Seven steps to effective critical communications

The war in Ukraine, political unrest and increased terror threats mean critical communications have never been so important. It is essential organisations keep their employees safe, whether working in high-risk environments or going about their day-to-day business. Track24 provides a seven-step guide to ensuring you have the best critical communications platform.

1. Look Out for Location Intelligence and Services

Location intelligence enables you to quickly locate staff and assets on a map during critical incidents. Many providers offer emergency alerting, but can they offer 3D communications? 3D communications harness location intelligence to deliver messages based on who, where and what—answering: "Who are my people, where are my people and where should they be?" Ensure your message reaches the right people in the right place at the right time.

2. Master Mass Notifications

Use mass notifications to ensure staff are easily alertable and can raise alerts confirming their safety. Critical communications can be sent via one-way messages, two-way messages, or broadcast messages. Optimised platforms provide all three capabilities.

3. Consider Curated Data Feeds

Some systems use AI and curated data feeds to analyse incident data and predict critical event probability. This enables a proactive rather than reactive approach. After all, "the worst crisis is the one you didn't foresee."

4. Discover Document Management

Ensure evacuation and crisis management plans are easily accessible to the right people at the right time and location. Have relevant, correct and updated information available to your entire workforce.

5. Ensure Lone Workers are Accounted For

There are estimated to be over 6 million lone workers in the UK. AtlasNXT's Overwatch module enables you to fulfill duty of care to employees, keeping them safe anywhere, anytime. End-users always provide consent to be tracked.

6. Choose a User-Friendly Platform

According to App Institute, "90% of users who stop using an app do so because of poor user experience." Make the most of demos and trial periods when evaluating critical communications platforms.