Crisis communication: More ways technology can help
When a crisis occurs, a company’s first priority is communicating the facts to its workforce. As communication methods get more complex, new software is cropping up to help employers get a handle on emergency notifications.
Last week, we wrote about managing a workforce during an emergency, and how communication is an important aspect of crisis management. There are certainly old-fashioned to get the message out – making phone calls, sending e-mails, etc.
But, like with most processes these days, automation is on its way. Here’s the rundown on what emergency notification systems do:
Basically, the system is either installed on your network or accessed through the Internet and lets authorized users send a messages to a whole bunch of selected recipients at the same time. With most systems, you can pick individual people or pre-defined groups, or use a search filter to find recipients that meet some criteria (all people who live in a certain area, for example).
Then the message is sent, typically through a variety of methods (a phone call with a pre-recorded message, an e-mail, text message, etc.) in an order you choose, or, sometimes, the order preferred by each individual user. Normally, there’s a way to let recipients verify they got the message.
Spread the word
A good example is the system offered by San Diego-based MIR3, Inc. The product comes in three tiers, for large enterprises, smaller companies, and a system that can be customized by a business’s own IT department.
Here are the basics: You have a database of employees with their contact info, and other key information. The methods of contact are listed in order of preference so that the message is automatically sent first to the device most likely to reach them, then continues down the list if there’s no response.
So let’s say you need to spread word about a fire in the building. You log into the system, pick the people you need to contact (in this case, that’d probably be all employees, or everyone who works in that building). You enter the message and options for responses, such as “I’m not in the building,” “I’m in the building and I’m leaving,” or “I need help.”
Then the system automatically contacts everyone on the list. If an employee’s preferred contact method is a cell phone, for example, the program calls the phone and translates the typed message into computerized speech. Then he or she responds by pressing 1, 2 or 3, which correspond to the options you gave. (You can also set some of those selections to automatically dial through to a different number, so if someone says “I need help,” you can have the system automatically put them through to 911).
A similar service is offered by Strohl Systems. They claim they can send 500,000 e-mails and make 600,000 30-second phone calls per hour. Also, it automatically organizes a call tree if you still want to go through a manual calling process, too.
Other uses
Of course, there are possible uses for these systems beyond crisis communication. They can be used to send reminders about meetings or deadlines, or to get a hold of an IT employee when a job needs to be done right away.
As MIR3 Chief Strategy Officer Frank Mahdavi says, the systems come in handy “any time a machine has to contact human beings.”
