Delaware County, Pennsylvania, officials recently announced plans to transition to a new text alert system.
The need for a new service arose when residents reported issues with the prior bulk SMS alert service, with messages often arriving simultaneously or not at all. County officials told the Delaware County Daily Times that the new system will be more robust and reliable, offering alerts on various types of emergencies, including weather and public safety alerts.
The new service is also being touted as a cost saving measure for the various schools and municipalities in the county, as they can utilize the system to send out community-specific alerts instead of acquiring their own emergency alert service.
"We think this is a good step for us," Larry Bak, Delaware County deputy emergency management coordinator, told the Daily Times.
The county had set a June 30 transition date, but a local storm last week set workers back an undisclosed amount of time. There is no word yet on when the new system will be up and running or if the old system will remain in place in the interim.
Subscribers to the previous service will have to re-enroll into the new service, and will be sent notifications urging them to do so once the new system is up and running.
The delayed and undelivered messages from the previous system was a frequent problem in the area, reported in four additional counties in the Philadelphia area. Those other counties, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia, are all transitioning to the new service as a result.
There's a lesson for the private sector here: customers will not stand for inconsistencies in their messaging. For a reliable service, Swift SMS Gateway's SMS API can help you consistently reach your clients.
