In this video, we take a deep dive into the story of MosquitoMax, a small, Houston-based company specializing in mosquito control, and how they leveraged Google Cloud to modernize their business.
Traditionally, MosquitoMax relied on a system based on an obsolete rabbit controller, which was difficult to stock and prone to bugs. A technician was required to be physically present to check on the system’s health and make manual adjustments for weather and seasonal variations. This led to a number of challenges:
- Non-functional systems going undetected for weeks or months: This resulted in more mosquitoes for customers and a loss of revenue for MosquitoMax.
- Limited ability to scale the business: The manual process couldn’t keep up with increasing demand, and the obsolete hardware made it difficult to introduce new features.
To address these challenges, MosquitoMax embarked on a modernization project, with the goal of making their system real-time and online.
Here’s a breakdown of their key objectives:
- Monitor the entire fleet for:
- Low chemical solution
- No water pressure
- Non-functional mister line or nozzle
- Improper solution mix ratio
- No power, and other possible issues
- Customer should be able to:
- Schedule sprays, spray now or skip future sprays
- See when the last spray happened and when the next spray will happen
- See details about each spray
- Request support and manage account
- Do all of this from their mobile device
To achieve these objectives, MosquitoMax implemented a solution that included:
- Hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
- Languages: Python (controller, API), Dart (mobile), JavaScript (functions), Bash (automation, service management)
- Mobile: Flutter for native Android, iOS and web interfaces, FlutterFlow.io for rapid prototyping
- Cloud: Google Cloud (Storage, Functions, Cloud Run, Build), Firebase (Firestore, Realtime database, Auth, Messaging), Source Repositories
This technology allowed MosquitoMax to create a more robust and reliable system that could be easily managed and scaled.
The video shows a number of demos, which illustrate how the new system works in practice. For example, you can see how a user can register a new device, view the spray history, and make adjustments to the spray schedule.
The new system provides a number of key benefits to MosquitoMax and their customers, including:
- Reduced operating costs: The automation of many tasks allows MosquitoMax to operate more efficiently and save money.
- Improved customer satisfaction: The ability to monitor the system remotely and make adjustments in real-time helps to ensure that customers get the best possible service.
- Data-driven forecasting and business intelligence: The data collected by the system can be used to forecast customer needs and improve business operations.
This case study highlights the power of Google Cloud to modernize traditional businesses and unlock new opportunities for growth. If you are looking to modernize your own business, be sure to check out the resources linked below.
Resources:
If you have any questions about this case study or about modernizing your own business with Google Cloud, feel free to leave a comment below.
