Emergency Alerts

Alerts via SMS, Email and Voice

During any business downtime it's imperative that all relevant parties are kept informed. Whether it's management, staff, customers or the general public, dissemination of critical information is a necessity.

Using SMS, Email and Voice systems large numbers of people can be contacted very quickly. Sophisticated Alert Notification systems also incorporate the facility for alert recipients to respond if needed.

Contact Mechanisms

Alert systems such as that provided by X-on Alert are simple to administer, and initiation of the alert can done remotely by phone or web.

Recipients can be contacted on their landlines, mobiles and PC's by voice, SMS and/or email.

Contact by SMS

Initiated from a web interface or from a phone SMS alerts enjoy wide coverage coupled with generally immediate receipt due to the popularity and localized access of mobile phones.

Contact by Email

With emails now often accessible from mobile phones, receipt is also largely immediate. Where a mobile user doesn'y have internet access, receipt of the email will occur when a PC is accessed.

Contact by Voice

Broadcast of voice calls can be initiated as easily as is the case with SMS or email alerts. The call content can consist of pre-recorded messages, or voice messages created using text-to-speech, with the text to be spoken by speech synthesis uploaded via spreadsheet for example.

Voice messages can be copied to an information service such as X-on's Voicebank Phone-in Information Service to provide additional cover for anyone who missed the alert.

Easy Message Upload

Alert systems usually allow upload of messages in a standard format such as a spreadsheet. The message text fields are then used to generate SMS, email and voice calls, or a combination of all three where the recipients are contactable on a variety of formats.

This means the messages can be constructed in any environment and not just the confines of the Alert Provider's interface.

Initiating an Alert

Alerts can be initiated by phone, the web, or from a WAP interface. The option to retry failed deliveries is often a simple button click.

Web Administration

The alert system is usually easily controllable from a web interface which also provides reports and statistics to help administrators track the alert delivery and also responses.

Different levels of access can be provided, allowing differentiation between data operators, alert operators and administrators.

General Notification

Having an Alert System in place for use during emergencies provides an additional mechanism for informing groups of people at other times, for example Staff Notices, Product Updates, Press Releases, Public Announcements, and Security Information.