Staff notifications are a constant and can often be of vital importance. However, communicating with the right people, over the right channel, at the right time can be difficult. A manual notification system poses unique challenges and can lead to missed messages, outdated information, or information being sent to the wrong person. Manually sending mass messages in the event of an emergency or other time-sensitive event could mean that security protocols are breached, or a mass panic is caused that makes the situation worse.
We talk a lot about the issues that this can cause, the solution, and why the solution might be necessary here [link to other staff notif blog], but here we’ll talk about how each person involved in the alert process would interact with an ideal staff notification for universities.
Understanding this is important because thinking about the solution in this way may highlight specific needs for your organization that you may not have thought of already. It also allows you to ensure that there are as few blind spots in the automation as possible, since it will only ever be capable of doing exactly what it has been told to do. Often people get turned around by thinking that they need a high amount of technical skill to use an automated solution, when the situation really just required them to think about the solution from another point of view, and adjust the solution when they find problems. Here is a breakdown of how the solution is interacted with from both sides.
How do people engage with the solution?
You can find a detailed explanation in the training guide for this use case, or the step by step guide to putting the solution together posted on our blog. Here is how each step of the use case works:
Alan the Admin - Step 1: Build the Staff Database
Alan has to set up a staff database, so that when messages are constructed and the alerts system is activated, the messages can reach the intended recipients. The database is centralized with the rest of the tools, ensuring that the messages can pull data from staff profiles and personalize alerts to the person receiving them or include other important information.
Alan the Admin - Step 2: Template Your Messages
Notifications should be built in advance. This is because templates allow the alerts to be triggered with a single click, rather than having to construct the message before you send it. While this won’t always be possible, in many cases it is. Templating messages will save a lot of time and effort, which is important during emergencies or time-critical windows. Alan will arrange these based on situations that required staff notifications in the past, and continue to update the event template with new alerts when the situation calls for it.
Alan the Admin - Step 3: Activate the Alert
Alan has templated his messages, constructed the staff database and is ready to activate the alerts when the time comes. When the need arises, he can click a single button to activate the event on the dashboard. This will send an automated alert out to the list determined at the time of creation, and if required will wait for responses from each recipient.
Sue the Staff Member - Step 1: Receive and Respond
Sue will receive the predetermined alert message Alan templated, either via her preferred method of contact or across all channels. When she receives the message, it will instruct if a response is required, and log any responses. Other than that, Sue doesn’t need to do anything.
Alan the Admin - Step 4: Analyze the Reports
Alan will review reports and responses, allowing him to run drills and system tests, ensure safety during emergencies and more. Additionally, this will highlight issues with the process and allow for a refinement of the process to take place. The responses can be tracked in near real-time, while the reports are more useful for a situation review.
Why SimplyCast?
We have a complete, digital engagement-powered staff notification solution.
As mentioned before, the solution uses completely customizable technology so you can tweak it to meet your organization’s specific requirements. We have used our in-house marketing automation tool and incorporated our SMS, email, voice broadcasting, and CRM software to build this solution.
Don’t worry about scalability and security! SimplyCast is an ISO 27001:2013-certified company with data centers in the USA and Canada. This means we can assure you that your confidential data is safe on our secure server and the messages you transmit are completely encrypted. Our platform has the capacity to send nearly 100,000+ messages every hour and allows 10,000+ concurrent sessions. We can also get additional gateways and servers if you need them.
Most importantly, we have a 99.5% minimum uptime. With our solution, you can have peace of mind.
Interested?
Don’t wait! Our experts are ready to give you a one-on-one demo to explain how this solution works.
Simply request a demo by clicking the button below and let us show you how our solution can help you manage your automated staff notification system more efficiently.
