Businesses and schools now benefit from the same technology that was created to aid in emergency communication. TechRadium’s Immediate Response Information System allows administrators to create voice or text messages and simultaneously send them to selected phones, pagers or e-mail addresses.
IRIS’s ability to send instant messages was a huge business benefit for SouthWest Water Company, a utility-management company. SouthWest Water Company used to use direct mail and a phone center to communicate with its clients. However, these methods were becoming increasingly inefficient and costly.
SouthWest Water Company has been able to use IRIS to improve its business management. The system allows the company to quickly and easily send information to its clients about possible contaminants, outages and past due bills.
SouthWest Water Company also uses IRIS’s receipt-verification feature. This shows the company which households have been notified and which haven’t. The system will continue to send messages until confirmation is received.
IRIS is used by school systems to provide routine and emergency notifications as well as alerts in an emergency. Since 2006, the Archdiocese of Galveston/Houston in Texas has been using IRIS. The system’s original purpose is to aid in emergency communications. But the schools now enjoy the benefits of instant, reliable transmission of daily information.
Within minutes, school administrators send voice and text messages to all parents and staff who are associated with the school system or with a specific school.
Different needs can be met by the IRIS system at different schools or businesses. John Paul II Catholic School uses an electronic-mail-blast weekly newsletter for parents, students, staff and to notify them about school events and other information. Five levels of urgency have been created for the school based on national security colors, with the most urgent being a red alert. The urgency level determines the communication method used, which can range from email only to multiple phone numbers. You can also create group e-mails with the IRIS system. Schools can create groups for staff members, school athletes, and other school organizations.
