When it comes to venue management, it’s only a matter of time before you need to respond to an incident.
You never know when someone might slip and get hurt, sprinklers might malfunction, or an active shooter might enter your premises. Whatever the case may be, you need to be ready to respond rapidly. Otherwise, you could learn the cost of unpreparedness the hard way.
To help companies like yours build a resilient incident plan that enables you to future-proof incident response, we recently hosted a webinar on the topic that featured Trevor Thomas, director of engineering and maintenance at UBS Arena; Alfredo Tapia, security coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys; and Zach Rutkowski, director of guest services for the Buffalo Bills.
Keep reading to learn some high-level takeaways from the webinar, followed by a link to the recording in case you want to learn more.
Building an Incident Management Plan
As you begin developing a future-proof incident response plan, here are some steps you’ll need to take.
1. Conduct an Incident Management Needs Assessment
First things first: Conduct an assessment to determine what your needs might be. To do this, rope in representatives from every stakeholder that might be part of an incident management response plan—including employees, guest services personnel, maintenance, engineering, fire, police, and other emergency services. Rather than looking at your needs from a single perspective, it’s important to ensure that you have input from all relevant parties.
2. Understand the Key Elements of Incident Management Planning
After figuring out which groups need to be involved in the creation of your plan, it’s time to determine the key elements you need to address. For example, effective incident management requires strong communication capabilities. As you begin building your plan, it’s imperative to ensure that all communications are centralized and everyone knows exactly where to look for directions after an incident occurs. In today’s digital age, you will likely want to invest in a purpose-built incident management system, too.
3. Know How to Evaluate Incident Management Software
Not every incident management software solution is the same. As you begin your search for a solution, it’s important to ensure the platform you ultimately choose is feature-rich and gives your team everything they need. Because effective incident response involves the coordination of many different stakeholders, it’s important that the software you ultimately choose is easy to use. Additionally, the right solution should receive regular updates that are easy to figure out when new features make it into production.
4. Consider the Key Elements of Incident Management Software
When it comes to incident management, there are a lot of moving parts. Someone on the concierge team might respond to incidents much differently than a police officer, for example. That being the case, it’s important to ensure the solution you ultimately select gives each stakeholder the tools they need to manage their responsibilities effectively. You should look for a solution that has distinct modules for the various departments that will be involved in incident response; security, for example, doesn’t need to be notified when someone accidentally spills a beer.
The right solution will also include a robust mobile app that enables employees to respond to incidents on the go from anywhere in the venue. It’s also important to consider each solution’s reporting and analytics capabilities. After an incident is resolved, the team should be able to conduct retrospectives to determine what worked best and what could be improved upon.
5. Understand the Importance of System Integration
No matter which solution you ultimately pick, it’s essential to make sure you can connect it with the other tools your team uses every day. Rather than having to copy and paste data from one system to another—and deal with the frustration and errors that come with it—look for a solution that offers powerful integration features that enable data to flow seamlessly across your operations.
6. Figure Out How to Ensure Long-Term Implementation Success
Enjoying long-term implementation success starts with getting enough stakeholders onboard at the beginning of the project. By making sure everyone is on the same page and knows how they will respond to an incident, you can ensure the team is aligned and that no important details are overlooked. Succeeding with your incident management initiative is only possible when you get all stakeholders to buy into the new program.
Rather than going it on your own, consider looking for a partner who can help you see your project through from conception to completion, ensuring you’re up and running without a hitch.
Are you ready to future-proof incident management?
If so, 24/7 Software can help. Request a demo today to learn more about the easiest way to build a resilient incident management plan and keep your guests delighted.
To learn more about how to build a future-proof incident management plan, check out a complete recording of the webinar.
