Easy Button for Notifications

Remember those TV commercials where an "Easy" button was pressed and, presto, all office supply problems are solved. Emergency managers have been wanting an Easy button for their notification needs for some time now. They'd like to avoid the necessity of activating multiple notification systems when a serious event occurs.

We don't know of any Easy button, although there are signs they're coming. Contra Costa County, California had an interface built that activates multiple notification solutions. Dane County, Wisconsin recently released a Request for Proposal for an independent consultant to help them figure out how to streamline their notification process, among other things. They'd like an Easy button. The Government of Alberta, Canada recently awarded a contract to a company called Black Coral for an Emergency Public Warning System Modernization project. The project will include building an interface for activating multiple notification tools. Then, of course, there's the growing momentum of CAP, the Common Alerting Protocol which will help Easy button efforts.

For now, most emergency management professionals have to press a number of buttons to get the word out to the public. Perhaps a day is coming, though, when they'll be about to say, "That was easy."

All the best,

Rick