5 questions about your current alerting system which you should be able to answer with YES
by Johannes Ebner
Is your company prepared for critical events? Is there a system to mitigate the impact? Can you send notifications and receive feedback quickly? You should answer “yes” to the following 5 questions to be able to avoid major damage in the event of a critical incident.
1# Using your current system, can you reach all relevant people quickly?
Rapid communication is key to successfully managing critical events and keeping the business running. From the CEO to colleagues in production – the whole team needs to be informed to keep important processes running. With your current alerting, are you able to inform everyone quickly?
2# Are notifications perceived?
Phone chains and e-mail chains are still the tools of choice when it comes to alerting. But to be optimally prepared for emergencies, many more channels should be served. Can you send messages via SMS, push, email and phone to really reach everyone?
3# Can you immediately communicate with everyone involved?
One-way notification systems are good. Two-way communication systems are better. In the first case, you have the possibility to inform your team, but a reaction to the notification is not possible – for example, to confirm the notification or to pass on important information. In an emergency, two-way communication is a must. Only in this way can new information be fed back from the recipient at any time and the trigger or the emergency or crisis team can make more considered decisions.
4# Can you decide who receives a notification?
It does not make sense to alert indisciminately. With the right system, it is possible that only relevant people receive information. Alerting tools should therefore have the possibility to create groups and add participants to an active alert if needed.
5# Is your system hosted securely and redundantly?
A huge issue is the fail-safety of an alerting or emergency and crisis management system. Especially when a critical event occurs, the system should function smoothly. Often, unfortunately, the problem is that these systems are hosted on the same servers that are at risk. Emergency planning should take this into account and focus on software that is redundant and hosted externally, i.e. independent of one’s own infrastructure. This ensures that the system functions even in the event of a crisis.
Have you answered no to any question? Find out how safeREACH can help you find the right answer to all your questions. Test our system for free.