Successful campus incident management and emergency response starts with rapid communication involving the proper individuals best prepared to assess the situation, collaborate on the facts and options and formulate the proper response.

The speed at which the team is assembled and starts to receive input from key stakeholders can literally be the difference between life and death. But how do you assemble the response team quickly to facilitate this communication?

Sending email or SMS messages with conference call information relies on team members being vigilant in checking those messages and then joining the conference call with dial-in numbers and PINs. Phone trees are neither timely nor efficient. Group-calls on a radio system are limited to those with radios and are an insecure means of communication.

Just as Achilles had his weakness, all these methods can fail to get all the key personnel on the call in a timely manner, with the potential for disastrous results.

Many schools are strengthening their response team communications by using ZipBridge, an outbound emergency conference calling tool. This instant group communication solution can be used for all types of emergency or unscheduled incidents — from impending weather to facility issues to security breaches.

With ZipBridge, an authorized individual initiates the conference call from a phone or computer, the group members receive a phone call and are bridged together as they answer. No delays, hassles or PINs required; just an instant reverse conference call assembling all the necessary team members when seconds count.

ZipBridge came about in response to a client’s post-incident report citing the biggest impediment in dealing with a campus crisis was getting the right people on the phone to determine what was happening and set the proper course of action. Sending out a text or email asking people to join a conference call was not sufficient because those means of communication are often ignored or unnoticed. The school administrator asked, “Isn’t there an outbound or reverse conference calling service that calls out to the participants instead of relying on them to get the message and call in?” With ZipBridge, now there is.

ZipBridge breaks through the clutter with an actual phone call that can be identifiable by a custom ring tone so the call recipients always recognize the urgent nature of the call. Communication and time are critical in managing any unexpected incident and ZipBridge gives you both.

For more information and a free trial, visit www.ZipBridge.net

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