With the dangerous weather that has hit many parts of the Midwest and South in the past month, I'm sure (and hopeful) that many crisis communication plans are being dusted off.
Crisis planning is one of those efforts that most companies do but hope they never have to enact.
I've been a part of many crisis and business continuity teams where everybody has the classic red binder that nobody thinks will ever get used.
But do employees know what to do? And what about environments where you might have customers on site. Will employees know what to tell them?
I was at a coffee shop once that lost power during a dangerous thunderstorm. Their "policy" was that if the store lost power (for whatever reason) customers had to leave. So they sent a dozen or so customers out into the storm instead of sheltering them.
We've already had one manufacturing whose facility was damaged by a tornado. They are a customer of ours after the fact. Fortunate for them, nobody was injured during the strike. However, they recognized that they didn't have a quick and visual way of notifying employees of dangerous weather on the way so that everyone could be prepared.
One of our healthcare customers have put several of their digital signage onto their emergency power network. So this way if the hospital loses power, the screens can still operate and communicate vital information to employees, patients and guests.
Now of course, digital signage will never prevent nasty weather or any emergency but it should become a part of your crisis communication activities. This works for corporate communication environments, for those where the network serves internal needs, as well as even retail, banks, etc. The same signage you use to promote products and messages can then be used to provide emergency information.
I fully appreciate what I'm proposing here is not ground-breaking, but it just shows one more example of how digital communication can dynamically change the environment and keep people safe.
______________________
Photo credit, Jeff Attaway
Crisis planning is one of those efforts that most companies do but hope they never have to enact.
I've been a part of many crisis and business continuity teams where everybody has the classic red binder that nobody thinks will ever get used. But do employees know what to do? And what about environments where you might have customers on site. Will employees know what to tell them?
I was at a coffee shop once that lost power during a dangerous thunderstorm. Their "policy" was that if the store lost power (for whatever reason) customers had to leave. So they sent a dozen or so customers out into the storm instead of sheltering them.
We've already had one manufacturing whose facility was damaged by a tornado. They are a customer of ours after the fact. Fortunate for them, nobody was injured during the strike. However, they recognized that they didn't have a quick and visual way of notifying employees of dangerous weather on the way so that everyone could be prepared.
One of our healthcare customers have put several of their digital signage onto their emergency power network. So this way if the hospital loses power, the screens can still operate and communicate vital information to employees, patients and guests.
Now of course, digital signage will never prevent nasty weather or any emergency but it should become a part of your crisis communication activities. This works for corporate communication environments, for those where the network serves internal needs, as well as even retail, banks, etc. The same signage you use to promote products and messages can then be used to provide emergency information.
I fully appreciate what I'm proposing here is not ground-breaking, but it just shows one more example of how digital communication can dynamically change the environment and keep people safe.
______________________
Photo credit, Jeff Attaway
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