By: Jim Shulkin
That’s Sooo 2020!
Without question, 2020 was a year of changes in the world that would’ve been utterly unimaginable prior to it.
As with most crises, Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) have been on the front lines of this pandemic from day one. The result – major adjustments in priorities happened almost overnight, backup plans have now become, well, just “the plan,” and new awkward uncertainties surround even our most basic interactions with others.
Make no mistake, history has been written, ensuring anything described as being, “so 2020,” going forward will not be intended as flattery.
COVID-19 Is Reshaping Emergency Communication Centers
COVID-19 has inarguably brought tremendous new challenges and changes to the operations of ECCs, thereby the daily work and lives of the teams that make them go. By now it’s hard to fathom many of those changes not living on long after this pandemic.
However, through adversity comes learning. There may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel regarding ways COVID-19 is reshaping emergency communications centers. We’ve had to learn through this real-life worst-case scenario as it developed right in front of us. We saw firsthand how a modern-day worldwide public health crisis can stretch our operational capacities and norms to new thresholds, and in some cases, past their breaking points.
A required result of COVID-19 must be new insight and action plans for dealing with the next crisis, as vaccines will obviously not provide an enduring panacea, impenetrable to whatever the next worldwide or local emergency may bring.
5 Ways COVID-19 Changes ECCs
In a newly published white paper, 5 Ways COVID-19 is Reshaping Emergency Communications Centers, we outline key changes that have taken, and continue to take place directly as a result of the pandemic. While the list is obviously not exhaustive and will continue to evolve, it entails a handful of significant and unquestionably key trends that in aggregate, demonstrates the fluidity, resilience, and dire needs of our critical front-line teams and functions.
The white paper provides detailed information and references to resources on the following ways the pandemic is changing the ECC landscape, as well a brief look at what’s ahead:
• Rising Need for Remote Capabilities
• Renewed Calls for Alternative Funding
• Increasing Demand for Partnerships
• Shifting Focus Towards Intelligence
• Heightened Emphasis on Health and Safety
We invite you to download a free copy of the white paper today for more in-depth information on what’s changing, and/or post your comments on if you agree, disagree, or other notable changes you’re seeing occur as well.
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