Interested to discover how mobile messaging can be used to improve crisis communications? The following use case provides a real life example of its potential.
Incident Preparedness
Upon reviewing its business continuity plans, a leading events and conference centre realised that there were weaknesses in its emergency communication procedures.
At any point, if an emergency was to strike, they would find themselves unable to communicate with the first response team, security and event staff simultaneously.
Because of this, the team quickly started to research solutions that would support the first response team and the process of a mass evacuation.
Problems Facing First Responders
The venue’s emergency plan relied on alarms and walkie-talkies.
Whilst these had worked effectively during previous drills, they realised that they were blind to where their employees were located in the building during an evacuation and their process was disorganised.
If an emergency was to occur, the alarm would ring and employees would make their way to the nearest exit. Marshals would then do a final sweep of the building before doing a roll call in a designated evacuation meeting point.
But what if:
- People didn’t know where the designated meeting point was?
- Escape route had become blocked?
- The alarm could not be sound?
- They were not able to access the walkie-talkies?
The business identified that there were several risks at stake, to its reputation, revenue and customer relationships if they didn’t take measures to protect themselves from these critical weaknesses.
These issues coupled with a trend of increasing extreme events meant the venue needed to improve its emergency preparedness.
Emergency Communication Solutions
The demand for employee tracking services is increasing. Employers want to be able to locate both field and desk workers quickly during an emergency.
The event and conference venue needed a solution that gave them both speed and reach in the face of a disaster.
Speed: they needed to send accurate information at a moment’s notice
Reach: information needed to be relayed using a method that has ubiquitous reach
With the omni-presence of smartphones, Soprano’s RapidAlert was a viable solution for the business, using emergency notification solutions to manage critical incidents.
The key features of RapidAlert include:
- Safety alerting
- Incident management and team coordination
- Rapid response for team continuity
- Tracking and auditing
A More Effective Preparedness Plan
The venue discovered that implementing RapidAlert into their emergency communication plan was easier than expected.
After uploading all of their contacts into the online portal, they created department groups for first responders, security teams and the events staff.
They then created multiple templates for different situations that could occur, such as a fire, an intruder or a gas leak. They were also reassured to discover that they could quickly customise any RapidAlert message, such as communicating changes to evacuation meeting points.
Upon deployment, the venue ran several drills and practice tests for different types of emergencies and found that communication was much more accurate and effective in coordinating an evacuation.
Mobile Messaging Benefits Crisis Communications
During a disaster, a business must be able to respond promptly. With RapidAlert, critical communications have never been more efficient.
Get them right message, to the right people, at the right time. Don’t wait until an incident occurs, ensure you have the right preparedness plan in place beforehand.
Soprano RapidAlert is an advanced incident management solution that enables users to be prepared and send timely messages using pre-defined templates. Whether it is a business or operational incident, RapidAlert allows you to quickly reach your employees to help reduce the severity of the incident and minimise damage to reputation, revenue and customer relationships.
Interested to learn more about how RapidAlert can help your business?