Teamwire is one of the leading alternatives to WhatsApp for businesses – it is GDPR-compliant, intuitive to use, and therefore ideal for exchanging messages and data in private or group chats. The messaging service was recently given a new alerting feature for dealing with crises, which is extremely valuable in the case of critical events, disruptions and emergencies. This function can be used to inform employees about critical situations and to coordinate emergency teams – and all this more cheaply, reliably and with a greater reach and impact than alternative alerting solutions like text messaging, e-mail or telephone.
Instant information about critical events
An alert can be created either manually or triggered automatically by integrated systems such as control systems, production facilities or IT systems, and sent to a predefined group of recipients. All the employees of a company or of individual business units are therefore reached immediately and provided with important information – without any precious time being lost. Employees can subsequently be updated on a regular basis about the incident via a dedicated alert chat.
The fact that the alerts are sent with a special acoustic signal and visual highlighting ensures that messages do not go unnoticed.
Efficient communication for emergency and on-call teams
And Teamwire is not just suitable for mass communication. Emergency teams can also use the messaging app to exchange information and share documents like evacuation plans and photographs of the scene of the accident.
In addition, Teamwire features a panic button that can be used to trigger an alert and send this to a predefined distribution list via a group chat. An on-call team can locate the employee and coordinate further actions via the group chat.
Many areas of use for the alerting feature
The alerting feature can be used in a wide range of situations: when IT systems or servers fail, in the event of hacker attacks, when evacuating a site, in the event of disruptions to production, when important maintenance work is performed on machinery, for accidents, or in terror attacks. The function is particularly helpful for public agencies, the police, banks, insurance companies, organizations in the healthcare sector, power companies and utilities, as well as manufacturing and industrial companies.
“But generally, all companies are well advised to have a function they can use to instantly inform employees about critical incidents.”
Still a great demand for GDPR-compliant alternatives to WhatsApp
Four months after the GDPR came into effect, many businesses are still on the lookout for a GDPR-compliant solution for their internal communications – because the American messaging service WhatsApp, which many organizations have been using so far, is not able to meet the regulation’s high standards. This is a risk, as WhatsApp transfers contact data that is stored and shared to the US company’s servers, which is not permitted without explicit consent and without information about how the data is used. Using WhatsApp can therefore result in high fines and pose a significant business risk for companies if customers lose faith in them.
However, this type of messaging solution is indispensable for the exchange of messages and data between individual colleagues or entire teams. After all, it improves communication and cooperation, and increases employee productivity.
“With Teamwire, we are offering a solution that features similar functions to WhatsApp but which, in contrast, was specially developed for businesses, and which meets all European and German data protection regulations and requirements relating to security, administration and compliance.”
Data is encrypted, stored within the European Union, and are not passed on. Users can be managed, and communication rules defined easily, and it is possible to connect it to an Enterprise Mobility Management or Mobile Device Management System. The new alerting feature means that it can now be used for a broader range of applications.
