Looking for a Mass Notification System? Read This First

There has always been value in choosing a Mass Notification System (MNS), from town criers to tornado sirens. In this era — where technology has enabled a nearly infinite number of customizable alerts over multiple devices — it’s no surprise that the field of MNS providers has become crowded. In recent years, they’ve grown from a few to more than two dozen. We wanted to help businesses and agencies cut through the noise.

Your goals are to keep people safe, issue warnings, communicate well — even issue an “all-clear” notice to reassure your workforce or others. Companies, campuses, municipalities and institutions have a lot of choices when looking at systems to deploy to achieve these goals. Here’s a simple checklist for anyone considering a MNS.

According to Future Market Insights, the global market for mass notification is expected to steadily increase from $4.2 billion in 2017 to more than $11 billion by 2027. In a sea of options, we at Regroup Mass Notification wanted to help.

• Multimodal Platform

Whether you need to share an emergency alert or a routine update, you want to explore the companies that offer the most ways to send and receive messages via email, text/SMS, push notifications, desktop alerts, voice calls, digital signage, public-address  systems, website portals, social media outlets, and more. Everywhere the people you care about may be, you want to reach them there.

• Free Mobile App Access

This isn’t the dark ages. The people you want to reach — and keep informed, and keep safe — are on all kinds of devices. Most will be on phones, others will be in a building with a PA system, some will be on a desktop. You probably want to consider whether the MNS companies you are considering are up-charging for mobile (and then, with kindness, back slowly away.)

• Unlimited Groups and Admins, Flexible Messaging

There are countless services that will charge extra for adding many admins, increasing message length, or the number of messages and customizing groups. Does the real world work like those are extraordinary behaviors? (Answer: No.) We believe that admins should be able to add unlimited groups, templates and admins to their account, and each client receives flexible text, voice, email and social media messaging. If you’re considering a company that has a tiered set of pricing for these services, you may want to consider your flexibility, your growth and even how well you’re serving the people you’re keeping informed and safe with your MNS.

• Geo-Targeted Messaging
  

In an emergency, weather event or even just situations where the people you’d like to serve are dispersed, you want real-time location-based targeting. When considering a MNS, picture the people you care about on a map, then choose a system that is capable of doing the same.

• Two-Way Communications
  

In order to mobilize response teams and keep people safe in a crisis, you need to know what’s happening in various areas. You care about your clients, your workforce and your public. Any MNS that cannot accept responses or feedback is fax-machine-era communication technology. With Regroup’s system, for example, admins can send individual or bulk messages to recipients, and recipients can respond from wherever they are, from any of their devices.

• Customer Care and Compassion 24/7

When has an emergency ever scheduled itself during banker’s hours? You want to choose a service that offers clients 24/7/365 access to an experienced, multilingual and knowledgeable support team to help with account set-up, broadcasting critical alerts during crisis events, or even general questions. Most MNS firms offer basic weekday support and then charge extra for after-hours support, and some competitors have an additional fee for onboarding support. Never settle for a vendor who offers anything less than free, 24/7, no-strings-attached support.

• Big Data — You Care and So Should Your MNS

You want your admins to be able to collect data and analytics on your system, your notifications, your delivery and responses. Select a MNS that will provide you with the robust tools to do just that, with no third-party consultants, extra fees or your own staff required.

Deciding on a MNS vendor can be overwhelming, regardless of whether you are implementing a MNS for the first time or upgrading your current system. You can download a helpful Regroup Comparison Guide to learn more about how Regroup stacks up to the MNS competition here.

Unlike the competition, Regroup has no hidden fees, and guarantees 99.99 percent uptime and operational redundancy for all of our clients, regardless of their size.

There’s only one best-in-class option making safety accessible to everyone through an easy-to-use interface and no-nonsense pricing. To learn more, schedule a demo using the link below.

About Regroup:

Regroup Mass Notification empowers better mass communication that keeps people safe and informed at all times. The company’s award-winning, cloud-based mass communication platform is what clients across North America and around the globe rely on to send both emergency and day-to-day communications to millions of people.

See how Regroup compares with our top competitors:

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