The short answer is: “Yes, SIGNL4 can.” SIGNL4 can be seen as a so-called “pager app” for Android and iPhone. But more than that. Here is the how and why of it.
A pager is a small radio receiver. Each pager has a unique code or phone number. All the pagers that are in everyone’s pockets are receiving the broadcasts, but messages are ignored that do not contain your personal code. Once the page receives a message with your code, it buzzes or beeps and displays the message.
That is where things stop. Depending on the type of pager you have, there are no acknowledgements, collaboration, or any distinguishing factors that will quickly alert the receiver that a message is important. There is no immediate response a user can take other than to find a phone and call the sender back. Even if you have a two-way pager and can indicate you received the alert, that is not enough to appropriately communicate if assistance is needed right away.
As a pager app SIGNL4 addresses all shortcomings of the pager and offers a more complete operational user experience. This mobile app and SaaS solution for iPhone and Android assures users that no critical alerts are to be missed or miscommunicated. When an alert or an event is sent to SIGNL4 (either by email, webhook or REST API), all users (on duty) in that team receive the alert. On-call team members can quickly acknowledge, take ownership and collaborate with other team members on issues in real time. The pager is simply not enough when you can receive enriched, actionable mobile alerting via SIGNL4. Simplicity is key, but I do not think there is a button on a pager that can handle all of this.
And with GSM/3G or even 5G coverage becoming ubiquitous there is fading network coverage advantage remaing for paging networks.
Why is SIGNL4 a pager app and better than a pager device?
The reality of the matter is that many workforces still rely on eighties technology to assist in daily team operations. Pager usage can be found in hospital staffs, emergency response teams, construction crews, and much more even in 2018. We are here today to tell you how SIGNL4 picks up where a pager severely lacks.
Ease of Use
For most people iPhone and Android smartphones are already a part of daily life, so the transition to using them at work is seamless. Even though pagers are as simple as it gets and have just a few buttons, the overall process of using a pager becomes a burden to all. Let’s start with the obvious, it is another piece of hardware. You already have your smartphone in your pocket, why not use that instead of clipping a pager to your belt? Limit the hardware you keep on your person and move forward with a user-friendly mobile application for your operations team.
Alerting
Pagers all have more or less the same tone, look and feel regarding the messages that come through. Whether the message is simply a warning, or it is mission critical, there is no quick way of distinguishing the two outside of reading the message. SIGNL4 alerts you via push, text, email and voice call. The categories in the mobile app provides a unique visual appearance to each type of alert that is received. At a glance, you can quickly determine the severity of an issue based on the color and icon that is presented. When work is moving fast, headspace is limited. Little indicators like that can make all the difference in someone’s mental workflow.
The pager system can cause “bottlenecks” in hospitals: where nurse’s stations are frequently slammed by a group of recently-paged doctors all waiting to use the phone. With SIGNL4 they are receiving those alerts on their phone and can quickly respond no matter where they are. Once a page is sent, that is it; the pager notification process is a one and done type deal. SIGNL4 will persistently notify on-call teams of a critical alert until it is acknowledged. This ensures that issues are being resolved and not missed because you didn’t hear the page the 1 time it was sent.
Enrichment in a smart pager app
Critical information does not stop at the notification message in the SIGNL4 ‘pager app’. Depending on the systems or applications your team is connected to, users can configure custom parameters for alerts. When an alert comes in, team members can see additional sensor or IT data that can help pre-diagnose issues and expedite fix times. SIGNL4 enhances incident awareness, response and management with customizable alerts featuring advanced parameters, images, sound files, mp4 files, ticket links or PDFs and maps with geo-location details. SIGNL4 is not limited to a small text box like in a Spok pager. Learn here how to optimize your alerts.
Collaboration
Whether it be an on-call doctor or an IT staff member, there is a need for collaboration in every environment. Adding chat annotations in each specific alert allows an on-call team member to chat with other people and experts, thus enabling them to receive any additional information needed to address the alert. For example, medical professionals can chat about an incident and get advice from colleagues. A continuous dialogue is essential to any fast-paced work, and SIGNL4 as your pager app has that covered.
Escalation
Once a page is received that is it – that’s in the old pager world. There is no clear ownership among the team that receives a page. With SIGNL4, team members can quickly see who acknowledged an alert and is thus taking responsibility for the issue. What if no one answers the page? SIGNL4 has a built-in escalation procedure that will notify a manager should an alert go unacknowledged. This is the advanced power of a pager app.
Duty Scheduling
SIGNL4 simplifies duty scheduling for a quick, browser-based schedule setup without the need for Excel spreadsheets. It automatically routes alerts to the designated employees on duty, based on the schedule. The features include flexible scheduling with overlapping shifts, time zone support and a “Who is on duty” dashboard for real-time visibility. You’ll get mobile reminders for shift changes and automated reports for shift handovers. Discover all the on-call scheduling and management features here.
Looking Onward – Even more than smart pager app
2-way collaboration, persistent (repeated) alerting, and visual engagement allows critical responders to identify and react anywhere to an alert. In just that statement alone and the sections above there are just many points that set SIGNL4 ahead of the pager. Sure, a pager enhances a team with widespread notification, but what should one do when that is not enough? I am sure you know the answer. SIGNL4 – more than just a pager app.
