24/7 Software Blog

“It takes too long for us to respond to incidents on the other side of the property,” you mumble to yourself.

You’re struggling with your operation’s response times to incidents.

But, you don’t know how to resolve it.

You’re open to asking for help – but, you don’t know who to ask.

You know for a fact that there’s a problem but can’t seem to put your finger on a solution.

“Why are we taking so long to get from incident to issue to another incident?” you ask yourself.

This problem is exhausting.

You’re ready to walk off a cliff in frustration but aren’t going to give up so easily.

You just want a way to answer the equation for response times, right?

Everyone would see you as the proactive leader you know you are.

But, where do you even start?

This part is where we can help.

There is one solution that contains the requisites for faster response times to incidents that occur throughout your property.

The solution is an incident management system (IMS).

It’ll help you better manage your operation, so you can understand what it takes to reduce response times.

Keep reading; in today’s article, we’re going to show you how to cut your response times with purpose and results you’ll notice.

“Tropical Storm Gordon has made landfall in Mississippi just west of the Alabama border, according to the National Hurricane Center. At least one death has been attributed to a fallen tree caused by the storm,” writes Bill Chappell, Vanessa Romo, and Barbara Campbell in their recent NPR article entitled “Tropical Storm Gordon Makes Landfall In Mississippi.”

According to the article, “Forecasters have urged people along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida to be wary of a dangerous storm surge and flash floods.”

“As of 2 a.m. ET, maximum sustained winds had decreased to 50 mph, with higher gusts. The storm was moving at 14 mph, some 40 miles west of Mobile, Ala,” the article continues.

“Its current path indicates it will move inland over the lower Mississippi Valley through Wednesday.”

“An oak tree fell on a mobile on the south side of Pensacola, Fla., killing one child, according to Escambia County Emergency Communications,” the writers explain.

According to the NPR piece, “The NHC says Gordon is expected to unleash a slew of hazards in several southern coastal states, including torrential rain, life-threatening inundation, powerful winds, and tornadoes.”

Now, whether your property is StormReady or not, we believe we can offer some best practices for protecting your property (and community) in the event that adverse weather hits.

Today, we’re going to share actionable, efficient ways to counter the effects of bad weather.

Are you ready?!

You gaze into the distance.

For a moment, you’re thoughtless.

You stare out of the operations center window into the adjacent parking lot.

Shouting relays throughout the room.

But, you remain quiet.

The overwhelming sensation of helplessness has reached its peak.

You’re stressed.

You’re tired – exhausted.

Your operation is always chasing the next incident, and you need a solution to get you out of this mess.

You’re running a reactive operation, and you know it.

Then, as soon as your thoughts leave your mind, they and the background noise crescendo.

It’s back to the reality in front of you.

“We’ve got to triage and handle the high priority incidents right now,” you tell your team.

“We’ve got to choose the most important at this point,” you continue.

Incidents are coming in but at a delayed rate.

Your team responds to an incident, and then another higher priority one is reported.

Your staff sees or hears of an incident several minutes after it has occurred.

This shortfall makes it challenging to respond efficiently.

You’re at a disadvantage.

Your teams are arriving on scene to incidents several minutes too late.

It’s leading to plenty of complaints.

You’re already expecting Monday morning to be a nightmare.

You’re struggling.

But, you’ve got to figure something out before your whole operation crumbles.

You don’t have a choice.

This is your responsibility.

You must fix it.

What are you going to do?

You need an increase in awareness, better resource management, and to gain operational insight to reduce your response times to incidents.

We’re going to show you how incident management systems can help you accomplish this challenge.

We’re going to show you how to be proactive.

Are you ready?

“Thank you all and be safe,” you tell your supervisors before they branch out to meet with their team.

You leave the meeting room.

You swing by your office next door to grab your radio.

You start the five-minute trek to the operations center upstairs.

“Welcome,” a passing staff member says to you, followed by a few others.

“We’re excited to have you,” Joe, the head of security tells you as he catches up.

Today is a day like any other for your property, except, for you.

It’s your first day on the job here.

Your experience in Proactive Operations landed you a higher-level job at this property.

You were hired to make improvements.

But, you’re not sure what to expect.

Calls begin coming in through the incident management system and radio.

You notice something unusual but wait a little longer to diagnose the issue.

More calls come in.

“Wow,” you say to yourself.

This property has many more incidents than your former property – but they use the same resources.

“We have a…,” you hear over the radio.

Everyone is moving around the channels attempting to get some clarity.

You listen to the radio but are struggling to collect needed information.

“That’s it,” you exclaim.

You look at your operations coordinator, Mike.

“This radio traffic is the problem,” you tell him.

“Radio is not adequate for calls we have on this property,” you say.

“We have too many incidents to communicate and manage,” you continue.

But, you know what to do.

“We’re getting mobile apps,” you assert.

“We need real-time communications, and we need it now!”

Is your incident management bogged down by the lack of proactive, real-time communications?

Then, it’s time to change your approach and reap the benefits of mobile incident management solutions.

“I’ll be right behind you guys,” you shout to your operations team as they make their way out of the office.

It’s 1 AM, and you’re finishing up the final report on tonight’s event.

There’s only one last item on your to-do list.

You’ll review the incident reports from tonight, tally everything on your spreadsheet, record the information on your Monday morning report, and be on your way home.

You take the final swig of your water and begin reviewing the numbers from tonight.

“Here we go,” you whisper to yourself.

“Only one record of vomit,” you continue.

“That's pretty good,” you think to yourself.

“One fight,” you read aloud.

You continue reviewing the reports.

But, after three more minutes of review, you stop in your tracks.

“Wait a minute,” you shout.

Something is not right here.

All personnel and departments record incident types differently.

You begin listing the variations.

• “1 vomit.”
• “1 puke.”
• “2 throw up.”

The list goes on and on.

Your report for Monday will be inaccurate if you don’t fix this error.

You must fix it.

It’s now 1:12 AM.

You call Jack from security and tell him that you’re going to be a little longer.

It looks like another night that you won’t get to say goodnight to your husband and children.

But, you must ensure your numbers are accurate, and not only for Monday but all future analysis of your property’s incidents.

You need standardization.

And, you need it now.

“There has been a car theft in parking lot GG.”

“A thunderstorm is approaching at 15 MPH.”

The calls are coming in.

“We have…”

You turn off your radio for a moment.

You stare at the mirror knowing you only have thirty seconds before your operations coordinator sends out the bat signal because you haven’t responded to your calls.

Cupping your hands under the faucet, you let the water run over them.

You slowly splash your face to make sure this isn’t a nightmare.

“Yep, this is real,” you mutter to yourself.

You put on your glasses, turn on the radio, and rush out of the restroom.

While your team is panicking over the radio, you open the restroom door to the thousands of customers moving throughout your property.

Your goal is to keep smiles on their faces and to ensure they never find out anything is ever wrong.

It’s a big goal, and not always achievable for your team.

More calls are coming, but they aren’t incident calls.

It’s your team.

You can hear the panic in their voices.

A few variations of “We weren’t prepared for this” make their way over the radio.

You head to the operations center.

“There’s no way to prepare for all of these incidents,” you tell yourself.

But, we’re here to tell you there is.

You’ll need to employ Proactive Operations because incidents occurring on your property is an instance of when not if.