Mass notification software is an important tool that is available for organizations to use during emergency situations, but are you certain you are getting the most out of all the available functionality? Here are five best practices to follow to ensure that you are reaching your software's full potential.
1. Create emergency notifications in advance
Your mass notification software will be the most beneficial in an emergency if you have planned out your communications in advance. Create your messages ahead of time so that they are ready to deploy as soon as you need. Make things easier by developing general notification templates with basic information that will be included in the message regardless of the situation, so all you need to do is fill in the blanks with additional information relevant to the ongoing event.
2. Ensure contact information is up to date
It is essential that you keep your contacts records up to date to make sure whenever you need to use your mass notification software, your contacts will receive your notifications. An easy way to do this is to send out an update form a couple times a year to your contacts asking them to update their contact information and preferences.
3. Take advantage of multiple communication methods
Some of your contacts may not have access to a cellphone, others may not have access to a landline or email. So, in order to maximize the chance that your emergency notifications reach as many people as possible, you should leverage the power of all these communication methods at the same time. Send contacts your notifications using each of these methods and increase the likelihood that they will see the message sooner rather than later.
4. Test your mass notification software
As you've likely heard time and time again, practice makes perfect. Same goes for your mass notification software. In order for you and your organization to have full trust the system will work for you when you need it, you must put the time in to test it regularly and fine tune your notification processes to ensure the messages are ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. These tests can simply be done internally within your organization every couple of months to help increase your familiarity with the software and build up your confidence.
5. Analyze past reports
After you have used the notification software during a live emergency scenario, it would certainly be beneficial to review and analyze the reports regarding the software's performance during the incident. How many of the messages were opened? What was the average length of time before they were opened? Which communication methods were the most effective? Use this information to enhance your notification processes and ensure they work even more efficiently the next time they are required.
SimplyCast's new emergency mass notification software, EmergHub, allows your business to prepare well in advance for any emergency scenario and make sure that your notifications are sent as efficiently as possible over several different channels of communication. For more information on EmergHub, visit this page, or to receive more information about the specific tools EmergHub offers directly to your inbox, sign up here!
