Text Message Troubleshooting: 4 Challenges Your Campus Should Address

Here's how campuses can start to tackle some of the shortcomings associated with text messaging disaster notification solutions.

Published: October 31, 2008Author: Robin Hattersley

Sending emergency alerts via SMS text messages to cell phones has gained a lot of traction on campuses this past year. Sixty-nine percent of respondents to the CS Mass Notification Study indicate they are currently using some form of text messaging to notify campus constituents of an emergency. Fifty-seven percent say they will soon be deploying this type of system.

And why shouldn’t they? The value of text messaging emergency alerts cannot be understated. Because of the popularity of text messaging among young adults, if students are sent an alert via this modality, they are more likely to heed its warning.

Additionally, text messages can travel far beyond campus boundaries. “It is important to remember that communication with off-campus students, faculty and staff is just as important as the on-campus community,” says 3n’s Director of Marketing Linda Souza. “If a dangerous event occurs on campus, many lives can be saved by preventing people from literally walking into harm’s way.”

On the K-12 side, text messages (as well as voice messages and E-mails) can be sent to parents automatically regarding attendance, outreach and other non-emergencies (e.g. back-to-school night announcements). Some solutions offer a portal that allows campuses/districts to collect additional contact information they might not already have in their databases.

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But hold on… A closer look at these solutions has revealed not only the opportunities they provide, but some challenges that must be addressed. Just like other mass notification methods, text messaging shouldn’t be relied on as the only way a campus meets its emergency notification needs. This solution, although valuable, has its limitations too.

Understanding the following four text messaging shortcomings, as well as how to overcome them, will help ensure campuses make the most of emergency alert text messaging.

Challenge 1: How Carriers Handle Messages

One of the most significant limitations of text messages is what happens once they are in the carriers’ hands. According to Florida State University’s (FSU) Emergency Management Coordinator David Bujak, “Our tests have shown that as great as text messaging seems to be, if you catch the wrong carrier at the wrong time under the wrong conditions, it could take 45 minutes to an hour. Some students don’t get their messages at all.”

Smaller and regional carriers are particularly problematic because sometimes they don’t have agreements with all of the major carriers. “If you have a regional phone plan from your home town and you’re in another state and that carrier doesn’t have an agreement with the major carrier, you might not receive the message,” says Natasha Rabe, chief business officer for Blackboard Connect Inc.

According to John Carter, president of Digital Horizon Solutions, distribution lists can help to speed up the delivery of messages. “I can sort out who is on Verizon, who is on AT&T, Sprint and so on. In reality, you have multiple mail servers sitting there. The distribution list for Sprint may be 5,000; for another carrier, 12,000. You can break these apart in an IT environment.” Distribution lists can also be created according to staff/emergency responder function and location, further improving the speeds of text messages.

Challenge 2: Low Enrollment Rate

Privacy issues and the fear that the institution will bombard recipients with unnecessary messages are concerns that make college students in particular shy away from signing up for an emergency alert text messaging program. The “nothing bad will happen to me” belief common among young adults is another factor that may lead to a low sign-up rate.

According to the CS Mass Notification Study, colleges and universities with text messaging mass notification systems currently in place have on average a 40-percent student sign-up rate (33 percent median). A slightly greater percentage of employees (average 44 percent and median 38 percent) are enrolled.

To increase the sign-up rate, it is important to maintain the credibility of the system by not using it too much. Also, according to David Lindstrom, Penn State’s chief privacy officer, enrollment can be encouraged by delivering useful information that positively affects recipients’ lives. “We use it for routine emergencies like road closures, utility outages or boil water orders — things that are of broad public interest. It causes people to realize that they are not in the know if they don’t have it.”

According to the CS Mass Notification Study, E-mail announcements, new student orientations and new hire orientations are the most common and effective methods used by campuses to encourage enrollment in emergency alert text messaging programs. Word of mouth and sign-up desks were written in by respondents as other ways to entice enrollees.

Opting in is the most popular way higher education institutions sign up students and employees. The same holds true for K-12 campuses and districts when they enroll parents.

Although some universities, like Colorado State, boast nearly a 90 percent opt-in sign-up rate, other colleges experiencing challenges with this method might want to consider the opt-out approach. FSU uses this method and has an 85 percent participation rate. When a student registers for class, he or she is shown a screen that asks for the student’s cell number and explains how it will be used. There is a disclaimer, and the student must check a box to opt out, otherwise he or she can’t register for class.

On the hospital side of things, 61 percent automatically enroll their staff. Of those, 42 percent are not allowed to opt out.

Challenge 3: Privacy and Database Security

Like other personal data, cell phone information is valuable and subject to data breaches. According to Lindstrom, “Security and the privacy of the information that is stored is a critical component that everyone is missing.” Serious problems could occur if the information gets into the wrong hands: It could be used by pranksters or worse.

As a result, it is important to have adequate logical security measures in place for a campus’ text message system. Maintaining the database onsite and only providing the vendor with as much information as it needs is another precaution that could prevent a data breach on the vendor side of the equation.

Challenge 4: Who’s in Charge?

Campuses should determine beforehand who has the authority to send these messages. Preferably three or four well-trained individuals who are high up on the organizational food chain, who can be reached quickly and make decisions quickly should be the designees. A single point of control is particularly important when multiple technologies are deployed. This keeps your messages coordinated.

According to the CS Mass Notification Study, police/public safety/security department heads often have the authority to issue emergency alerts, as do campus/district executives, including presidents, CEOs/vice presidents, superintendents, principals and critical incident management team members. PIOs and public relations executives are others who frequently are tasked with this responsibility. Some campuses are still in the process of determining who will ultimately issue this type of message. A few respondents say 10 or more individuals have the authority to issue warnings.