Emergency management software provides emergency response professionals the tools to prepare for, respond to, and recover from various emergencies or incidents. These solutions are predominantly used by government agencies for public safety, especially with disaster response and public threat neutralization, but have evolved to meet the needs of different businesses looking to protect people and assets. Emergency management software allows users to simulate possible emergency scenarios, operationalize procedures, and coordinate notifications and messaging. They connect with external data sources to monitor weather, media, and other signals that indicate an impending disaster, emergency, or incident. During an emergency response, users can quickly assess the progress of the emergency response by keeping track of checklists, activity logs, and communications. To support emergency recovery, these products help analyze response efficacy, track costs related to preparation and response, and conduct any auditing and compliance activities to improve future emergency management action plans.
Emergency management solutions are more comprehensive than the mass notification and alerting functionalities of emergency notification software. Emergency management software also differs from incident management software, which provides IT teams the tools to proactively investigate, respond, and curb IT emergencies rather than public safety emergencies. On the other hand, critical event management (CEM) platforms take the functionality of emergency management software and provide additional features to support cybersecurity, business continuity, and a greater range of incident planning and response.
To qualify for inclusion in the Emergency Management category, a product must:
- Create and store emergency plans for a variety of scenarios
- Gather and leverage data from tools such as GIS, weather channels, or disaster status systems to power emergency plans and strategies
- Communicate with and relay information to industries and departments such as hospitals, public health organizations, and state governments
- Provide post-emergency response analysis to audit and improve future responses
