These days you will be hard-pressed to find someone who isn't glued to a cell phone of some kind, which is why these handy devices are one of the most optimal tools for delivering important notifications during emergencies.
Speedy and efficient notification is essential at the outset of an emergency scenario. All parties involved in the response, as well as the public in general, should be alerted as soon as possible so they can prepare to respond to the incident or evacuate the area as appropriate.
Here are a few reasons why you should use an SMS alerting software when an incident occurs:
Messages are easy to create
During the first signs of an emergency, it is important to notify all stakeholders, whether that be your company, your clients, or the general public, so they can put their contingency plans in place until the situation is dealt with.
SMS messages are quick and simple to create as they must be short, concise, and to the point, meaning there is not much space for verbosity. Due to the character restrictions, officials are limited as to how long SMS notifications can be, meaning that only the most crucial information can be included in the initial alert.
Almost guaranteed a quick delivery
In the midst of an emergency you need to be sure that your contacts receive notice of the situation as soon as possible. With SMS alerting software, you can be almost guaranteed that messages will reach the intended recipients within five seconds, depending on factors such as the SMS gateway and provider.
Time is of the essence during an emergency, so sending out a bulk SMS notification can be one of the faster ways to reach as many people as possible within the shortest amount of time.
Reach more people faster
In this same vein, SMS has an incredibly high open rate at almost 99 percent within three minutes of message receipt. Almost 91 percent of American adults own a cell phone and roughly 96 percent of smartphone users use their phones to send and receive text messages. So, provided you have the phone number of all the contacts you need to reach in an emergency, you are likely to reach essentially everyone within minutes.
SMS alerting software has the potential to be much more efficient than email or even phone calls. People are rarely without their cell phones while they may have sporadic access to email or landline devices. By sending emergency alerts directly to their mobile devices, you can save them valuable time by ensuring they have almost immediate access to important information.
Multiple communication methods are better than one
However, your best bet to ensuring that all contacts receive your emergency notifications is to combine mass SMS messaging with other communication channels, such as the aforementioned email and voice call options. This further increases the likelihood that the alert will be opened and read as soon as possible.
SimplyCast offers an all-in-one communication solution that utilizes SMS, email, voice, and fax to send mass messages to lists of contacts. As part of a suite of emergency communication tools, you are able to send pre-prepared, high priority alerts to contacts during emergencies using any or all of these methods.
For more information on the SimplyCast Alerts tool, check out this page on the website.
