AtHoc, the market-leading crisis communications platform, provides customers pre-planning resources and automated processing of crisis communication activities, to help resolve critical incidents with less manual intervention and fewer improvised, on-the-spot decisions.
AtHoc is an IP-based emergency mass notifications system for government national security and commercial enterprises’ interest in protecting their people and operations during times of threats, ranging from terror to unexpected hazards.
(Learn More, courtesy of AtHocSystems and YouTube)
AtHoc assists staff members in preparing for a wider range of emergency scenarios more easily, and in responding to crises faster with fully-automated business rules, outreach, and response.
“Critical events are inherently complex, and our customers have been asking for faster and more efficient ways to manage their crisis communications,” said Joseph Ng, Senior Director of Marketing and Strategy at AtHoc.
“They want to be able to customize their workflow so that users understand the nature of threats sooner, and alerts are escalated faster.”
“It’s all about business continuity and resilience, and we are proud to address those needs directly with AtHoc.”
(Find out More, courtesy of AtHocSystems and YouTube)
AtHoc consistently monitors and evaluates the crisis communication discipline, and directly addresses some of the core 2016 Crisis Communication Trends.
AtHoc significantly simplifies the management of emergency situations:
Real-Time Alert Rules
- Enables users to create rules for forwarding alerts received from external organizations and sources.
- It also helps operators to predefine response processes on common incident types. For example, a hospital receiving a notification from fire or police that a major crisis has led to a large number of injuries will not lose time initializing and launching its own alerts.
- The incoming notifications will automatically be routed to the appropriate medical and administrative personnel.
- A recent example of the need to plan and coordinate communication processes is January 2016’s Winter Storm Jones, as described here.
Automated Staff Mustering
- A fill count capability automatically contacts a roster of staff members who possess the right skills and training until the required number of people has been reached, and acknowledged their assignments.
- At that point, the system stops seeking additional respondents, freeing up resources and personnel for other priorities. For example, in a chemical plant, all available qualified workers can be summoned to the scene of a problem, until enough people have responded to cover all of the contingencies.
Management Alerting
- Pre-configured escalation rules that automatically alert supervisors when line staff cannot be reached, or decline an assignment for some reason.
- This enables managers to analyze an issue, and communicate the situation up the chain, requesting assistance from senior individuals.
- In an IT organization, as an example, if a critical system goes down and the normally assigned technician is unavailable, qualified managers up to the CIO can be called to step in and fill the gap, or activate a predetermined contingency plan.
Severity-Codified Notifications
- Easy-to-use templates enable organizations to designate the level of severity when setting up and issuing an alert.
- The look and feel of the alert will automatically correspond to the seriousness of the situation.
- Supervisors can receive emails with a familiar red headers at the beginning of the crisis, to denote extreme urgency, in addition to any other forms of contact.
- The personnel contacted during the fill count can also receive supplementary emails with the red headers.
- However, people told to wait and be available for later shifts will receive companion emails with orange or yellow headers, indicating a lower level of urgency.
Together, AtHoc innovations significantly improve rapid response time by turning complex business processes into efficient, effective, crisis communications to deliver faster, more automated actions.
(As an example, see how Camp Pendleton utilizes the AtHoc emergency notification system, for Camp Pendleton residents in the event of an emergency. Courtesy of Camp Pendleton, AtHoc and YouTube)
A plethora of prominent government, military and law enforcement agencies have deployed AtHoc applications including (but not limited to):
- United States Coast guard
- U.S. Senate
- The Pentagon
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- The U.S. Department of the Treasury
- U.S. Air Force.
The U.S. military bases throughout Europe, have implemented the AtHoc emergency alerting system and used it effectively to reach and account for the status of their personal during the recent terror attacks in Brussels.
Also – below is news coverage showcasing the effectiveness for the AtHoc system:
(Washington, DC Navy Yard Shooting – AtHoc emergency alerts used effectively. Courtesy of AtHoc, CNN and YouTube)
(Ft. Bliss US Army Active Shooter – AtHoc emergency alerts used effectively. Courtesy of AtHoc and YouTube)
AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry Limited, is the pioneer and recognized leader in networked crisis communication, protecting millions of people and thousands of organizations around the world.
Additionally, these sophisticated functionalities are currently deployed at major North American airports, maritime ports, large refinery operations centers, and at some of the world’s largest healthcare organizations, among other customers.
AtHoc provides a seamless and reliable exchange of critical information among organizations, their people and devices.
A trusted partner to the world’s most demanding customers, AtHoc is the leading provider to the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and safeguards numerous other government agencies and leading commercial enterprises.
Good luck to AtHoc on becoming a Winner of the American Security Today’s Homeland Security Awards Program!
