The Business Case for Emergency Management Software for Private Enterprises and Non-Profits

Emergency management software not just for public agencies

Often used interchangeably, emergency management, emergency response, and disaster management all deal with the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with the humanitarian aspects of emergencies. The aim of the enterprise, however one refers to it, remains the prevention and reduction of the harmful effects of a hazard – the most serious of these effects being loss of life and property. 

Given the high stakes, it’s no surprise, then, that public entities usually take the lead. But that doesn’t exempt private organizations and non-profits from having to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters themselves. 

Why’s that?

Well, private organizations and non-profits have a duty of care to their employees. 

Many hazards impinging on the health and safety of workers are foreseeable. And so, organizations must take proactive steps to mitigate the effects of these potential emergencies to stay in compliance with the law. 

The steps they subsequently put in place constitute emergency management measures. Which is just as much the responsibility of private and non-profit organizations as their public entity counterparts.

However, it’s the former that too often fails to take the necessary steps. They are then caught flat footed when hazards and disasters happen.

Critical events increasing in kind and cost

Indeed, the experience of the pandemic is informative for private organizations and non-profits. According to certain studies, only half of all companies had pandemic scenario plans in place before the COVID outbreakⁱ.

Nor is the pandemic the only example. Complete preparations for severe weather events also fall under the rubric of emergency management. And these are the events that are increasing in kind, intensity, and cost. 

In fact, not only do catastrophic weather events pack a financial punch. That financial punch is getting heavier.

The numbers are staggering. In 2021, the NOAA Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) released its billion-dollar disaster report, showing that the year came in only second to the years 2020, 2017, and 2005 in terms of number of disasters (20) and associated costs (USD 145 billion)ⁱⁱ. 

The report also found that the U.S. (alone) sustained well over 300 severe weather/climate events since 1980iii. Associated costs clocked in at USD 2.7 trillion^iv.

What’s worse for businesses, the trendline is pointing in the wrong direction. The average number of severe events and their associated costs have all increased sharply since the 1980s.

Beyond public health and weather events, though, organizations face any number of other potential emergencies that can sap their resources, even imperil the lives and health of employees. Some of the likeliest threats include:

• Cyber incidents
• Server downtime
• Business interruption, including supply-chain disruption
• Fire, explosion

How likely are these unplanned incidents to occur? 

According to industry data, 82 per cent of companies have experienced at least one unplanned downtime incident over the past three years – most, in fact, have suffered multiple, with associated costs getting higher, as well^v. For example:

• Server downtime. The hourly cost of server downtime tops $1 million for 44 per cent of enterprises^vi. 
• Data breach. In 2021, the cost of a data breach was $4.24 million, representing a 10 per cent jump in two years. Lost business (including increased customer turnover, lost revenue due to system downtime and the increasing cost of acquiring new business due to diminished reputation) constituted 38 per cent of the total, or $1.59 million.
• Among other business interruption incidents, Allianz estimates that:
  – The average value of a fire/explosion-related insurance claim comes in around $6.7 million.
  – The average value of a storm-related insurance claim comes in around $4.4 million.
  – The average value of an earthquake-related insurance claim comes in around $1.6 million.
  – The average value of a machinery breakdown-related insurance claim comes in around $.62 million
  – The average value of a water damage-related insurance claim comes in around $.55 million 

The value of digital emergency management software

With the cost and number of emergencies increasing, private organizations and non-profits have a clear financial incentive to invest in the requisite digital emergency management software platforms needed to stay safe, avoid property damage, and recover quickly from calamites. 

These platforms, far from being a financial burden, serve to implement best-practice emergency management strategies, thereby lowering overall costs to the business. 

The right platform can, indeed, put money back into the enterprise, by expeditiously implementing emergency management interventions that eliminate expensive deficiencies before disasters occur.

Which ones?

Mitigation efforts pay off down the road

Unfortunately, not all strategies are created equal. For instance, too many organizations, noting the increase in severe weather events, have sped out to procure short-term weather models.

These around-the-clock weather forecasts have limited value, often failing to project the arrival and behavior of extreme weather events accurately. 

Instead, investments should go toward cost-effective mitigation efforts. For private companies and non-profits, the measures most often cited by experts include adopting and strengthening building codes as well as upgrading existing buildings. 

Indeed, the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves report^vii, funded by three federal agencies and four private-sector sponsors, made the following suggestions:

• Adopting the latest building code requirements saves USD 11 per USD 1 invested. Building codes have greatly improved society’s disaster resilience, while adding only about 1 per cent to construction costs relative to 1990 standards. The greatest benefits accrue to communities using the most recent code editions. 
• Above-code design could save USD 4 per USD 1 cost. Building codes set minimum requirements to protect life safety. Stricter requirements can cost-effectively boost life safety and speed functional recovery.
• Building retrofits could save USD 4 per USD 1 cost. Investments of over USD 500 billion to upgrade residences with 15 measures could save more than USD 2 trillion.

Emergency management software to increase situational awareness

In addition to implementing mitigation measures, organizations will also need software platforms that ensure the effective response to critical events and emergencies when they happen. 

Where’s the ROI, there?

Well, the ROI of these tools comes from the fact that the more swiftly a business responds to and recovers from an emergency the lower the costs they incur. And not just less direct financial impact, either, but fewer operational and supply-chain disruptions, as well as less property damage and brand erosion.

Which platforms fit the ticket?

Businesses will get the best bang for their buck from software platforms that provide situational awareness across multiple locations – not just one. What do these platforms have in common? They:

• Create a common operating picture to maintain situational awareness via field personnel updates, GIS feeds, data import, email, and social media 
• Display information on comprehensive dashboards and incorporate additional tools from across the internet at any time
• Monitor and evaluate essential services, e.g., tracking the latest Community Lifeline status or any other key metrics 
• Oversee critical infrastructure with dedicated tools such as crowded place and impact assessments
• Support mitigation activities with risk matrices and critical infrastructure protection tools 
• Identify at-risk areas and facilities both before and during incidents

Lost time equals lost money

That’s not all private organizations and non-profits should consider. 

Time is also lost (and costs increased) without speedy activation of emergency management personnel. Organizations, though, can avoid the expense, with software platforms that enable emergency operations centers to be stood up quickly, providing interfaces fully tailored to the role and level of the user. 

These platforms also help teams get a head start by activating emergency response plans with role responsibilities for multiple Incident Command System (ICS) positions, action plans for multiple roles and stages of  the planning “P,” and more. 

These latter points matter as research suggests that it’s not a specific feature set but great user experience that drives software adoption. Conversely, poor user experience lowers adoption.

Furthermore, new users are also cycling into emergency operations during incidents. Many of these users interact with the emergency management system. Poor user experience only makes training them that much harder. The higher training lift, the more money spent.

On the other hand, improved user experience lowers the training cost. What’s a meaningful driver of improved user experience? Frontend workflows come to mind. 

Platforms should boast frontend workflows that support key emergency response tasks. These workflows add value by keeping staff focused on the response instead of the paperwork. The relevant workflows include:

• Escalating emergency warning to incidents, and tracking those incidents through their entire lifecycle
• Automatically alerting situationally appropriate stakeholders through helpful message templates
• Creating Incident Action Plans (IAPs)
• Requesting and tracking resources as well as assigning tasks
• Capturing relevant information through forms tailored to specific roles
• Mapping incidents, resources, assets, critical infrastructure, etc. to gain a bird’s-eye view of a situation
• Assessing Community Lifelines to ensure stability of lifesaving public services

Save money with platforms that go beyond emergency management

Emergencies, as noted, come in all shapes and sizes. Indeed, emergencies such as pandemics, cyber-attacks, active shooter incidents, and others cross the disciplinary boundary between emergency management, security management, worker safety, and business continuity.

Rather than procuring un-integrated, point solutions for each type of disturbance, organizations will get improved ROI from an integrated platform that goes beyond emergency and disaster management. 

Such a platform provides coverage for all hazards and incidents – from worker safety, facility security, to business continuity, and more. Their vendors offer solutions that work together seamlessly.

Further cost-saving capabilities to consider include:

• Enable work from anywhere. Communicate with staff and volunteers anywhere they use a web browser or iOS and Android apps. Every dashboard on desktop automatically resizes for mobile devices, making all the same tools available on the go to improve coordination and contact management.
• Support cost recovery through easy documentation. Prepare custom sitreps, briefings, objectives, incident action plans, or use built-in ICS forms. Automatic population of fields with default or calculated values reduces error and saves time. 
• Keep an intact audit trail. Produce better after-action reviews and disaster grant requests. Thanks to the breadth of tools in the platform, emergency response records aren’t spread across a multitude of independent products.
• Save time when it counts the most. Free up time for your busy responders by automating incident notifications, task assignment and follow-up, report generation, activity summaries, meeting announcements, or whatever else distracts them from their response objectives.

Finally, public safety has been the bailiwick of public entities. But that doesn’t mean that private enterprises and non-profits don’t have responsibilities to keep their people safe.

Indeed, this responsibility is enshrined in law as the duty of care obligation. Besides the legal obligation, private organizations and non-profits risk losing time, money, assets, and people if they don’t prepare for foreseeable events.

Nor is preparing for these events a financial loser. Quite the opposite. Procuring the right emergency management platform, such as Noggin for Emergency Management, can put money back in your pocket over the cost of being caught with your pants down. 

Managing any incident effectively through its entire lifecycle, these platforms keep the whole team following the same best-practice plans, communicating on the same platform, and viewing the same operating picture – from any place or device.

Sources

i. Mercer: 51% of companies have no business continuity plan to combat coronavirus outbreak: Mercer study finds. Available at https://www.me.mercer.com/newsroom/covid-19 companies-have-no-business-continuity-plan-to-combat-coronavirus-outbreak.html.

ii. Adam B. Smith, Climate.gov: 2021 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in historical context. Available at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond data/2021-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historical?itid=lk_inline_ enhanced template#:~:text=Damages%20from%20the%202021%20disasters,Western%20wildfires%20(%2410.9%20billion).

iii. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI): U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2022). Available at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/.

iv. Ibid.

v. Sundeep Ravande, Forbes: Unplanned Downtime Costs More Than You Think. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/02/22/unplanned-downtime costs-more-than-you-think/?sh=d60c93636f7e.

vi. Laura DiDio, Tech Channel: The Cost of Enterprise Downtime. Available at https://techchannel.com/IT-Strategy/09/2021/cost-enterprise-downtime.

vii. National Institute of Building Sciences: Mitigation Saves: Mitigation