News

New digital signage content manager coordinates emergency response efforts

April 14, 2013

A new content management tool from Omnilert LLC is meant to help streamline emergency responses during a crisis.

The company’s Scenario Manager tool allows multiple emergency communication actions to sequentially deploy with predefined scenarios, the company said in a news release, making emergency response quicker, easier and more effective.

The tool allows client administrators to build multiple unique actions, including initiating an outbound conference call, sending different messages to different groups with different endpoints or requesting status or feedback. A dispatcher of alerts can later deploy all of those actions with one click.

"In an emergency, time is critical, and Scenario Manager makes it easy to respond quickly, without the emotion of a crisis, because you are able to create the messages and carefully plan the communication steps ahead of time," Chris Fulkerson, chief information officer at Elon University in Elon, N. C., said in the release. "The more you have the ability to prepare before a crisis, the better."

As the university's assistant vice president of facilities management, Robert Buchholz is responsible for Elon's emergency response team.

"In the calm of your office, you pre-program everything for when things get hectic," he said. For example, if an active shooter is reported on campus, the "Active Shooter" scenario can be initiated from the client’s dashboard in a single click. That would start a multi-stage process that begins with a secure outbound conference call to the emergency response team to instantly collaborate on the response. Next, an interactive text message and phone call would go to first responders, while a personal notification sends text messages, phone calls and emails to the affected community.

Then a mass notification is pushed out to the university Web site, desktop alerts, televisions on campus, digital signs and social media Web sites. Finally, an audible message is broadcast in multiple languages, instructing the campus to shelter in place until further notice.

The tool is available to all e2Campus and Amerilert clients at no additional cost. The company will give live demonstrations during the National School Boards Association and ACUTA conferences this week in San Diego.

Learn more about content management.