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:
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.