Why Your ENS Needs Geotargeting

Geotargeting is one of the most powerful tools you can have in emergency communication. Without it, your emergency notification system will not be able to deliver the exact right information to the right people.

What is Geotargeting?

Geotargeting is the practice of delivering notifications to a registered user based on his or her geographic location.

Users can be geo-targeted based on many different criteria such as country, region/state, city, zip code, IP address, ISP, etc.

When Should Geotargeting Be Used?

Geotargeting is highly beneficial in the case of regional or local threats. It can be used to warn employees of an impending natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, wildfire or snowstorm. It can also be used to communicate with specific offices struck by a power outage, a cyber attack or a fast-spreading sickness.

Geotargeted alerts can also be beneficial in helping employees navigate a large variety of local events such as a hazardous spill, office closure, protest or traffic delay.

How Can Geotargeting Improve My Emergency Communication?

Deliver Focused Information

Geotargeting allows you to deliver highly specific notifications to your team members. Rather than blasting out a general alert, you can provide detailed information and specific instructions for employees to follow. This gives you your best chance of protecting your organization and leading your employees to safety.

Avoid Confusion

If you do not geotarget your alerts, there is a good chance many employees will be confused by the general notifications they receive. Employees are likely to question any alerts that do not pertain to them, both slowing down their productivity and overwhelming the communication channels within your organization. They are also less likely to act on relevant alerts.

Reduce Panic

Sending company-wide alerts could easily cause unnecessary alarm. For example, if there is an active shooter at one of your satellite offices, you do not want to blast an active shooter alert to your entire organization. This will induce undue panic and make it much more difficult to resolve the crisis. Instead, custom alerts should be sent to each location containing only the information they need.

Prevent Alert Fatigue

Sending out a high volume of alerts will lead to alert blindness within your organization. Employees will stop paying attention to the alerts, thinking that the messages do not apply to them. This increases the likelihood that crucial alerts will be missed. Avoid alert fatigue by only sending out tailored messages that are only applicable to the recipients.

Identify Team Members That Are At Risk

Your emergency notification system’s geotargeting capabilities will allow you to discover which users are in areas of high risk. You can then gain a more complete understanding of the crisis, and identify how many team members are at risk and how they can best be helped.

Collect Valuable Information To Share With First Responders

Communicating specifically with users that are impacted by the crisis allows you to quickly collect relevant information. You can then share the important details with your local first responders, increasing their ability to help your people.

AlertFind’s geotargeting capabilities enable you to get highly relevant information to your employees fast, giving them their best chance of avoiding injury or death. To learn more, schedule a demo today.