT director and some of the other individuals that had been involved in that project, hearing the stories about lives that were saved with this technology, hearing the stories about the crime that's been reduced, the shortened amount of time that it took to find a, a, a missing kid. To solve a crime. And, and I just, it, it gives me chills now thinking about it. And, and that for me was like, wow, on the surface the tech is a little boring. Right? A wireless network or you know, a video wall and those kinds of things. Sure. I. But when it impacts people and communities, that's where I think you get into what's really special about technology and, and that's why we're here.

Andy: 6:53

Yep. I love that. So, Brandi, what can our listeners expect from us going forward and what's kind of the, the overall mission? I think you've already kind of. Kind of explain, but what can they expect from us?

Brandi: 7:05

Well, you're gonna hear the why a lot, right? Because we've been talking about it, uh, pretty much the whole time here. But really inspiring conversations, digging deeper into the purpose of some of these deployments and what it's able to allow people to do. We wanna make it feel human. We wanna make it feel approachable to people who are tech savvy and people who aren't. Right? The listeners at home, sometimes you can, you can disengage them because you're talking about all this. You know, kind of stuff that doesn't make sense. And I'm always one that's like, if an engineer's explaining something to me, I'm like, explain it to me like I'm five. Okay. Because I don't know what any of these, you know, the, the jargon means,

Andy: 7:43

right? It's like, that's a lot of acronyms.

Brandi: 7:44

That's a lot of acronyms. And so just cutting out the fluff and providing our listeners with valuable takeaways that they can use in their day-to-day operations.

Andy: 7:53

I think that's a great, that's a great mission statement for, for the, uh, Get to the Point podcast. Um, so. This is our first episode.

Brandi: 8:02

Yeah.

Andy: 8:02

Very excited to set the stage.

Brandi: 8:04

Yeah.

Andy: 8:05

And, uh, we'll continue on with some other cool stuff coming up in future episodes. Tell us a little bit more.

Brandi: 8:11

Well, I love it because, you know, we've got that third chair over there and it kind of seems like, why are these two just sitting there? Well, that third chair is gonna feature some of our internal experts. It's gonna feature some of our vendor partners, some of our customers. Uh, maybe folks outside, you know, maybe folks in higher education that are, they're bringing up the next gen of technology leaders and, and, and individuals. And so I'm excited to fill that chair. We've got some really exciting episodes coming up. Really. Thank you, Andy, for being here with me. Uh, you bring such a good view and vision to these conversations and I, I just love, you've always been the type of person that has dug into the why behind things. I think it's what makes you good at your job and, and, and good at what you do. But thank you for being here, and thank you to everyone that is tuning in here for the first time, for our first episode. Episode, I've got to the point. Uh, just thank you for taking time outta your day to be here with us.

Andy: 9:08

Yeah, we appreciate it very much and I'm super excited to be here. Uh, so don't forget to subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. We think it's gonna be, I don't know, maybe down there somewhere. But, uh, hit the subscribe button. Follow us on all the, uh, usual, usual social outlets, uh, Instagram, Facebook. Um. I'm not sure where else we're LinkedIn.

Brandi: 9:26

Yeah,

Andy: 9:27

absolutely. Um, and watch for, uh, future episode alerts on highpointnetworks.com. Great to have you with us today. Thank you for joining.

Brandi: 9:35

Yeah.

Andy: 9:36

Catch you on the next one.

Brandi: 9:37

Absolutely. And you know, hey, we're always here to help you Get to the Point.

Andy: 9:40

Love it.

Brandi: 9:41

Have a great day everybody.