The benefits of connected crisis communication networks

Small emergencies generally require limited communication outside of your organization. But what happens when a big one hits, and you need to get in touch with healthcare facilities, law enforcement agencies, and other outside parties? If you have to go through a complicated chain of command to reach those contacts, the damages of an emergency could be far reaching.

Planned crisis communication networking is a newer approach that could replace traditional methods of communicating with outside parties in emergency situations. It requires you to set up interconnected, two-way communication paths in advance with key constituents that need to be reached in emergency situations. If successful, this approach could help you avoid serious issues that can arise with traditional, non-networked communication systems in certain scenarios.

The following are a few examples of situations where traditional methods could be much slower—or even fail:

• Geographical Dispersion of Contacts: Not all organizations have contacts located in a centralized area. Those that don’t, could face complexity and difficulty in effectively communicating with each of them in an emergency. Planned crisis communication networking can make this process simpler, as you aren’t scrambling to figure out how to contact people in the midst of a situation—a plan, and broader network, will already be in place.

• Communication Modality: In an emergency—fire, active shooter, hurricane, etc.—it is critical that you can reach all of your contacts. This likely isn’t possible by sending out a single, automated phone message, as some people won’t be available by this method at the time of the message. For this reason, multi-modal messaging is critical. You need to be able to send a message via numerous methods—SMS, email, push notification, and more. Without proper network communication planning, attempting to determine the best method to reach outside parties could take up time that you don’t have in an emergency.

To learn about more situations in which planned crisis communication networking could be beneficial, read the white paper: Connected Crisis Communication: Seven Factors that Call for Strategic Communication Networks.