The Enterprise Working Environment is Changing Rapidly Due to the Global Health Situation Surrounding Coronavirus
Companies are asking employees to ban non-essential travel, meet customers and internal stakeholders via video collaboration platforms, and, in some drastic cases, work from home.
Is your enterprise ready for this sudden change in working habits? Most importantly, can your organization connect remote workers and soft client users to 911, and route their call with its precise location to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)?
There are two components to consider when 911 is dialed remotely or from a soft client:
- Tracking the location of the caller’s device and obtaining the location details
- Routing the call with location information in a dispatchable format to the correct PSAP
Tracking E911 Locations from Remote Devices
Enterprises can easily locate remote and mobile workers with Intrado’s Emergency Gateway (EGW) – an E911 management appliance – which includes the Remote Location Manager application (RLM) that allows off-site users to self-provision their locations. Its easy-to-use interface automatically pops up on the employee’s screen when they connect to a new off-site location and prompts them to enter their address details. RLM can identify when the user has connected to a previously entered location, so they only have to self-provision a location once.
Intrado also offers a cloud-based softphone tracking solution with the Location Manager (LM) application. LM provides similar capabilities as EGW and RLM by prompting users to enter their location details when they connect to a new location’s network.
Routing 911 Call and Location Information to the Right PSAP
Remote employees will often use an out of area phone number when working remotely, which can pose a challenge when routing a 911 call to the correct PSAP. Intrado’s Emergency Routing Service (ERS), a cloud-based E911 routing solution, provides call routing capabilities for remote users. ERS is able to route to the correct PSAP even for users with out of area phone numbers. When a remote user dials 911, ERS uses the location information provided by the remote user to identify the correct PSAP for call routing, and delivers the user’s call with location information to the PSAP.
Having this solution in place not only helps your enterprise keep everyone in its network safe, it allows your organization to meet the regulations outlined in the FCC’s dispatchable location requirements, as required by Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act. These new requirements have been implemented to help reduce response times, giving first responders a simpler way to determine the location of an emergency. For example: first responders will spend less time searching for the emergency with a location dispatched as 123 main street, third floor, suite 3A than with an address transmitted as 123 main street, especially if they arrive on-site to find a five-story building.
Be Prepared and Have a Plan
It may take some time before your enterprise feels the impact of the world’s current health situation. You may already be taking the necessary precautions to keep your workers safe. Ensuring your remote workforce has access to a reliable and trusted 911 network should be one of the most important action items on your company’s continuity plan.
Don’t delay – talk to one of our E911 experts today to find out how you can integrate 911 in your communications deployment.
