We can all agree that the best way to ensure immediate delivery of an important message is delivery to a mobile device (cell phone or iPad). That is where US citizens live today. The looming crisis is the inability of today’s notification systems to collect citizen’s 10 digit cell numbers for SMS texting. In a recent PEW report 92% of US citizens have a mobile phone. It has been reported that the national average of citizens that are willing to give out their 10 digit cell number to an emergency service agency is around 6%. With that said, if a community notification is broadcast to all citizens, only 6% of cell phones will receive the SMS text message.

I think you are getting the picture. Let me give you the BIG picture for those not mathematically inclined!

If an emergency services agency has 500,000 citizens, using the PEW report of 92%, that equates to possibly 460,000 mobile devices. If the national average of collecting citizen’s 10 digit cell numbers is 6%, that equates to possibly 30,000 emergency messages being delivered. That would equate to 430,000 citizens that would not receive the emergency message.