Successful Alerting with an Alerting Software

Why Invest in an Alerting Software?

Critical events can happen any time, without warning and cause confusion, uncertainty, and sometimes panic. Hence, it is important to plan and stay prepared for such incidents. Clear and precise messaging to the public, responders and stakeholders is of paramount importance during a crisis to ensure the best possible outcomes.

An alerting software helps to put the right message to the right people at the right time. As part of an overarching incident or crisis management system, it is a vital tool to send both automated instructions and individual specific messages to groups such as the public, local residents, employees, emergency forces or other teams and stakeholders. Real-time notifications received during an incident can provide relevant information to help resolve any situations immediately.

Your Response to Crisis Situations

Whatever the nature of the critical incident, your organisation’s response must be targeted, quick and decisive. So, what should you do to monitor threats and ensure that the right people receive notifications when action is needed?

Firstly, integrate real-time monitoring tools into your critical systems. They will guarantee that your response to any incident starts at early as possible. However, be careful that notifications are sent out only when there is a credible threat. Alert fatigue can set in with both the public and key personnel when they receive notifications about minor or irrelevant events. As such, it is important to classify recipients in your distribution lists to ensure they receive relevant messages.

Next, have a written response plan for every possible major incident. Responders must be familiar with these procedures and any associated escalation policies, such as evacuation plans, locations of evacuation centres etc. The plan should clearly state the circumstances under which an alert should be triggered, the messaging to be sent out, the groups that should receive the messages etc.

Critical incidents usually affect a wide range of stakeholders – including members of the public, residents, emergency services, the military, local authorities. Sending clear notifications of the situation, ways to mitigate the incident and real-time updates can help reduce any uncertainty, fear, and confusion.

Lastly, having an independent, cloud-based alerting software and incident response platform that allows operators to deal with the situation effectively and efficiently regardless of where they are located. After all, key personnel may not be able to travel to an incident management centre or physical crisis room all the time. There are several SaaS-based IT alert systems on the market, but organisations should choose one that offers an all-in-one platform for users to monitor incidents, send alerts and escalate incidents when needed.

Automate Your Alerts and Notifications within a Simple Dashboard

Your incident management response must be sleek and professional: alerts sent as soon as an incident is identified, escalation plans triggered automatically and communicated well, response teams kept fully informed. Only then can you deal with a critical incident quickly and effectively.

The Importance of an Alerting Software When IT Infrastructure Fails

Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on automated systems and off-site cloud-based solutions to cope with changing business requirements. Secure, highly dependable infrastructure with maximum uptime is a must for everyone.

From power outages, hardware failures to cyberattacks, the response to a critical incident must be quick and decisive. Wherever an organisation is in the supply chain, from end-user facing to IT supplier, they need to invest in a monitoring system and alerting software to guarantee a high-level, speedy response.

Infrastructure Failures

Large-scale infrastructure failures can occur any time, sometimes with little or no warning, so alerting software is vital to ensure that a planned response can be initiated as soon as possible.

On a smaller scale, a server crash, whether in-house or in a datacentre, can not only disrupt network functionality but also have knock-on effects to other connected systems such as VOIP telephony or security monitoring. Regular backups, server mirroring and built-in redundancies can help mitigate the effects of an outage. However, IT alerts means on-call personnel are contacted immediately and on site quickly, so service is not disrupted any longer than necessary.

Cyber Threats

It is no longer a matter of if organisations will be targeted, but when. And that applies to businesses large and small. After all, it just takes one user to inadvertently click on a link in an e-mail to allow a hacker access to a corporate network.

From DDoS and ransomware attacks to data theft, how an organisation deals with a cyberattack can be crucial in retaining clients and maintaining their reputation. Deploying IT alerting software early allows those on-call to repel the attack. And for those who are potentially affected by an attack, receiving timely information and advice means they can undertake countermeasures immediately.