Communication is the most important component of continuity. Whatever the size of your organisation, ensuring accurate information is pushed out in a timely manner to the right people can be the difference between a quick, decisive recovery, and prolonged, floundering downtime.

1. How to build a mass
notification service for
disaster recovery

2. www.databarracks.com | 2www.databarracks.com | 2
INTRO &
AGENDA
Duration: 30 mins
(including Q&A)
Type questions on
the right
Q
• What do I need from a mass notification
service?
• Overview of the tools needed to build your own
• Step-by-step guide of how to build the service
• Further/custom development
*Slides will be made available and sent out following this session

3. www.databarracks.com | 3www.databarracks.com | 3
WHAT IS
MASS
NOTIFICATION
SERVICE?
Communicating
at Scale
Separate from
normal
communications
For staff, suppliers,
customers

4. www.databarracks.com | 4www.databarracks.com | 4
WHAT IS MASS NOTIFICATION SERVICE?
• Letter
• Email
• Group SMS, WhatsApp (or other
OTT messaging service)
• Reply-all
• Correct contact information
• Notifications enabled?
When you need to communicate with a
group, what method do you use?
What limitations do they have?

5. www.databarracks.com | 5www.databarracks.com | 5
WHAT IS MASS NOTIFICATION SERVICE?
What can small businesses use?
A call tree Contact card & recorded messages

6. www.databarracks.com | 6www.databarracks.com | 6
WHAT CAN I USE FOR A MASS
NOTIFICATION SERVICE?
An enterprise - standard Mass Notification tool:
Features include:
• Team management including department and GIS location
• Multiple communications channels
• Confirmed of delivery and receipt
http://www.cirmagazine.com/cir/reports/EMergencyandMassNotificationSoftwareReport2016-17.pdf
http://bciworld2017.com
What do big businesses need?

7. www.databarracks.com | 7www.databarracks.com | 7
WHAT DO I NEED FROM A MASS
NOTIFICATION SERVICE?
“Good” communication fulfils two basic
criteria:
• Relevancy
• Consistency
Considerations:
• How many different messages need to be
delivered?
• What kind of communication will be needed
throughout the incident?
• What is the consequence of failure?
What does my organisation need?

8. www.databarracks.com | 8www.databarracks.com | 8
WHAT DO I NEED FROM A MASS
NOTIFICATION SERVICE?
Scenario 1:
• You have a disaster and the recovery
process is effective, but you
communication with staff, customers
and suppliers is poor
Scenario 2:
• You have a disaster and the recovery
process isn’t smooth, but
communication with all parties
throughout is effective.
What would you prefer?

9. How to build your
own mass
notification service

10. www.databarracks.com | 10www.databarracks.com | 10
WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED?
A Twilio account from which
to push notifications via SMS
or voice.
Excel or Google Sheets to
manage and organise your
list of contacts.
A Zapier account to connect
your recipient list to your
Twilio account.

11. www.databarracks.com | 11www.databarracks.com | 11
STEP 1 - CREATING THE CONTACT LIST
• Give your spreadsheet a sensible
name
• Add your own contact details to
test

12. www.databarracks.com | 12www.databarracks.com | 12
STEP 1 - CREATE SUB-GROUPS

13. www.databarracks.com | 13www.databarracks.com | 13
STEP 1 - CREATE FULL LIST

14. www.databarracks.com | 14www.databarracks.com | 14
STEP 1 - PRE-PREPARE YOUR MESSAGES

15. www.databarracks.com | 15www.databarracks.com | 15
STEP 2 - SETUP A TWILIO ACCOUNT
https://www.twilio.com/

16. www.databarracks.com | 16www.databarracks.com | 16
STEP 3 – CREATE ZAPIER ACCOUNT TO
CONNECT CONTACT LIST TO TWILIO
https://zapier.com/

17. www.databarracks.com | 17www.databarracks.com | 17
STEP 3 – CREATE THE ‘ACTION’ IN TWILIO

18. www.databarracks.com | 18www.databarracks.com | 18
STEP 3 – CREATE THE MESSAGE

19. www.databarracks.com | 19www.databarracks.com | 19
STEP 3 – NAME THE ZAP

20. www.databarracks.com | 20www.databarracks.com | 20
STEP 3 – DONE

21. www.databarracks.com | 21www.databarracks.com | 21
DISASTER INVOCATION AND
NOTIFICATION PROCESS
Disaster
invocation
Open
spreadsheet for
pre-prepared
statement
Copy and update
statement into
Zapier
Copy contacts
into correct tab
Messages sent Users notified

22. www.databarracks.com | 22www.databarracks.com | 22
LIMITATIONS
• Free Zapier package (currently):
– Updates every 15 minutes. Paid plans reduce this to 5
mins.
– 5 Zaps
– 100 tasks per month
– Autoreplay of tasks not included
Free packages are subject to change!

23. www.databarracks.com | 23
FURTHER/CUSTOM DEVELOPMENT
• Connect to an internal CRM
• Fire off a webhook
• Send a message in Slack
• Add an email to personal email
address
• Use the Twilio API to connect with
internal applications
Use Zapier to connect to other apps Connect Twilio to internal systems

24. www.databarracks.com | 24www.databarracks.com | 24
SUMMARY
• Good communication is relevant and consistent
• Use a communication channel that will be received/checked
immediately
• Pre-prepare messages to save time during a disaster
• Build a solution that is fit for your needs

25. www.databarracks.com | 25
RESOURCES
• Using WhatsApp for mass
notifications:
– http://www.computerweekly.com/
news/450415007/CIO-interview-
Jon-Cheyne-IT-director-National-
Theatre
• Emergency and mass notification
software report 2016 – 2017
– http://www.cirmagazine.com/cir/r
eports/EMergencyandMassNotific
ationSoftwareReport2016-17.pdf
• BCI World
– http://bciworld2017.com
• The Business Continuity Podcast
– http://www.thebcpcast.com/
• The Cost of IT Downtime
– http://costofitdowntime.com/

26. www.databarracks.com | 26www.databarracks.com | 26
THE BCPCAST
http://www.thebcpcast.com/

27. Thank you