When Terror Strikes

As a student, resident, or even an employee, you can’t help but feel the slightest bit of fear crawl into your lap as you watch the news, listen to the radio, or glance at your phone. After terrorist related events this past couple of months, it feels like more and more threats loom over us, and it gives way to fear. However, fear is something that communication is perhaps the most effective in combating, for it is a unifying element that inspires stability in the wake of chaos.

Harnessing that ability to communicate can be a challenge. Email would be convenient, but it’s too slow. With a read rate around 20%, email is one of the last methods of communication you would send in an emergency.

A phone call is likely to be more effective, but as a property manager, your residents are less likely to pick up your call. Voicemail can still get through, but most often it’s either left unheard, or casually deleted.

And then we have social media. While the millennials are more likely to activate their push notifications, they are less likely to pay attention to those secondary forms of communication. As for the older generations, the majority of emergency push alerts will be overlooked; therefore, they would have a lacking awareness during potentially dangerous events.

There is, however, one form of communication that facts stand behind in emergencies. It’s a method on which schools and hospitals rely. It has a 98% read rate. It is considered 8x more engaging. It buzzes on your phone during the day and lights up your screen at night. A text message is the fastest and most reliable form of mass communication with the ability to access any cellular device.

 

You may ask yourself, how does IRIO know text messaging is the most reliable?

 

IRIO started in 2006, inspired to activate emergency messaging after the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina. Ten years ago, we felt this product could not only help businesses, but it could ripen stability in times of chaos. Throughout the years, resedential properties have used IRIO’s text messaging solutions to notify their residents in emergency situations. Properties that have experienced shootings have prevented more harm done by sending out text messages. It’s as simple as:

 

“Attention all residents, we have experienced gunshots on the property. PLEASE STAY INDOORS. The police are on their way.”

 

Text messaging has become so prevalent that it’s now considered a standard tool when properties or schools ask themselves what to use for emergency mass communication.Text messaging is reliable, fast and it doesn’t need Wi-Fi to work effectively, all you need is cell service.

If you’re interested in communicating with your residents, students, employees, or whomever it is you need to keep in contact with during an emergency, then reach out to IRIO and we can provide a simple SMS solution to help ensure stability during the more uncertain times of life.