PIER addresses the 'people' side of business continuity, making it possible to communicate effectively with critical stakeholders even during difficult times
Bellingham, WA (PRWEB) June 22, 2006
AudienceCentral has launched a version of its PIER communications control center that will help organizations stay in touch with their workforce during emergencies such as hurricanes, flooding, and pandemic events. PIER is web-based, accessible from anywhere, and remains available even when local systems have failed. Using PIER, a communications team can collaborate online and quickly distribute news and instructions to employees. In turn, employees can ask questions, request assistance, and update their emergency contact information.
Two sample PIER Workforce Emergency Communication websites can be found at http://www.audiencecentral.com/nr1/8260. The sample websites, one for hurricanes and one for pandemic, show what employees and contractors might see during an emergency, including bulletins from their employer, links to emergency preparedness sites, and live RSS feeds from other sources such as weather and traffic. The sites also demonstrate how employees can update their emergency contact information, ask questions, request assistance, and provide feedback on site usefulness.
The PIER system does much more than populate a website, however; it is a fully integrated control center for managing stakeholder communications. As a web-based system, it allows a communications team to assemble online from multiple locations, collaborate on key messages, draft documents, and upload text, photos, video and audio. Approvers are notified by the system and can approve documents online. Communicators can post updates to the PIER website with a mouse click, and directly notify the entire workforce via e-mail, fax or telephone just as easily. All inquires from employees or other stakeholders are tracked on the system, along with all responses. Any PIER function can be completed without assistance from IT or outside services.
“PIER addresses the 'people' side of business continuity, making it possible to communicate effectively with critical stakeholders even during difficult times,” noted Paul Grey, CEO of AudienceCentral. “Using PIER, our clients can better protect their workforce, work with them to minimize the impact of the emergency, and get back to normal operations as soon as possible.”
Employee communication is the latest application for AudienceCentral’s proven PIER system, which is currently being used by the U.S. Coast Guard, Allstate, BP, State of Washington, and other major clients. It was the primary system for the U.S. Coast Guard’s public communications during Hurricane Katrina, and is frequently used to manage stakeholder communications for large-scale projects such as metropolitan light rail, new pipelines and electrical generation facilities. PIER qualifies as a Joint Information System (operating as a virtual JIC) under the U.S. National Incident Management System (NIMS) directive.
About AudienceCentral
AudienceCentral provides on-demand software and professional services to help organizations manage communications with critical team members, employees, public officials, media, concerned citizens and other stakeholders. The Company’s premiere product, PIER is a web-based system designed to help communications professionals and senior management communicate faster, more efficiently, and more consistently. To learn more about AudienceCentral and the PIER system, visit http://www.audiencecentral.com.
# # #