Mobile phones and their associated apps are quickly becoming the go-to form of technology for many businesses. As administrators discover the many advantages of using mobile phones and other mobile computing like tablet PCs in the workplace, more operations are being conducted through smart phones. In fact, during a recent survey, Symantecfound that 50 percent of businesses were using mobile or cloud-based technology for business use, with a good portion of that due to preparing for natural disasters. If you want to improve your current natural disaster solution, you find several benefits to using mobile computing.
Benefits of Utilizing Mobile Computing
By utilizing mobile computing in your disaster preparedness plan, you’re helping your business out in more ways than one. The main advantage is the ease of which you can prepare your plan. Not only are there plenty of mobile phone apps that make forming the plan a more simplified process, but it’s much easier to inform your employees of the changes to your disaster plan. If a natural disaster occurs in your area, employees can quickly open their mobile phones and have instant access to the plan. Additionally, employees will be able to access the plan without the use of electricity, which very often cuts off during a major disaster.
Risks of Mobile Computing and Disaster Preparedness
If you choose to do the majority of your disaster preparedness with mobile computing, you should keep in mind the implications of this. This is especially important to consider when the mobile phone apps are the only place you have a copy of your natural disaster plan. If you don’t have paper copies of the natural disaster plan, then situations where a phone isn’t charged, technical app difficulties, or a mobile device is lost or stolen could be especially troublesome.
Disaster Planning Apps
As mentioned, there are a variety of helpful disaster planning apps for your smart phone that will make preparing the plan an easy process. The following apps can guide you through the process of making a disaster plan along with other features, such as updated disaster news or where to go for disaster assistance.
- Emergency Radio – This is an app for Android and iPhones that gives you instant access to your local police department, updates on the current disaster, police and fire scanners, and maps of where the event is taking place.
- Disaster Caster – If your company is in the middle of a natural disaster, you may not have the time to contact others, including colleagues that may be out of the office at the time. Disaster Caster lets you easily get in touch with emergency contacts with information on where to meet up and other instructions.
- Pocket First Aid & CPR – This app gives you detailed step-by-step instructions if you need to administer CPR or first aid. In the case of an injury or illness as a result of the natural disaster, this app can be extremely helpful.
Planning your business’s natural disaster plan is an important part of safeguarding your company and employees. If you are accustomed to using mobile devices in the workplace, mobile computing as a natural disaster solution can be a great decision for you.
