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

2. 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

3. 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

4. “Noah Was the First Business Continuity Planner”
“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark”
“Noah Was the First Business Continuity Planner”

5. Importance of Communication Continuity You must be able to communicate to operate in a crisis
Voice
Text
Pagers

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Demonstration of Mutare’s Emergency / Event Notification System
Demonstration of Mutare’s Emergency / Event Notification System

15. Q A
&
Linda Collins
Mutare Software