Mass Notification Emergency Communication

Communication is critical during and after an emergency... to maintain continuity of operations, protect organizational reputation, providing customer/member satisfaction. What is your plan for identifying and implementing your critical mass communication needs? From how emergency notifications work to how to sell them to the management team, this week's articles can help you figure it all out.

Poor communication is often to blame for turning an emergency into a catastrophe. (Item #1)   Counting on the fact that everyone has a cell phone could be a grave error for emergency planners. (Item #2)   It's not enough to blast a message to everyone. It's crucial that the message is understood. (Item #3)  

Here are 12 best practices that apply to the corporate world. (Item #4)   Do you know what issues to consider when pricing an emergency notification system? (Item #5)   Today, most Business Continuity professionals recognize the need and value of an emergency notification system, but, as with so many other BCP requirements, the budget isn't there. What to do? (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. How Emergency Notifications Work

In this article, the author talks about emergency notifications, defined as any message -- delivered over any device or platform -- intended to warn large groups of people about impending or existing danger. In recent years, an entire industry has emerged to fill the communication gaps created by natural and manmade emergencies.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/e-mail-messaging/how-emergency-notifications-work.htm

2. Why Redundancy is Key in MNEC (Mass Notification Emergency Communication)

One of the most important features of an effective MNEC system for any organization is redundancy, says Michael J. Mulhare, director of emergency management at Virginia Tech since 2009. For those responsible for safety and security, he added, "Redundancy of communication systems is actually essential, and it doesn't matter if it's a cell system or network based, they all can fail. They all have their limitations."
http://www.commercialintegrator.com/article/why_redundancy_is_key_in_mnec?utm_source=CIweekly&utm_medium=email

3. Best Practices for Emergency Notification Messages

When sending an alert through an emergency notification system, it's important to have the best possible message for each type of communication channel. This presentation gives you a variety of best practices for each communication channel. Follow these guidelines and your alert will be more successful. Scroll down a bit to get to the transcript of the presentation.
http://www.slideshare.net/missionmode/best-practices-for-ens-messages

4. Twelve Emergency Notification Best Practices

While these best practices are numbered, the creation of an effective mass notification program is not a linear process. These recommendations should be considered as a whole when adopting new systems, revising emergency notification plans and updating policies and procedures.
http://blog.missionmode.com/blog/12-emergency-notification-best-practices.html

5. Emergency Notification System Pricing -- How to Compare 7: Customer Service and Training

Getting to the bottom of emergency notification system pricing and understanding the likely costs and benefits offered by different providers is not easy. Getting it wrong can not only cost more over the life of the contract, but could also delay incident recovery and ultimately, cost lives. This is the seventh in a series of articles about some of the features that can significantly affect the total cost of an emergency messaging system, but which can also be difficult to understand.
http://www.regroup.com/welcome/emergency-notification-system-pricing-how-to-compare-7-limited-vs-unlimited-user-information/
You can link to the other six articles here:
http://www.regroup.com/welcome/category/emergency-notification-system-pricing/

6. Selling an Emergency Notification System within Your Organization

This article is divided into two parts. The first part will discuss how to sell the solution directly within your organization, for its primary BCP purpose, i.e. emergency notification at the time of a Disaster. The second part will give you the specifics that can be used with various departments to recruit them as allies for other uses of such a tool. In other words, use the technique called OPM (Other People's Money) in order to convince other departments to spend their budget on an emergency notification system that will benefit their department and the entire organization.
http://disaster-resource.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=355%3Aselling-an-emergency-notification-system-within-your-organization&catid=9%3Acrisis-response&Itemid=15