Offering local organizations the ability to quickly and efficiently respond to natural disasters

(Charlotte, North Carolina), (February 11, 2020) – On February 6, 2020, a Tornado moved quickly through the heart of the city over a two-hour window, forcing schools, organizations, and businesses to coordinate a fast response. While many organizations scrambled to manage the situation, those that utilize the PunchAlert safety communications platform were able to efficiently and effectively respond to the natural disaster.

Punch has a significant presence in the Charlotte area, working with most of the private schools in the city (and some public), places of worship, YMCA’s, public venues, sports teams, commercial real-estate hubs, large companies, colleges and more.

According to Punch’s anonymized data from February 6th, over 50 distinct customer organizations at separate locations used the platform with over 16,000 individual users, handling 35 emergencies with active 2-way discussion and mass notifications for each, sending 41 announcements (non-emergency alerts), and making 21 calls to 911+™.

“As a Charlotte-based company, it was very important that we gain critical customer mass here, not only because it’s our home, but because the more local organizations that use the technology, the more effective it becomes,” said Greg Artzt, co-founder and CEO of Punch Technologies.

The 911+ calls placed during this incident allowed individuals to create real-time awareness amongst colleagues that 911 was in fact called. This alleviated redundant pressure on the 911 call centers in Charlotte that were already receiving an abundance of calls and overload on their operation during the storm. 911+ also carries a number of other benefits including precise location awareness critical for routing an emergency to the nearest call center and simultaneous notifications to family members when appropriate.

“With the help of Punch Alert, YMCA of Greater Charlotte was able to send mass communication to our staff, allowing for quick and effective activation of our emergency response action plans at 15 YMCA facilities throughout the region,” said Christy Priester, YMCA of Greater Charlotte’s association executive director of risk management. “Being able to activate our action plans on a large scale at multiple locations allowed our members, volunteers and team members to quickly get to safe areas.”

Artzt concluded from the incident: “It is our great privilege to work so closely with our partners across the country and especially in our home community of Charlotte. We will work diligently to continue learning from these partners in improving our platform so that we are even better prepared for the next similar incident that may follow.”

What’s Next at Punch

Punch Technologies is also releasing a wearable, internet-connected, panic button product that connects to PunchAlert called Rescue. The new wearable platform, which comes with a base station and charging station, aims to set a new standard for reliability and performance during an emergency situation. YMCA’s in particular, have been pre-ordering the system across the country due to a very compelling, unique feature – the device automatically activates an emergency when submerged in water.

About Punch Technologies, Inc.

Punch Technologies is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based software company, and creator of the PunchAlert safety communications platform. PunchAlert gets you help and information faster by relying on the people, organizations, and official responders in your area. It is the only all-in-one mobile safety, emergency management and mass notification platform. Now with 911+, Punch enables the next generation of connectivity to 100 percent of the 911 call centers in the US and Canada via the PunchAlert app or 3rd party API’s (911+ Connect) for other service providers or product developers.

For more information visit www.punchalert.com

←Back to Blog