Evaluating incident notification systems and providers can cause anyone’s eyes to glaze over in dreaded anticipation. But the process doesn’t have to be laborious, overwhelming, or fraught with perils when you know the right questions to ask. Learn how to effectively ask the right questions and get the right answers to quickly cut through sales pitches and marketing noise to understand how each will fit within your organization.

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2. Truth and Consequences in
Emergency Notification:
Top 10 Questions to Ask Vendors
Geoff Schemel
Director of Sales Engineering and Support, Everbridge

3. About Everbridge
• Leader in incident notification systems
• Fast-growing global company with
more than 1,000 clients in more
1 000
than 100 countries
• Serve the Global 2000, healthcare
systems,
systems state and local government
government,
federal government, military, financial
services firms, and universities
• 100% focused on incident notification
solutions that merge technology
and expertise
3

4. Agenda
Part 1: Presentation
• Top 10 questions to ask vendors
Part 2: Q&A
4

5. Note:
Q&A slides are currently
available to everyone on
blog.everbridge.com
Use the
Q&A
function to
submit
your
questions.
questions
5

6. Truth and Consequences
q
in Emergency Notification:
Top 10 Questions to Ask Vendors
Geoff Schemel
Director of Sales Engineering and Support

7. Truth:
Vendors sell
Consequence:
Buying a solution not suited for your needs
7

8. i Insight
• Great vendors focus on solving
problems not sales
• Your vendor should demonstrate
expertise and explain how their product
will benefit you and resolve your needs
• Be wary of shiny baubles
• Solve today’s needs; but keep an
eye towards the future
y
8

9. 1 How will you help me solve my
business problems?
• Has the vendor done a needs analysis and
mapped their product to your needs?
• How will they help you get the most out of
your investment post sale?
post-sale?
• Can the vendor provide best practices, how
do they apply to your market segment?
• Does the vendor have pre-written message
libraries, reports, and professional services
, p , p
for crisis communications?
9

10. Truth:
Any product can be made to look easy
Consequence:
Buying a product that isn’t nearly as easy
to use as you t oug t it would be
thought t ou d
10

11. i Insight
• Since emergencies are infrequent and rarely
scheduled th product should b easy t l
h d l d the d t h ld be to learn; and
d
more importantly easy to remember how to use
• It should not require a specialist
• Keep in mind that employees move around so the
person you initially train may not be the person
using th system a f
i the t few months from now
th f
• Check for mobility. A strong product should
provide secure anytime/anywhere access
• Your vendor should have flexible support
options to help you get your message out
when seconds count
h d t
11

12. 2 What makes the system easy to use?
• How has your application been written to facilitate
use d i acute stress situations?
during t t it ti ?
• How does the UI facilitate my efforts for emergency
communications?
• Do you have a live operator service and are
they contractors or employees?
• Does the vendor supply multiple levels
of training materials?
• Does the vendor supply on-demand training?
• Is ongoing training free and unlimited?
• C I do a pilot?
Can ?
12

13. Truth:
A system that is “down for maintenance”
can’t make the phones ring
Consequence:
A system t at isn’t there when you need it
syste that s t t e e e eed t
13

14. i Insight
• Understand the “9’s”.
• 99.99% - 53 minutes of downtime a year
• 99.9% - 9 hours of downtime a year
• 99% - 87 hours of downtime a year
• Statistics should include planned maintenance
• Fail-over systems should be fully capable
• Data replication and fail-over should be
automatic and nearly instantaneous
y
• The vendor should be willing to put this in writing
14

15. 3 How do you handle redundancy
and uptime?
• What is your guaranteed annual uptime statistic
including planned maintenance?
• How frequently are you replicating my data
between th primary and b k f ilit ?
b t the i d backup facility?
• Does the backup facility have the same
telephone and server capacity as the primary?
• How long does it take to fail-over from
one to the other?
• Will they put this in writing?
15

16. Truth:
The system needs accurate contact data
Consequence:
With bad data critical messages will be delivered
to the wrong pe so , if t ey a e de e ed at a
t e o g person, they are delivered all
16

17. i Insight
• The vendor should help design a comprehensive
strategy comprising:
t t i i
• Manual Edits
• On the fly uploads
• Automated updates
• Multiple data sources
p
• Uploads should not require vendor assistance
17

18. 4 How will you help me manage data?
Questions to ask yourself:
• Where will the data come from?
• Do we collect it today or will we need to
create processes to collect it?
• What is the quality of the data?
• Will HR release the data?
• What resources do I need to automate the data
feeds and what is their availability?
18

19. 4 How will you help me manage data?
Questions to ask your vendor:
• What tools do you have to help me automate
my data feeds?
• Can you provide references of clients using
those tools?
• Do these tools require a developer to implement?
• Can you p o de sugges o s a d bes p ac ces
Ca provide suggestions and best practices
on how to collect and use PII?
• Do you limit the number of updates I can provide?
• I don’t need to email your employees a
spreadsheet for them to upload do I?
19

20. Truth:
Delivery is more important than capacity
Consequence:
Many vendors quote the system’s theoretical
maximum capac ty This p o des no assu a ce
a u capacity. s provides o assurance
of how it will work for you
20

21. i Insight
• Focus on delivery not “pie in the sky”
capacity numbers
• Service Level Agreements should be between the
vendor and th client, not th vendor’s vendors
d d the li t t the d ’ d
• VOIP and SS7 are code for leased
3rd party capacity
• Verify the number of ports before you buy
• Just say no to small capacity shared port systems
21

22. 5 How is delivery guaranteed?
• How fast will the system work for me?
• Can I get that in writing?
• If Dedicated:
• How many ports are you quoting me?
• Are they shared or truly dedicated?
• How much will it cost me to upgrade in the future?
• If “Overflow” is being discussed:
• What do I have to do differently to activate it?
• What type of delivery SLA will you provide me?
22

23. 5 How is delivery guaranteed?
• If VOIP/SS7:
• Who is/are your provider(s)?
• Can I see your contract to verify your capacity claims?
• What other ENS providers are using the same vendor?
23

24. Truth:
Reports are something you will learn
to depend on
Consequence:
Inadequate reporting will de ay c t ca dec s o
adequate epo t g delay critical decision
making and can severely limit your ability to
improve over time
24

25. i Insight
• Reports need to be easy to use and understand
• They should provide a range of information:
• Summary
• Detail
• Consider all of the stakeholders that will be
involved such as BC/DR, HR, Finance,
Senior Management
• Th
There should b a way t create and
h ld be to t d
customize your own reports
25

26. 6 Are your reporting solutions robust
and easy to use?
• Is reporting real time?
• How does the service summarize information?
• What level of detail can it provide?
p
• Can I create my own reports?
• Can I get help creating my own reports?
• How much will it cost me to have you create
them for me?
26

27. Truth:
Data security must be a priority
Consequence:
Lack of data security puts your employees
a d business o at o
and bus ess information at risk
s
27

28. i Insight
• Security is a serious matter, with many
different standards such as SAS 70,
ISO, NIST, etc. that may or may
not apply to you
• Every vendor should be able to provide
copies of their security plans and operations
• Vendors should conduct monthly internal
penetration tests as well as annual 3rd
party security audits
t it dit
28

29. 7 How secure is my data?
• Can I get copies of the following?
• System Security Plan (SSP)
• BC/DR Plan
• Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)
• Continuous Monitoring Plan (CMP)
• Configuration Management (CM)
• Plan of Action & Milestone (POA&M)
• Your last monthly scan?
?
• Your last annual audit?
29

30. Truth:
Successful notification is not only about making
phones ring Its about knowing which phones to
ring.
ring, when to ring them, and what to say
Consequence:
Many notification i l
M tifi ti implementations f il b
t ti fail because a
vendor is only able to do one thing – provide a
messaging tool
30

31. i Insight
• Vendors often focus on selling a product, and
leave critical details such as deployment and
growth to the client
• Good vendors should help you evaluate your
current notification needs, and then identify a
growth path for you as your needs grow.
• A good vendor should be able to support you at
every stage.
• If adoption of your notification program stagnates,
d ti f tifi ti t t
its value will as well. The value of your notification
system is directly correlated to the number of
y y
people included in the system (network theory).
31

32. 8 Aside from the technology, how can you help me
build a successful notification program?
• What type of growth path will I have working with
your organization? H
i ti ? How well d fi d i it?
ll defined is
• How will you help me understand the best
practices to employ to drive the adoption of my
notification program?
• What expertise can you deliver for creating
messages, providing message libraries, and
idi lib i d
helping me evaluate the quality of my messaging?
• What type of professional services do you provide?
• What types of best practices do you provide that I
can use to increase my success using the service?
32

33. Truth:
Processes need to be established and set in
place before the crisis
Consequence:
A lack of process will result in a lack of efficient
communication when it’s most needed
33

34. i Insight
• Processes need to be established
• Who can activate the system?
• When can it be activated?
• What needs to be said?
• How should messages be delivered?
• A good vendor will supply advice,
assistance, and best practices including:
• M
Message M
Maps
• Participation in table top exercises
• Test Reviews and Analysis
34

35. 9 How can you help me communicate better?
• What type of training do you provide in
emergency communications?
i ti ?
• What does this training consist of?
• Wh t best practices do you recommend when
What b t ti d d h
crafting messages?
• Can you supply pre-written message templates?
pre written
• Do you offer any professional services around
message creation?
35

36. Truth:
Not all services have the capability to provide
the functional scalability you need
Consequence:
You ca qu c y outg o you syste , limiting
ou can quickly outgrow your system, t g
your options and wasting your investment
36

37. i Insight
• Organizations often have multiple levels
of communication needs
• Organizations with multiple business
units or geographic di i i
it hi divisions often need
ft d
their service
37

38. 10 Can I deploy globally,
but implement locally?
• Can my different divisions or locations have
complete control over their systems while I have
overall administrator access across the
corporation?
• How can I have segmented security so that one
division can’t see what another is doing?
• Can each location have their own greetings and
message templates?
• How can each division or location have full
control over their data and only their data?
38

39. Top 10 Questions to Ask Vendors
• How will you help me solve my business problems?
• What makes the system easy to use?
• How do you handle redundancy and uptime?
• How will you help me manage data?
• How i d li
H is delivery guaranteed?
t d?
• Are your reporting solutions robust and easy to use?
• How secure is my data?
• Aside from the technology, how can you help me build a
successful notification program?
• How can you help me communicate better?
• Can I deploy globally, but implement locally?
39

40. Incident Notification
Marc Ladin
Chief Marketing Officer, Everbridge
40

41. Where to go for more information
http://everbridge.com/resources
blog.everbridge.com
twitter.com/everbridge
facebook.com/everbridgeinc
g
youtube.com/user/everbridge
41

42. Missed anything?
Q&A Slides are currently
available on
blog.everbridge.com
Use the
Q&A
function to
submit
your
questions.
questions
42

43. Missed anything?
Never fear, the recording and slides from
today s
today’s webinar are just a click away.
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Reminder
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i di
Item Number (Schedule II): 26.1
Activity Group: A
1 Point for each webinar
43

44. Communication
Contact information resources
White papers, literature, case studies
www.everbridge.com/resources
Upcoming webinars:
System Demo (January 20)
www.everbridge.com/webinars
b id / bi
Geoff Schemel Follow us:
geoff.schemel@everbridge.com blog.everbridge.com
1 818 230 9700
1-818-230-9700 twitter.com/everbridge
g
facebook.com/everbridgeinc
youtube.com/user/everbridge
Marc Ladin
marc.ladin@everbridge.com
1-818-230-9700