During the past several years, both SMS and BlackBerry PIN networks have proven to be more resilient during crisis situations when call volumes inundate voice networks or when there is mobile service interruption. Because SMS and PIN messaging take up much less bandwidth than a voice call, these messages are able to get through on the wireless network even when email and voice calls cannot. SMS enables users to receive and send messages using text messaging on their mobile phones.
Pete Dowling, a former special agent in charge of the Washington office of the U.S. Secret Service, is now the Senior Vice President, Operational Risk Management for AXA Equitable, located in midtown Manhattan. The company has implemented Send Word Now's Smart Notification Service as part of its security plan for effective communications during any situation. Dowling notes, "With Send Word Now's Smart Notification Service, we can instantly send messages to every employee's home phone, cell phone or BlackBerry. Two-way SMS and PIN-to-PIN messaging are additional messaging mediums that give us every confidence our messages will get through in both emergency and everyday situations, empowering our employees to make decisions based on the best, and most current, information."
Send Word Now has purchased this level of SMS service ensuring the highest priority of SMS delivery. This means that SMS-based messages originating from the Smart Notification Service are given priority delivery. In addition to voice and email, support for this new messaging modality gives users one more method to send and receive messages using their mobile phones.
In addition, BlackBerry users can take advantage of cost-effective PIN-to-PIN messaging to communicate directly with other BlackBerry users. Because PIN messages are not routed through an email server, BlackBerry users will automatically be able to send and receive text messages via the PIN network in event of email network failure.
For example, organizations using the Smart Notification Service users can push an emergency "Where are you?" message to their "road warriors" requiring the recipient to respond with a location and contact information via the service's Get Word Back functionality. When events happen that "clog" mobile carriers' voice networks and even SMS networks, the PIN network has shown enormous resiliency to handle the volume. Additionally, because of the Priority SMS service that SWN offers, those messages supersede other standard SMS messaging, all increasing the probability that the message will get through.
In addition to the notification service, tight integration with Send Word Now's Incident Management Service (IMS) allows organizations to track and manage both SMS and Blackberry PIN messages which are typically not easy to track. It centralizes the flow of critical information as an incident or event unfolds and provides a clear history of events and responses so that organizations can minimize the risks associated with delayed response.
"This announcement further extends Send Word Now's messaging capability to ensure that time-sensitive communications can be delivered with the highest priority," said Mitchell Orlowsky, CEO and president of Send Word Now. "By adding 2-way SMS and BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messaging, we have created an even more robust service that will help to get the message through and get responses back -- fast and reliably. Our Smart Notification Service offers the most comprehensive solution for reaching the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time."
