Bosma Enterprises may resell assistive technology

Bosma Enterprises, an organization that employs blind and visually impaired people, is looking into reselling an indoor navigation system it installed earlier this year for its own workers.

Based in Indianapolis, Bosma Enterprises deployed BlindSquare Event in a new headquarters facility, which opened in April 2017. The indoor navigation system uses 2-inch by 2-inch plastic Bluetooth beacons, placed throughout the headquarters building, to communicate location information to employees' iPhones. The iPhones' VoiceOver feature tells employees where they are in the building and guides them to offices, restrooms and an in-house bistro.

Bosma is the third organization in the U.S. to install BlindSquare Event, which originated in Finland. That early adopter status may translate into a reseller operation.

"We are looking to try to become a reseller of [BlindSquare Event] and an implementation partner for them," said Jason Bailey, CTO at Bosma Enterprises.

If it forms a reseller relationship, Bosma Enterprises could find a potential customer base in a group of nonprofits with which it is affiliated. Bosma is one of more than 90 associated agencies that provide products and services to the federal government through the AbilityOne Program. The program ranks among the largest federal contracting employment sources for people who are blind or have significant disabilities, according to the AbilityOne Commission, the federal agency that oversees the program. The organizations affiliated with the AbilityOne Program also provide goods and services to each other.

Jason Bailey

In addition to assisting other nonprofits with BlindSquare Event implementation, Bosma Enterprises could also look for opportunities in other settings such as airports and shopping malls.

"We are really hoping it's going to take off," Bailey said of the potential reseller relationship.

We are really hoping it's going to take off.

Any reselling income will go to Bosma's program for newly blind or visually impaired people, Bailey said. That program offers training tracks such as independent living, job readiness, customer service certification and higher education readiness.

"Anything we do on the sales side ... goes back into that program," Bailey said.

The waiting list for candidates for the program is currently about six months, but additional funding could help Bosma hire more staff and thus reduce the wait time, he added.