Enterprise Call Recording

IT decision makers in K-12 and higher education organizations have inadequate knowledge regarding the value and impact of Enhanced 911 (E911) technology, according to a survey commissioned by Teo, a telecom company.

Schools rely on PBX (News - Alert) to connect individuals. As a result, calls made to a 911 operations center may not provide information about the exact location of the caller. This presents hurdles to emergency management.

In this situation, emergency responders may waste time identifying the caller’s origin. With an E911 response system, responders are provided specific location information for every call made to E911 emergency dispatchers.

According to the survey, 70 percent of respondents said their organization has an emergency communications plan, while only one third of organizations have actually enabled an E911 response system. This means they are exposed to risk without E911 response systems in place.

“With this survey, we learned from key stakeholders how the education sector values E911 technology and what they are doing to improve safety for their students and staff,” said Steve Hill, president of Teo, in a statement.

“These findings indicate that education organizations are not equipped with important technology to help manage emergency situations. It is our goal to help increase awareness of available E911 technology and how it can help improve safety in an effective and affordable way,” Hill added.

Seventy percent are concerned about liability risks associated with their PBX technology, but 78 percent had done nothing to mitigate risk. Lack of knowledge contributed to the finding that E911 technology was not a spending priority in the next year for the majority of respondents, according to the survey titled “Dialing in on E911: Emergency Communications Awareness in Education.”

E911 response systems accurately pinpoint the origin of a 911 call while alerting need-to-know personnel via screen pop-ups and text messages.

According to a recent survey commissioned by networking major Cisco, more than three-quarters of top education officials around the world believe technology can play a major role in how students learn and how teachers educate.