Communication Should Work Where Your People Work
For most of us, the first thing we reach for when we need to communicate is our mobile phone. And for many businesses, that works well; until it doesn’t!
If your team works in forestry, farming, rural areas, large sites, tourism, haulage or other remote locations, there may be times when mobile coverage is weak, unavailable or simply not reliable enough for the job.
When being out of coverage costs more than you think
Imagine a service vehicle working several kilometres into a forestry block.
Something goes wrong. The operator needs to contact the office or another team member. They reach for their phone and find they have no coverage.
The options may be to drive until they find a signal, send someone else to find help, or simply wait. None of these options are particularly efficient. And in a safety-critical situation, the consequences can be much more serious.
This isn’t about replacing mobile phones. It’s about having the right communication tool for the environment your team works in.
Two-way radio remains a practical communication option for workplaces where teams need to stay connected across large areas or where mobile phone coverage can’t be relied upon. And today’s radio systems can do much more than traditional push-to-talk communication.
Alcom Connect, our VHF digital trunked radio network, provides coverage across remote areas of the Central North Island and is designed for businesses operating where conventional mobile coverage can be limited.
Depending on your requirements, the network can provide:
- Wide-area coverage across the network
- Group calling for teams and work groups
- One-to-one calling
- Emergency call priority
- GPS tracking and welfare monitoring
- Text messaging
- Radio-to-phone calling
- Seamless movement between network sites
That means your team can have a dedicated communication system designed around the way they actually work, rather than relying on everyone having mobile coverage at exactly the right time.
Could your business benefit?
If your team regularly works in places where mobile coverage is unreliable, it may be worth looking at your communication options. Ask yourself:
- Can our team contact each other when they’re outside mobile coverage?
- How much time do we lose when someone has to travel to find a signal?
- What happens if someone working alone needs urgent assistance?
- Can our communications system support us during an emergency?
If any of these questions raise concerns about your current communications, it could be time to review your system.
Communication should work where your people work
At Alcom, we don’t believe there is one communication solution that suits every business. Sometimes the right answer is a conventional two-way radio system. Sometimes it’s a repeater. Sometimes it’s a digital network such as Alcom Connect. And sometimes the best solution is a combination of technologies.
The starting point is understanding where your people work, how they operate and what happens when communication isn’t available.
If your business operates in the Central North Island and mobile coverage can’t always be relied on, we’d be happy to talk through the options.
