An Effective Alert Notification System for Emergency Preparedness

Amidst all the incursion of information coming from the media and the digital technology, people feel overwhelmed with the enormous data coming from all directions and eventually become numb to the information that comes in the way.

However, some messages especially alert notifications must cut through all the noise. There must be a way to penetrate the intended recipients to inform them of important information coming from their company or school. There should be a way to broadcast information to the masses.

Alert notification features

An alert notification system is the solution to this problem. Among the features that this system can provide are the following:

1. Send information or reminders to one or to a group through SMS texting services.
2. The ability to make the recipients see the message alert a few seconds after being sent.
3. It stores all the messages being sent and the recipients can store them in their calendar so that they will not miss the event.
4. Specialized text alerts, SMS text reminders, mass calling of various mobile devices, mass text notification, SMS alert for emergencies, alert notifications for staff, and other alert notification apps.
5. Some of these alert messaging systems don't require any hardware. The companies got the software fully hosted and companies can create their own mass notification alerts online or through the phone.
6. Most of the alert notifications are easy to use with dependable and cost-saving mass communication program with 24/7 live customer support.
7. The alerts are being sent through phone, email or SMS text and if needed, the three can also be combined.
8. Other features may include a self-registration widget that captures all the contact information from your website saving you all the time and effort of typing all the contact details to the program. The GIS mapping feature can help target the notifications according to geographic location.
9. There are communication desktops that are two-way dashboard and they allow staff to share general messages through text messages and/or email.
10. These alert notification systems may also come with a dedicated inbound-toll free number that can enable the callers to hear your recorded messages.

How the alert notification system works

Most alert messaging systems are easy to administer. If an organization chooses to use text messaging, the administrator will send a message either as a voicemail or as SMS text asking the recipient to opt-in of the service and the procedure that goes with the subscription. Only those who opt-in to the service can receive alert messages so it is a must that the recipient follows the instruction so that he or she will be included in the contact list. A confirmation message will be sent to inform that the subscription to the alert notification system has been successful.

Campuses, schools, organizations and other institutions usually conduct a drill or a test to familiarize everyone of the functions of the alert notifications. In schools, the students and staff are invited to enroll in the school's notification system to ensure that they receive all the alerts and notices. They are given instructions on how to do this and they are usually located in the school's website. It is important that they always update any changes of their contact information so that they don't miss any alerts.

Students and staff need to actively participate in preparedness training to inform them of how they should react during emergencies based on the SMS text messages alerts.

FAQs about the alert notification system in campuses

1. Why the need for an alert notification system?

Alerts are synonymous with emergency so this is one of the reasons for having these notifications. A school's alert notification system is a communication tool designed to disseminate information in case of emergency. The web-based system can disperse the information and emergency messages to the phones, emails, voicemail, and text messages.

2. There is an alarm in the campus building so why is there still a need for an alert system?

Alarms and sirens can call the attention of everybody to evacuate the building and campus once there is an emergency such as fire and calamities. However, this is just a one-way communication and when the students and staff hear it, their immediate reaction is only one thing – to go out of the building/campus as fast as they can. If there is no emergency drill and practice on this type of situation, everybody becomes chaotic and it might result to injuries and death.

The alert notifications can give exact instructions and procedure for the students to follow in a calm manner in situations like fire, earthquake, and other natural calamities. However, alert notification functions more than just alerting for emergency purposes.

In cases where there is a shooting incident in a specific area, the alert notification system can instruct everyone the specific ways to do, which is to stay away from where the incident is. Alarms and sirens can't do this function.

Overall, an alert notification system is very crucial to the emergency preparedness strategy of every campus, organization, institution or place.