Our Company

Can a Cloud based Visitor Management System Save Lives in an Emergency?

Posted by Darren Whitaker-Barnett, CEO, Founder on 13 February 2012 | 1 Comments

Tags: Cloud, Emergency Preparedness, Evacuation Management

Crisis Management is easier with access to  real-time Information

“Who is on-site?” - As Dr. Alfred Lanning said to Will Smith’s character in I’ Robot “That, Detective, is the right question. Program terminated”.

In real emergencies where ceilings and weight-bearing walls are collapsing, half the building is on fire, the stairwell is destroyed, and there are multiple casualties … why did the clearing of floors and areas of a building by floor wardens’ minutes after the event not work like the evacuation or crisis management dry runs did?

Key questions every Safety Manager should answer!

* Why can no one tell the emergency services how many people they need to search for, recover, and hopefully save?

* Why should the emergency services put their lives at risk looking for Bob in Marketing when Bob is 4 blocks away at Starbucks with a client?

* How many visitors and contractors are on-site? Did the receptionist have time, while thinking about saving their own life, to grab the visitor sign-in book or have the time to refill the printer with paper so they could print off a visitor report from the visitor management system?

As more organizations shift their visitor systems,  management of contractors, human resources systems, and even access control to the cloud, a benefit has emerged that can help organizations answer these questions, and save lives.

• Emergency preparedness is being able to access information on employees, visitors, and contractors currently onsite from your iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy, or other smart device. And it can save precious minutes in a real emergency. The ROI business case for shifting some of your key visitor management systems to Cloud based services should not be calculated solely on the savings in hardware and database licenses, and staff reductions in the IT department. The Cloud can also help you save lives. And that is priceless.