How Notification Software Helps in Reducing Stress

How does your organization fare in terms of business continuity? If you have sound business strategies and a rich and effective business continuity plan in place, well and good; this means that you have your operations streamlined. The more streamlined your processes are, the less pressured your people are, and the better your business outcomes. On the other hand, not having a preparedness and contingency plan can result in high stress levels, less employee engagement and even a failure in operations which puts your uptime at risk – most especially during times of crises.

Things would be easier if accidents never happened; but matters can quickly go wrong, especially in the businesses of today. This is why organizations must have the capability to act according to the situation and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that operations do not suffer.

Disasters and Accidents: Stress-causing Events 

Unexpected situations – sudden weather shifts, coverage outages, road work, terrorist threats – can cause a disruptive and negative impact on operations and on individual employees. Unless these issues are addressed in the quickest time possible, they can cause bigger problems that can hurt your business outcomes and cause stress not just on the management but on the organization as a whole.

It is therefore not just important but moreso necessary to have a notification solution that has the capability to quickly inform all the members of your organization – from the executives down to the staff – about what is happening and what needs to be done during critical periods. What kind of notification system do you use in your company? Do you have call trees or a text chain for disseminating information? Or do you employ a notification software that allows you to connect with your people in terms of emergencies? 

Notification Software: Important Features

Both man-made situations and natural disasters are unpredictable. Aside from ensuring business continuity amidst these emergency events, your number one focus must be on safeguarding your employees and making sure that they are unharmed.

An effective notification software allows you to efficiently communicate with your employees during a critical situation, even if they are slated in different locations. As such, you must choose a software that has the following features:

1. Simultaneous sending of alerts on all possible devices to all employees. In an emergency, it is very critical to get the word out immediately using different modes to ensure that everyone gets the message. An effective notification software has a multi-modal function that allows for transmitting one message through different channels – push messaging, SMS, desktop alerts, digital signage, desktop screensavers, etc – in a single click, in order to reach everyone in the organization, no matter where they are and what they are doing.

2. Two-way communication that allows employees to respond to alerts. It pays to know whether or not your employees have received your message – not just because it eases your worry about their condition, but also because it gives you the chance to take action regarding the feedback they send you.

3. Integration of the software with existing systems and databases. You would want to get a notification software that allows you to easily connect it with other solutions in your company, so you do not have to manually update the software.

4. Creation of alert templates. Emergency situations differ, as do your responses. Your notification system must allow you to create pre-existing templates that you can easily edit and send immediately with a single click.

5. Scheduling feature for automatic alerts. Do you have a scheduled system outage, or do you need to regularly send your employees updates? The scheduling feature allows you to prepare your alerts in advance and send them during pre-set times.