How AlertMedia Customers Use Real-Time Intelligence to Protect Their People and Business
This post covers why real-time threat intelligence is critical to employee safety and how AlertMedia customers turn critical information into action.
In today’s rapidly evolving world, threats facing businesses are becoming more complex and unpredictable while increasing in scale and frequency. Extreme weather events, driven by climate change, have been a significant cause of supply chain disruptions.
For instance, Hurricane Helene flooded a small mountain town in North Carolina that supplied nearly all of the world’s purest quartz, a necessary mineral for semiconductor production. The disruption to the supply chain of this valuable material put a 600 billion-dollar global industry at staggering risk. Destructive storms like Helene are becoming more likely, and the global impacts can disable businesses.
Other threats, such as the widespread demonstrations during the 2024 global elections, can cause transportation delays and put local communities and business travelers at risk if tensions escalate into violence.
Why do thousands of organizations worldwide partner with AlertMedia to help them monitor, identify, and respond to threats?
Preparing to manage risks like these requires timely and accurate information. Having a reliable system to monitor and assess emerging and ongoing threats is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. That is why thousands of organizations worldwide partner with AlertMedia to help them monitor, identify, and respond to threats.
AlertMedia Threat Intelligence acts as a workforce multiplier to improve your internal team’s ability to monitor major global events or localized incidents that could impact your employees, locations, and assets. Our team of in-house analysts works around the clock to monitor thousands of data sources, filter out the noise, and deliver only the most relevant view of events that may impact your people and business. Coupled with robust emergency communication capabilities, AlertMedia allows your safety and security teams to monitor for threats, automate real-time warnings, and communicate with impacted individuals seamlessly from one platform.
Here are a few examples of how this real-time, verified intelligence can help your organization make informed decisions.
Qualtrics Uses AlertMedia to Build a Global Safety Program With a Personal Touch
Co-headquartered in Provo, Utah, and Seattle, Washington, Qualtrics operates out of 28 offices globally, with many employees working remotely. With thousands of employees working across multiple time zones and countries, it was increasingly difficult to sift through and respond to all the potential threats impacting employees.
An employee-first approach to safety and security ensured Qualtrics’ distributed workforce felt safe and supported, no matter where they worked. Using AlertMedia’s integrated threat intelligence and emergency communication software, Qualtrics can now monitor and quickly respond to critical events worldwide, keeping safety and morale high.
“Any time there’s an employee safety matter, that becomes our top priority for our security operations center,” says Richard Grue, the company’s Global Head of Physical Security & Safety. However, with such a geographically dispersed workforce, the sheer volume of alerts kicked up by Qualtrics’ threat monitoring process made it difficult to analyze and take action on emerging threats that could impact employee safety.
The Qualtrics security team previously relied on open source intelligence (OSINT) data for threat monitoring. However, it was becoming increasingly time-consuming for the security team to triage the information from OSINT alerts and respond when necessary. “Trying to take OSINT data and turn it into intelligence that we could use to inform and protect our employees was too slow of a process,” explains Grue.
—Richard Grue, Global Head of Physical Security & Safety at Qualtrics
Since Qualtrics adopted AlertMedia, it has responded faster and more effectively to a range of critical situations worldwide. With AlertMedia’s integrated threat intelligence and emergency communication solution, the Qualtrics security team has the insights to stay ahead of emerging threats, turning intelligence into action. “We want to empower our people with the information they need. AlertMedia allows our security team to think about which categories of threats matter to our employees and then build the solution and alerting mechanisms around that,” says Grue. “AlertMedia allows us to give our people the information they need to make decisions that keep them safe.” The two-way communication capabilities also enable the security team to stay connected with employees during critical events.
One of those incidents was in California, where severe weather impacted several remote employees’ power and internet supplies. “AlertMedia allowed us to identify which employees were impacted by ongoing weather events and empower them with the resources they needed to take a step back from work, focus on their situation, and stay safe.” With AlertMedia, when a threat may impact employees, Qualtrics can make a timely, informed decision about how to act and send an alert to any employees who may be in harm’s way.
AlertMedia Helps FCC Protect Its Employees and Operations
The manufacturing industry is particularly vulnerable to rising threats such as global supply chain disruptions, severe weather, and regulatory changes. As a result, many manufacturing companies have innovated, finding ways to limit the impact of these challenges and prevent even more significant economic consequences.
For example, FCC North America uses AlertMedia to identify and assess the impact of relevant threats to their business and communicate critical information to their people worldwide. FCC manufactures clutch assembly products for the automotive industry and operates five facilities across North America. Like many other manufacturing companies, FCC constantly monitors threats that might impact its people and operations across multiple locations and its international supply chain, where disruptions are incredibly costly.
AlertMedia’s threat intelligence solution enables FCC to keep a pulse on any threats that may disrupt business logistics. “Some of the parts we need for manufacturing assembly are sourced from Asia. A severe weather event impacting Vietnam or Thailand could delay shipments and impact our operations. AlertMedia’s threat intelligence gives our leadership team visibility into unfolding events around the world that could potentially disrupt business operations so that they can take proactive steps to mitigate the risk,” says Michael Hunt, FCC’s ERP Systems and IT Manager.
They also track threats that could put their employees in harm’s way, both on-site and near their employees’ homes. With real-time, reliable threat insights, FCC can rapidly notify employees of any unfolding events that might impact them locally. Diana Pethtel, ERP Systems Staff Administrator at FCC, says, “By monitoring emerging threats in relation to where employees live and work, we can drastically improve employee safety. If an employee’s been on the manufacturing floor all day without access to the latest news, AlertMedia allows us to give them a heads up about any threats that could impact them before they head home.”
—Michael Hunt, ERP Systems and IT Manager at FCC
Once FCC identifies a threat and assesses its impact, they use AlertMedia’s multichannel communication tool to send targeted notifications to those affected, helping improve employee safety and business continuity initiatives.
Warby Parker Uses AlertMedia to Scale Its Safety Initiatives Across Hundreds of Locations
In addition to helping FCC protect their highly dispersed business assets and employees, AlertMedia’s threat intelligence team helps Warby Parker, the wildly successful glasses retailer, safeguard their employees and store locations during critical events (including the 2020 Nashville bombing).
Traditionally, the primary motivation of the retail industry’s asset protection plan has been to reduce theft. However, in a recent interview on The Employee Safety Podcast, Chris Hinger, Warby Parker’s Director of Loss Prevention, touches on a shift in loss prevention priorities, “We’re no longer just focused on shrink or theft. The loss prevention industry has shifted from being reactive and transactional to having proactive plans across different business channels. For us, employee safety is absolutely one of those channels. I think the main reason for this shift has been the increased risk our frontline workers face, whether in stores or corporate offices.”
Today, in addition to theft, retailers must also monitor events like acts of violence, severe weather, and political demonstrations that can impact the health and safety of thousands of employees and customers across multiple locations.
For example, on Christmas Day in 2020, a bomb exploded inside an RV in downtown Nashville. The damage from the bomb was widespread. Many businesses in the area were impacted, including the AT&T building. Damage to the AT&T building led to widespread service outages throughout the region.
Warby Parker has two retail stores and a corporate office in the downtown area. The company used AlertMedia to locate their employees near the event and send a survey to ask whether or not they required medical attention. The ability to get instant feedback allowed Warby Parker to quickly identify what actions they needed to take to ensure the safety of their people in the area.
Once Warby Parker confirmed their people’s safety, they shifted from an emergency response to a business continuity plan. Because of the widespread internet outages in the area, Warby Parker sent out a survey over multiple channels, such as text and voice messages, to determine if their employees scheduled to work at their two Nashville store locations would be able to work their shifts. This real-time feedback helped Warby Parker decide whether they needed to shift resources and how best to assist their employees impacted by the outages.
Given the number and diversity of threats facing retail businesses, organizations must develop robust asset protection and business continuity plans that can effectively scale across hundreds of locations. With a plan in place, retail companies can proactively and efficiently respond to threats and help increase the organization’s profitability. From aiding in loss prevention strategies to helping them keep their people and businesses safe during critical events, AlertMedia has proven to be a valuable asset for Warby Parker and their employees.
Cutting Through the Noise to Deliver Actionable Intelligence
Much like monitoring happenings worldwide for a newsroom, monitoring threats for a business is a 24/7, 365-day-a-year job. However, the stakes are arguably much higher with personal safety on the line.
Executing an effective threat monitoring strategy starts with having the right mix of sources and, more importantly, the headcount and skillset to quickly identify relevant threats, gather context, and weed out misinformation that could lead valuable resources down a distracting rabbit hole. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t have the resources to employ robust, 24/7 global security operation centers to monitor hundreds of independent information sources like local news, social channels, and the National Weather Service.
Some AI-driven intelligence solutions can aggregate large data sets and open source signals, but this still requires the infrastructure and expertise to turn this into actionable intelligence. Organizations must still distill what is essential to their business and contextualize it geographically to understand how it will impact their people and operations.
That is why it is necessary to have a team of skilled analysts to effectively comb through the mountain of information available and verify legitimate threats before alerting relevant parties. You can deploy a quicker and more effective response when you can trust that you’re getting the most accurate and actionable information about emerging threats.
Pohlad Companies Safeguards Over 35 Locations Globally With AlertMedia
Founded by Carl Pohlad in the 1950s, Minneapolis-based Pohlad Companies is a family-owned holding company with interests in various industries, from sports and entertainment to commercial real estate, engineering, and more. With a diverse range of organizations and over 3,000 employees to protect, Pohlad Companies needed to ensure it could effectively identify threats and communicate with employees, regardless of industry or location.
After evaluating several emergency communication platforms, Pohlad Companies chose AlertMedia for its reliability, adaptability, and ease of use. With AlertMedia, Pohlad Companies has equipped the organizations it owns with the threat intelligence and emergency communication capabilities they need to keep their people safe, informed, and connected during any crisis. AlertMedia’s full-featured mobile app gives the security team a global reach and the ability to geofence areas around facility and employee locations. With targeted threat monitoring, Mike Goldstein, Vice President of Security and Information Technology, and his team can receive timely updates wherever they may be and quickly notify employees of a potential threat. “The mobile app and geofencing capabilities are two features I really don’t know how I’d operate without,” adds Goldstein.
“AlertMedia’s threat intelligence capabilities allow us to provide accurate, vetted information to employees about critical incidents—and ensure they know the difference between real threats and false alarms,” says Goldstein. With a solution that combines global threat intelligence alerts and reliable, two-way emergency communication into one easy-to-use platform, Pohlad Companies and its holdings can access the critical, time-sensitive information they need to protect their employees and facilities.
For example, when extreme weather affected the location of their holding PAR Systems in Brunswick, Georgia, Luke Roloff, Senior Risk Manager at PAR Systems, could easily communicate with employees and advise them on steps they needed to take to stay safe. “During hurricane season, our team in Georgia experiences significant storms,” explains Roloff. “AlertMedia allows us to instantly communicate with every employee in the path of the storm, even when they’re at home, when the local infrastructure could be down, or when our server network could be down. Having that backup is vital.” AlertMedia has become synonymous with security and peace of mind for Pohlad and all their holding companies.
The Minnesota Twins Hit a Home Run in Safety With AlertMedia
The Minnesota Twins take their name from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Fast-forward more than a century, and this Major League Baseball (MLB) team now hosts an average of 2 million fans each year at Target Field, their home stadium in downtown Minneapolis. In addition to baseball games, the 38,000-capacity Target Field also hosts a wide range of events, including concerts, conventions, and community events throughout the year.
Safeguarding star athletes, millions of fans, and regular and seasonal employees in bustling public spaces presents a formidable challenge. However, after witnessing the success the team’s owner, Pohlad Companies, had with AlertMedia, the Twins began using the integrated threat intelligence and emergency communication solution. They quickly saw the benefits of this partnership and started identifying and addressing potential risks.
—Jeff Beahen, Senior Director of Security at the Minnesota Twins
Jeff Beahen, Senior Director of Security for the Minnesota Twins, created a targeted distribution list within AlertMedia to inform the security team and key stakeholders of potential threats. The list includes the team’s public and private security staff, senior leadership, baseball managers, and the first aid team. “If I see something relevant to the stadium or team as a whole, I’ll disseminate that by sending an alert to that group,” says Beahen. “And even when it’s not strictly relevant to the stadium, I get feedback that they’re glad I alerted them.”
Having a single solution integrating threat intelligence with emergency communication has made Beahan’s work much more manageable. “If I can narrow the scope down and use a reliable, accurate system that works well, it makes my job much simpler,” he says. “I don’t need to monitor nine or 10 different screens or apps on my phone. Simple is better.”
AlertMedia has also made it easier for the Twins security team to avoid potential threats when traveling in unfamiliar environments. “AlertMedia’s mobile app is a game-changer,” says the team’s Director of Security, Charles Adams. “Wherever we go, we’re armed with live threat intelligence at our fingertips. Whether navigating around road closures or bracing for severe weather, having timely and pertinent information about potential hazards gives us a leg up on our response.”
With round-the-clock access to reliable, human-verified threat intelligence, Beahen can swiftly assess the proximity and severity of potential incidents and craft a proactive, well-informed response. “It’s easy to react after the fact,” says Beahen. “But when we have threat intelligence as risks evolve, we can actively develop a plan to mitigate or even prevent potential threats. That feels like a home run.”
Parting Thought
Given the increasing frequency and severity of threats, having a comprehensive threat intelligence and emergency communication solution is now a critical requirement for any organization looking to enhance employee safety and business continuity. AlertMedia helps thousands of organizations tackle the growing complexity of keeping a remote workforce safe with access to fast, location-aware intelligence and a more reliable way to communicate when every second counts.
