The Pros and Cons of Using an Alerting Solution

Sometimes time is of the essence when you have important information to communicate with your employees. If there is an emergency situation or some critical, time-sensitive information you need to impart, it’s essential that you have a system in place to do so in the most effective manner possible.

There are a number of scenarios where you may need to communicate advice quickly: for example a natural disaster, an active shooter incident, a fire, a gas leak, a terrorist attack or even a critical IT threat such as a computer virus that could cripple your company.

To help you achieve this, you need a system that:

• Can alert a large number of people as quickly as possible
• Can be sent instantly
• Is going to be delivered in a way that people are most likely to see it so they can act.

Traditional communications channels are just not cut out for this task. Emails, for example, may get sent in bulk but may not be seen until it is too late – if they are even seen at all. Phone calls to everyone in your organization is too cumbersome and may not be appropriate for the situation.

An alerting system is purpose-built for the role of being able to disseminate information as quickly as possible to a wide audience.

There are a number of alerting solutions on the market, and their features vary. In general they allow you to send messages to employees’ computer screens and/or cell phones quickly to alert them to a critical situation.

Investing in an alerting solution for your company is a big decision, so before you do so you will obviously want to weigh up the pros and cons.

Pros:

Simple to use – most notification systems are designed with the back-end user in mind as well as message recipients. When you are in a time critical situation you don’t want to be following complicated steps to get the job done.

Fast delivery – An alerting solution will deliver your information in real time, which can help to keep people safe in an emergency.

Authority – Misinformation can spread quickly during an emergency. Having accurate information delivered to people quickly from an authoritative and reputable source can be of tremendous assistance.

Cons:

System failures – Some situations may be so catastrophic that all communications systems fail to work, in which case an alerting situation will not be of any use.

Not keeping contact details up-to-date – An alerting system is only going to be as good as its contact list. If you don’t keep email addresses and phone numbers up-to-date you won’t be able to reach the people you need to reach.

Costs – Some alerting systems are extremely expensive and prohibitive.

If you are considering an alerting solution for your company, look to DeskAlert – it is extremely cost effective, has great support, is easy to use and delivers messages in a way that reaches your employees fast.