Using Intranets in Emergency Management Presented by Steve Davis Principal, All Hands ConsultingAll...
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Transcript of Using Intranets in Emergency Management Presented by Steve Davis Principal, All Hands ConsultingAll...
Using Intranets in Emergency Management
Presented by Steve Davis
Principal, All Hands Consulting
Communicating During an Emergency
During an emergency, we need to communicate two basic types of information:
details on the situation live, needs to be generated “in real time”
procedures on what to do reference, should have been prepared long
in advance
Typical Approaches
“Real time” Face 2 Face Conference Calls Loudspeakers Voice mail E-mail Hallway Meetings
“Reference” Manuals Forms Contact lists Inventories File Server Intranet Internet
Wouldn’t it be great to combine the two?
Emergency Messaging SystemCan you get your staff the information they need during an emergency or crisis?
There's an emergency in your building. You use an announcement to put your staff on standby for evacuation. Employees wait at their desks, wondering what's going on, trying to remember what they're supposed to do for this evacuation scenario. They don’t know what they did with that emergency procedures leaflet that you sent everyone six months ago, after their last miserable performance on an evacuation drill.
What do staff need to know?
What is going on
What they need to do
Event status
Company procedures
Situation reports
Current information
Corporate response to the event
How do they find out now?
Print Announcements
Bulletin Boards
E-mail Messages
Intranet Surfing
Face-to-Face (Hallway – Elevator)
Rumors and Gossip
Staff Meetings
Printed Materials
Portable and flexible Does not rely on technology
But it’sSlow, expensive to produce and distribute Wastes paperEasy to overlook or ignore If updates are needed, must reproduce
Print: what people say…
"Our company newsletter is interesting, but by the time I get around to reading it, most of the stuff is out-of-date." "We find posters good for promoting the corporate values, but they are expensive to print and disseminate, and eventually people stop 'seeing' them.""We are trying to promote occupational health and safety without bombarding people with emails, so we use more "passive" means - cups, posters, pens, books, etc. We use striking designs to attract attention, but it's expensive and quite inflexible."
E-mail, Pros and ConsPros
cheap and timely easy to create and distribute most staff have skills can be forwarded with comments environmentally friendly targeted at subgroups hyperlinks and attachments can indicate priority
Conseasy to overuse - email overload easy to ignore requires action (file, delete)priority settings often not used by senderhigh potential to use staff time unproductively and create stress can clog up system resources
E-mail: what people say…
“I seem to spend hours every week going through messages which are totally irrelevant." "People don't act on the urgent messages because they can't find them amongst the junk." "If we send only one email about a new procedure it doesn't seem to have much impact; if we send it out multiple times they complain!" "Our network resources are running out because there are so many 'all staff' messages, and people don't delete unwanted messages."
Solving the Primary Communication Challenge
To be effective, internal communication needs multiple exposures.
We need to create continuous, low cost internal communication campaigns.You want to reduce the number of emails and print materials bombarding your staff, while increasing the effectiveness of your internal communications.
We are in the 21st Century
Staff connected through computer networks
Information stored on company intranets
We just need to expose staff to the information
"If only we knew what we know“ - COO, Dell
New Approaches in Using the Net
Push information Warnings Alerts Reminders
Pull information Plans Resources Intelligence
Training Drills Exercises Simulations
Documentation Plans Incident Logs Checklists
New Concepts in Intranet Usage
Sending pop-ups for warnings
Publishing to Screen savers
Sending alert messages that link to resource materials
Things You Can Share
Threat AssessmentsTip of the DayServer StatusPlanned OutagesVirus AlertsTraining Reminders
FormsTimelinesContact ListsInventories
Using the Intranet for MessagingAn integrated approach
Send instant messages as “Pop-Ups” to all or selected computers Interrupts whatever staff are doing Gives them “real-time” information
Include a link to material on the Intranet Link to evacuation plan while waiting for
the signal to go Updated Threat Assessments
Alert Features
Bypasses normal e-mail system useful in virus alert situations
Appears instantly on all computer screens
Can give multiple staff the ability to send messages (password protected)
Display who sent, and who authorized, the message credibility, minimizes risk of hoaxes
Alerting all employees - viruses
A new computer virus is discovered. Maybe it's already in your network. You need to tell your staff about it quickly: what it looks like, what to do, and most importantly, what not to do. You usually do all-staff communications via email, but chances are, some people will open infected messages before they read your email warning. Your best communication tool is compromised.
A safer way of dealing with viruses
Network alerts lets you send instant messages across the network without using the email system.
They pop up on everyone's screens, no matter what they’re doing, so there's no delay.
You can give people the vital information they need. And you can link it directly to an existing intranet page on virus procedures.
Intranet Pros and Cons
Great for reference material Can store lots of information Flexible in size, can have small to large documents Can be environmentally friendly (depending on whether people print)
But It’s Passive, not a "push" technology – we need to use another means to promote the contents of the Intranet
Intranet: what people say
"We put all this great resource information on our intranet, but people just don't know it's there."
"The search engine on our intranet is great, but if I don't know that something is there, I don't think to go searching for it."
"The company has just decided to promote what's on the intranet. I've seen a few pages of interest to me, but I'm sick of going through all the e-mails
A Better Way-Pushing Content
Turn every computer in your company into and emergency broadcast system. Use pop-up messaging.
Convert "dead" screen saver time into an internal advertising system. Every time the screen saver activates, your
staff will see important company messages.
How the Intranet can Deliver
PushReplaces "all staff" e-mails and print circularsSaves money Effective for messages which need repetition Timely or can be scheduled ahead of timeComplements static materialPromotes pages without being annoying Easy to highlight different areas at different times
When Do Staff See Messages?
During / after a phone call After going to see the boss After talking with a colleague After making a cup of tea
After a "comfort break"
After going to the printer
After going through their paper in-tray
After reading some papers
Are your other communications seen this many times?
Content
Company news pageTraining MaterialCompany strategy and direction Company mission & visionIndustry and project updates Human resources information People and recognition Safety guidelines
Promote your Intranet
Your intranet site is a great resource for your staff. But do they know what's there? How do you promote the content of your site to the people who should be using it? How do you remind them of the many tools and resources they can now access?
Internal Communication Tool
Raising awareness of new procedures
Creating cultural change
Promoting company vision and values
Reminding people of coming events.
Creating community at work
Employee of the month announcements…
Continuous Education
The Intranet can be used as a vehicle for creating a learning organization, by:
Reminding people of training schedules
Promoting the value of learning and continuous education
Providing knowledge and skills about working effectively
Plenty of Vendors
iManage WorkSite ePortal
PointCast
Agentware
BackWeb
InfoMagnet
Castanet
Smart Delivery
WebCast Pro
Centra
Miramba
SmartPage
Example - ePoster
Pop-ups
“Real-time” information– pops up over whatever is on your screen
Brings up Related Information
Contact Information
Steve Davis, Principal
All Hands [email protected]
AllHandsConsulting.com
Presentation will be available at DavisLogic.com