How to use SMS employee notifications in an emergency

Mobile messaging lets you broadcast urgent alerts and stay in touch with your people.

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Cut through in a crisis

Keep employees safe and informed in an emergency via the channel most likely to reach them. No matter where they are, whether power is out, voice lines are overloaded, there’s noise, or people can’t get online – SMS is a reliable, direct line.

Help them reach out to you

It’s simple to set up one-way broadcasts or two-way interactions, so recipients can let you know if they need further help.

Global coverage. Granular control.

An emergency can hit any of your bases. So make sure you’re able to target your reach – from a global broadcast, right down to a specific office location.


Get started

A good messaging platform makes it easy to connect your employee data, segment your workforce and create alert workflows. The solution is easy for administrators to use too. So you can roll out notifications to the right people, fast.

Target your alerts

In a global crisis like a pandemic, be ready to send notifications worldwide. If it’s a local incident, target your alerts by geographical location or even by building.

Open up two-way communications

Make sure your employees can respond to your notifications, updating you on the severity of their situation and the kind of help they need.

Get the full picture

Visibility is key in a crisis. Use your platform to generate clear, accurate reports on all SMS sent and all responses received

Post event comms

Following a crisis, SMS can be invaluable for information such as site closures, estimated reopening times, places to congregate, directions for getting more information, and much more.

Where SMS can help

  • Adverse weather – from storms to snow, ice, avalanches and floods
  • Network or server shutdowns
  • Transport failures
  • Terror attacks
  • Pollution incident
  • Corporate safety – routine and emergency mobilisation
  • Business continuity – notify employees as well as crisis action team, first responders and other vital services
  • Emergency drills
  • Initiating evacuations – of buildings and areas
  • Fire alerts
  • Bomb threats
  • Power cuts or outages

98% of mobile messages are read, 90% of them within three minutes – and that’s in non-emergency times. When your people need information fast, SMS can deliver it.

Emergency alerts are the type of mobile messaging communication employees are most keen to opt into.

Accurate, timely information can save lives, protect property and equipment, reduce payouts – and generally minimize consequences.

Medical authorities recognize that cellphones, and mobile messaging in particular, are the most reliable way to reach people in an emergency.


Make it simple

Creating and managing messaging workflows should be drag-and-drop easy, even for non-technical people. (You don’t want to have to call up IT for help in an emergency.)

Automate reminders and retries

In an crisis, not every recipient will be in a position to accept the message first time. Make sure you program automatic reminders and retries.

Think about language and tone

Keep your language need clear and concise. Try to set an authoritative tone while also keeping your people calm.

Go global

If you’re a global enterprise, your emergency notifications need to be reliably transported within seconds across the world. If your messaging provider can’t deliver that kind of global coverage, you can’t be there for everyone.

"It is these times of change and disruption that innovation becomes even more important for employee engagement.”

Brian Kropp Chief of Research, the Gartner HR practice

How we can help

 

A library of ready-to-launch campaigns

A low-code drag-and-drop campaign builder

Data visualizations and in-depth reporting

Flexible APIs

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