/// Control that Sets You Free
Digital Pest Management
Pest management options for a digital generation
the view from a pest management expert
Globally, rats and mice can spread more than 35 different diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans directly, through handling of rodents, contact with faeces, urine or saliva, or through rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also be spread to humans indirectly, through ticks, mites or fleas that have fed on an infected rodent. The impact to human health is only one aspect of pest management that needs to be considered.
These are statistics than cannot be ignored
Twenty percent of the world’s food supply is believed to be contaminated by rodents. In addition to contamination and/or consumption of food products, rodents can cause severe structural damage to facilities. A rodent can exert up to 7,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, allowing them to gnaw through actual structures and wiring. Statistics claim that 20% of unknown fires are suspected to be caused by wires that have been chewed or frayed by rodents.1
What challenges are pest management experts trying to solve?
The challenge of delivering effective pest management while demonstrating a commitment to social and environmental responsibility can be difficult to balance. The use of rodenticides is a part of traditional pest management. However, the level of awareness of business managers and owners of having toxic chemicals and poisons employed throughout their properties has significantly risen over recent years and this shouldn’t be ignored.
This leads pest management professionals to consider other options. Basic rodent trapping is seen as an acceptable alternative to rodenticides, but by design these are labor intensive solutions and do not provide any form of deterrent if not regularly checked. Additionally, traps that are not addressed in an expedited fashion after a rodent has been caught can create a biohazard risk.
Although digital technology can be an appealing alternative, it needs to address the right topics and not just be technology as the latest trend. The reasons that a digital solution would be interesting need to align with the following topics:
"How can it be integrated into traditional solutions? Pest management professionals are not likely to completely transition away from their existing solutions unless the business proposition makes sense"
"As there is always a cost for implementing something new, the cost of implementation needs to be able to be recouped in the overall value proposition. And maybe even drive additional margin"
"A tool that provides the ability to refocus time for key problem areas and a more proactive vs. reactive solution to integrated pest management"
"Transparency as to what work is being done to share with end customers. In addition to them seeing a reduction in rodents at their sites, to be able to"
How did digital pest management solve these challenges?
Overall, the implementation of a digital pest management solution allows for closer cooperation with end customers. First and foremost, by providing the ability to visually show clients where the rodents were, how infestations are being controlled and then more importantly where they were not via heatmaps and instant notifications. Therefore, the movement of the pests between different business areas could be shown to accurately identify the root cause of a problem area. With the root cause established, tenants, landlord, pest companies and authorities were able to develop clear strategies to deal with mouse infestations originating from various locations which the site pest controller did not have the authority to access.
