Rockland Trust Uses AlertMedia to Ensure Business Continuity During Severe Weather
TransparencyKeeps employees informed and up to date, reinforcing the organization’s culture of trust and transparency
Customer ServiceEnsures employees are always aware of rapidly developing situations so they can provide excellent customer service
SafetyImproves employee safety and preparedness during potentially dangerous events such as winter storms
ContinuityMaintains vital business operations in the event of disruption caused by severe weather, IT outages, and facility emergencies
- IndustryFinancial Services
- Locations100
- Employees1,200
- ProductsEmergency Communication Software
- Primary UsesEmergency, Business Continuity, Inclement Weather
Rockland Trust Enhances Employee Safety and Customer Experience
Rockland Trust Company is a commercial bank that offers a range of banking, investment, and insurance services. Serving over 250,000 individuals, families, and businesses, Rockland Trust has approximately 100 retail branches, commercial lending centers, and investment management offices throughout New England. Named in 2019 to The Boston Globe’s “Top Places to Work” list for the eleventh consecutive year, Rockland Trust attributes its more than 100 years of stability and consistent profitability to its commitment to investing in employees. With a values-based culture, transparency is central to how the organization communicates with its 1,200 employees.
When unexpected and potentially disruptive events such as winter storms and IT outages occur, Rockland Trust relies on AlertMedia’s emergency communication software to keep employees informed. With AlertMedia’s multi-channel, two-way communication capabilities, Rockland Trust can keep employees safe and connected, maintain excellent customer service, and ensure business continuity.
Manual Call Trees Lead to Misinformation and Long Delays
In New England where Rockland Trust is based, powerful winter storms and nor’easters can easily disrupt businesses for days at a time. To ensure employee safety and minimize the impact on business operations, Rockland Trust needed a way to effectively communicate with employees during severe weather and other unforeseen events.
Prior to AlertMedia, Rockland Trust communicated with its people during critical events using manual call trees. This outdated method of communication, however, was prone to misinformation and long delays. And in rapidly developing emergency situations, the event status often changed before the call tree even reached its last branch. To quickly and reliably share time-sensitive information with employees during critical events, Rockland Trust knew it needed a modern emergency communication solution.
“Communication is the key to any disaster recovery program. You can have the best technicians in the world recovering the business, but it doesn’t matter if you are not communicating effectively.”
Adds Lawrence Robert, Rockland Trust’s Vice President of Business Continuity and Risk Management, “Communication is the key to any disaster recovery program. You can have the best technicians in the world recovering the business, but it doesn’t matter if you are not communicating effectively.”
Intuitive Design and Robust Features Save Valuable Time
When a disaster happens, organizations must focus their attention on minimizing the impact to their customers and employees. Organizations simply can’t spend precious time shifting gears to accommodate a communication tool that isn’t easy to use. That’s why choosing a user-friendly emergency communication solution was a key priority for Rockland Trust.
After an evaluation and detailed analysis of several different emergency communication vendors, Rockland Trust selected AlertMedia. The intuitive, user-centric design not only saves critical minutes in emergency situations, but also improves the user experience and drives internal adoption across the company.
Adds Robert, “AlertMedia is so simple, anybody could learn how to use this platform in a matter of minutes. Many of the solutions we evaluated alongside AlertMedia seemed to be designed only for people comfortable with technology—and you could see that reflected in the complexity of the interfaces.”
With AlertMedia, Rockland Trust can securely send messages to employees across multiple channels, including text message, email, voice call, and mobile app push. Administrators can react quickly no matter where they are, sending and receiving messages directly from AlertMedia’s full-featured mobile application.
Ready-to-use, pre-built notification templates and the ability to easily segment messages by branch location ensure employees only receive relevant, targeted notifications. AlertMedia’s event page functionality also allows the organization to consolidate all storm-related messages, Q&As, and helpful resources on one page that employees can use to check for updates.
With multiple personnel involved in making decisions about branch closures and delayed openings during severe weather events, AlertMedia’s two-way messaging capabilities have also been a valuable feature for Rockland Trust’s Crisis Management Team. Using the software, the team can easily initiate conference calls, capture feedback through surveys, and enable read receipts and “need help” requests. With AlertMedia, Rockland Trust can facilitate a two-way dialogue and accelerate decision-making during critical events.
Minimizing Risk and Customer Impact When Disaster Hits
During one recent major storm, many of Rockland Trust’s retail branches had no power or internet connectivity, and employee residential power was in question as well. With AlertMedia’s multi-channel, two-way communication capabilities, the organization was able to ensure message deliverability, keeping employees safe and up to date.
While the organization purchased AlertMedia to primarily communicate with employees about storm-related outages and closures, the software has been used for a wide range of critical events. Most recently, Rockland Trust used AlertMedia to share COVID-19 updates with employees. AlertMedia allows the organization to protect its people, ensure a positive customer experience, and maintain business continuity during any emergency situation.
Adds Robert, “As a financial services institution, the ability to communicate when disaster hits is vital to minimizing risk and customer impact. With AlertMedia, we can securely, easily, and quickly connect with employees to keep our operations running smoothly.”
