Emergency & Event Communications Linda Collins, Mutare Software RMAUG August 8, 2007 Linda Collins, Mutare Software

Emergency and Event Notification Organizations must have plans for reacting to both emergency situations as well as special events. Automated communications is a core component of Business Continuity planning. Gartner predicts by year end 2007, 75% of the Global 2000 will have emergency notification systems in place

Gartner Weighs In Gartner has become a strong advocate for automation of emergency notification Manually dialed telephone call trees are no longer acceptable for emergency notification. Effective incident management requires automation to ensure business continuity Gartner 2005

“Noah Was the First Business Continuity Planner” “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark” “Noah Was the First Business Continuity Planner” http://www.continuityinsights.com/

Importance of Communication Continuity You must be able to communicate to operate in a crisis Voice E-Mail Text Pagers

4 Steps to Maximize your Notification Process Before a crisis or any notification, planning is critical Up to Date Information: Multiple devices + different preferences + employee changes = challenge of keeping key contact information updated The Right People: Is a notification going to all employees, a specific group, or a specialized “team”? Set up your groups and teams in advance Immediate Organized Action Set up planned communications in advance in your system, before you are in “emergency mode” Following up and Reporting How do you know the effectiveness of the communication? Plan for response receipts and other means of reporting

How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Operational Uses of Notification Crisis Management Employee Roll Call Crisis Communication and Instructions Response Teams and Emergency Staffing Facilities Management Information Technology Human Resources

How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Crisis Management Employee Roll Call Examples: Communicate an emergency assembly point Ensure employees are accounted for, and are at either the assembly point or at a remote location Enable employees to request help or assistance Use escalation to alternative devices for personnel not responding

How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Crisis Management Crisis Communication Examples Send emergency instructions to specific groups of people Send frequent updates “calling audibles” based on situation Communicate different messages to different groups

How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Operational Uses of Notification Crisis Management Response Teams Examples Instructions sent to response teams ready to handle specific situations Create “teams” based on specific skill sets 2-way communication to ensure readiness of response team Poll recipients on ability and timeliness of responding

Facilities Management How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Operational Uses of Notification Facilities Management Examples Site closure or site restrictions Inform employees of a plan for inclement weather Security breach in a facility and instructions. Building evacuations Notice regarding imminent power outage or other normal business interruption

Information Technology How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Operational Uses of Notification Information Technology Examples IT Security threat: warn employees and provide instructions IT outage notification: servers or applications Incident or problem management deployment of IT staff IT change management: send instructions regarding upgrades, additions Planned downtime communication to affected staff

How Emergency Notification Works in Your World Operational Uses of Notification Human Resources Examples Mobilize employees to staff jobs – request response and escalate Identify people with specific skill sets Collect employee contact information Employee mobilization: for company-wide activities Real-time shift change announcements and response requests

Demonstration of Mutare’s Emergency / Event Notification System http://een.mutare.com/demo Demonstration of Mutare’s Emergency / Event Notification System

Q A & Linda Collins Mutare Software 972.820.5779 lcollins@mutare.com