CENTRALIA COLLEGE LEVERAGES INFORMACAST FUSION FOR CAMPUS ALERTS

18 Jun 2019

ENHANCING CAMPUS SAFETY AND COMMUNICATIONThreats to college campuses have administrators looking for solutions to keep students and staff safe. At Centralia College in Centralia, Wash., outdated phones, and four disparate alert systems meant communication was cumbersome during an emergency. With help from Ednetics, Centralia College updated its phone system to VOIP and implemented InformaCast Fusion throughout its campus to send mass notifications with critical safety information, eliminating the need for its other systems, and greatly increasing the speed and reach of its emergency messages.

PROTECTING AGAINST SEVERE WEATHER AND LIFE AND LIMB EMERGENCIESIn addition to being able to reach a large number of devices and people with InformaCast Fusion, Centralia is also leveraging the system for a wide range of safety-related events. The two primary use cases Centralia leverages InformaCast for are life and limb emergencies, and school closures due to weather.

But for Small, the biggest reason the campus is benefitting from using InformaCast goes beyond weather interruptions.

“We have InformaCast because it will save lives,” said Small.

When there’s a life and limb emergency, administrators don’t need to worry about being near their office or desktop computer to launch a message. With the mobile app on their phone, officials can record audio and type a short text message anywhere there is cell network or WiFi access. When they hit send, their message is immediately broadcast to digital signage systems on campus, display screens on VOIP phones, mobile phones, desktop computers, overhead paging systems and more. InformaCast ties these systems together, centrally manages the login permission access, and broadcasts the alert.

“It’s just good stewardship to let your constituents, whether they are on campus or not, know what is happening,” said Ward. “InformaCast Fusion gives us a quick and easy way to do that.”