How Do You Use Text Alerts as Part of Business Continuity Plan?

Is Your Organization Sending Text Alerts for Critical Notifications?

An emergency employee group messaging program is key to a great business continuity plan

More and more companies have established internal critical notification programs that include using an SMS Text Alert Platform for sending urgent SMS text alerts for their critical notifications.  Given that text messages are opened in 90-seconds or less (much faster than email), text alerts are the best way to notify your employees and team when they need to know something fast.  

The first step in a business continuity plan is to identify potential threats and disruptions to your business. Your business continuity plan may include any number of scenarios in which business is disrupted, including bad weather, power outages, floods, physical threats and computer outages.  

Then, consider using a text notification platform like Simplified Alerts to provide easy and exceptional communication to employees before, during and after the disruption.

A text messaging platform allows subscribers to receive messages through normal text messaging channels, unlike an app that requires an investment to build and each subscriber to download from an app store.  

Increasing Engagement with Text Notifications

Employee text notification platforms like Simplified Alerts increase engagement between employers and employees through familiar and easy-to-use texting tools.  If you can send a text to a friend, you can receive a text from your company.   In fact, many organizations are now rewriting employment contracts to include language with explicit permission to communicate with employees through text notifications.  

In a world where less of us answer a phone or an email, there are a few simple ways to increase engagement with employees.  

The best way to understand how to configure your program is to create a number of scenarios and explore how to configure features to solve them.  Our onboarding team at Simplified Alerts has great experience across dozens of industries to help you create a text messaging and notification that works for your organization.  

Text Replies:  Questions and Answers

A simple reply to a text provides answers and needed directions.  You can automate this feature with a bot that responds automatically. Questions (and answers) can be stored for audit purposes and even shared into Help Desks and other support channels.     

Text Well-Being Checks:  Are You OK?

Other important tools include instant polling for both critical and non-critical needs.  In the event of an emergency, an instant poll can be sent to subscribers to check on well-being by sending the question, “Are You OK?” Users can answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; importantly all non-respondents are tracked for follow-up as well.  Based on the responses, a specific response can be triggered.  For a non-critical weather alert such as “Can you make it to work today?” send a follow-up message that responds ‘Please activate remote working protocols’ to all office workers that can’t make it to work.  The possibilities for employee engagement via text are endless.  

Tracking Incidents with Text Keywords

Keywords can be used to activate incident tracking and alert supervisors of issues.  Example:  Text ‘Incident’ to a shortcode (or longcode) and your admins can be instantly notified and trigger a response. Responses can be automated by actions, time or if/then logic.  Example: after 5 minutes a subscriber can be sent a follow-up reminder to check-in and report (if they haven’t already).   

Panic Alerts and Always-On Channels

Some of our features include location tracking with links to live conference lines.  In this scenario, a subscriber can report an incident and be provided with a live conference line so they can verbally report and discuss the situation.  Alternatively, when silence is required in an emergency situation, subscribers can quietly chat to report about their situation.  

Program Reminders

You may not send alerts on a regular basis, but the text messaging component of today’s business continuity plans should include the sending of a text alert program reminder to subscribers at least every 180-days (ideally when the time changes).  This will keep your program top-of-mind… and a message from a known sender receives higher open and engagement rates and allows for better list hygiene.

Defining Emergency and Critical Text Notifications and Alerts

Each organization defines emergency and critical alerts differently.  For example, the safety team at a mine may define an emergency different than an HR manager at a professional services firm or an IT manager at a manufacturing facility.  

In any case, an emergency or critical alert is a message that needs to be constructed and received quickly and without delay.  Closing the loop with employee responses, feedback and tracking is what takes your employee text alerts and notification program to the next level as part of your overall business continuity plan.  

Learn more at www.SimplifiedAlerts.com