If you’re an enterprise, 9-1-1 can be scary. There are changing regulations, evolving technology, and shifts in how and where your workforce, well, works. Understanding your options, and picking a solution that’s best for you can be overwhelming. So let’s make it simple, get you out from being overwhelmed, and lay out the things your enterprise really needs to know about 9-1-1.
9-1-1 Rules and Regulations
In the last few years, there have been several changes surrounding 9-1-1. The most notable law, and the one you’re probably most familiar with, is Kari’s Law. This targets multiline telephone systems (MLTS), like the kind often found on business campuses, and changes how 9-1-1 can be dialed (no more dialing a prefix to reach an outside line). It also adds new regulations around notifying personnel at the location when 9-1-1 has been called.
Businesses must be compliant with Kari’s Law by February 2020, which will be here before you know it.
On top of Kari’s Law, several states have implemented their own regulations around 9-1-1, ranging from how dialing 9-1-1 works to what information is passed along when emergency services are called. If you’re an enterprise, it’s critical that you find out what regulations your state has imposed in addition to the federal laws.
Finally, last year the FCC began looking into MLTS technologies for 9-1-1, suggesting that providing a dispatchable location with every 9-1-1 call could become a federal requirement in the near future.
9-1-1 Routing Options
On top of new rules and regulations, there’s also been a huge shift in the process of sending emergency services where they’re needed. How we think of calling 9-1-1 and having the police, an ambulance, or a fire truck show up at front door has changed.
- Standard VoIP Routing -- This is what most of us think of when we hear 9-1-1. If you live at 123 Main Street (and are calling from your VoIP phone), standard VoIP routing is how you’re sent help. By provisioning your phone number to your address, emergency services know where you are, even if you can’t say it.
- Dynamic Location Routing -- What if 123 Main Street is where your five-story office building is? How would emergency services know if help was called on the first floor or the fifth floor? For workers that move around a lot, from their desks or to a conference room, dynamic location routing allows more granularocation data to be shared, including floor, room, and even what corner of the building, at the time of the call, ensuring help gets where it’s needed, when it’s needed.
Talk to an Expert
So many businesses are scared of 9-1-1 because they think it’s confusing, and to be honest, it can be. Fortunately, we’ve spent the last 20 years making 9-1-1 uncomplicated. The best thing your enterprise can do is ask questions -- find out what solutions you need, and how you should implement them both now, and for the future.
Learn more about 9-1-1.
