Emergency Notification Systems and Crisis Communication – Blog

While the ultimate goal of any critical communication system is to reach as many people through as many avenues as possible, most organizations still put emphasis on direct communication methods. Reaching your audience how they want to be contacted — by email, text message, and voice phone call — is often perceived as the most effective communication endpoints available. The biggest barrier to effective direct communication is the collection and maintenance of personal contact information.

Within the next few weeks, universities and colleges will be busy preparing for large numbers of visitors to their campuses for graduation ceremonies. From younger siblings to grandparents, these visitors will be happily awaiting to celebrate their graduate walking across the stage and receive their hard-earned diplomas and start the next chapter of their lives.

When a crisis situation happens at your place of school, work, or play there’s no time to think. The whole process of informing and guiding your organization to safety by signaling an alarm, emailing the staff, posting on social media, and informing authorities is arduous and time-consuming, which one can’t afford during an emergency. To help organizations act quickly during the first minute of an emergency, they need an emergency notification solution that allows them to synchronize the launch of alerts through multiple channels.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities are anchor institutions in our communities when it comes to safety and well-being during a time of crisis. They play a major role in most emergencies that happen — environmental incidents, vehicular accidents, infrastructure disasters, and active intruder or shooter tragedies. Because of the role they play in emergencies, they themselves must be even more prepared for emergencies that might happen at their facilities. Not only must they inform and guide the patients who visit these type of facilities, but the doctors and nurses, workers, and visitors inside must also be made aware and prepared for what to do next. No one day is the same and no one individual is the same who enters, so these centers must be ready for anything that comes their way. Ensuring they keep everyone safe means informing their constituents of an emergency and what guidance to follow if there is one.

There’s no sugar-coating the fact that this past winter has been a very harsh one. Much of the U.S. experienced more snow and ice than it had in years. With this severe weather came school and work closures; as well as, public transportation delays and shutdowns. On top of that, many roadside accidents. This winter 24% of all roadside accidents were related to snowy, slushy, or icy pavement. It’s no surprise that we all welcomed the first day of Spring with open arms - in search of sunshine, warm weather, and the promise of blooming flowers.

Corporate enterprises take many forms, including retail, distribution, insurance, banking, tourism, and hospitality venues. Each brings its own complexities, operational goals and challenges, and moral obligations to the table. Regardless of the genre of these enterprises, the goal of each should be the safety of their people and the mitigation of risk to their property.