BlackBerry Boosts AtHOC Crisis Communication Platform

BlackBerry has expanded its AtHOC crisis communication platform to incorporate new languages, improved geographical targeting and enhance its security and performance.

The move further strengthens BlackBerry’s push into becoming a communications software provider for enterprises rather than a smartphone maker.

Keep calm and communicate on

Under the BlackBerry Secure banner, the company boasted that AtHOC’s updates, notably the expansion to include eight new languages, extends its use and prevents language barriers from being a barrier to communications where response times are critical.

“Communicating during and after a crisis is a universal challenge,” said Oded Shekel vice president of product management at BlackBerry AtHoc.

“We make it easier for customers in Europe and Latin America to protect people by sending messages and monitoring activity in local languages. By automating this process and reducing the burden of translations, we are helping organisations reach personnel quickly during a crisis, without language becoming a barrier when response time is critical.”

Updates to the platform bring in new custom map layering to make targeting users faster and easier for complex global organisations, and offer a simplified user experience for mobile devices to improve how information is sent in a crisis through the AtHOC mobile app.

BlackBerry claims the updates also user in a 50 percent faster page load times in parts of the platform that are used the most, as well as boosting the security and privacy of AtHOC so that is adheres to global privacy standards.

The latest technology is increasingly being used to pilot and improve the ways in which the emergency services can respond to call outs and crises. Google is planning on informing 999 responders of a callers location, while 999EYE is aiming to let emergencies be livestreamed from smartphones to provide the emergency services with real-time information of an accident scene.

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