The building needs to close. How fast can you reach every person on your team?
The storm is coming. A safety incident just happened. The answer depends on the channel. Email has a 20% open rate. The group chat is muted. The intranet requires a login. In an emergency, the only channel that reaches people in seconds is the one that lands on their lock screen.
Email is not an emergency channel
You send the closure notice by email at 5am. Half the team drives to the building before they check their inbox. The safety alert goes to a Slack channel. The warehouse worker doesn't have Slack. The phone tree takes 45 minutes. The group text hits reply-all chaos. Every channel you're using right now was designed for convenience, not urgency. Emergencies don't wait for people to log in.
Urgent communication needs one rule: land on the lock screen
SMS is read within 3 minutes by 95% of recipients. No app to open. No login required. No adoption campaign. The message arrives on the device your team already carries. One send. Every employee. Before they leave home.
Before and after the switch
Before: You send the closure notice by email at 5am. Half the team drives to the building before they check email. The safety alert goes to a Slack channel. The warehouse worker doesn't have Slack.
After: One text reaches every employee before they leave home. The closure is confirmed. The safety alert is delivered and documented. Everyone knows before they arrive.
The cost of one missed message
One person who shows up because they didn't get the message. One safety incident where the warning didn't reach the floor in time. One liability exposure because the alert was sent to a channel nobody checks. When minutes matter, email doesn't.
Why SMS works when nothing else does
SMS doesn't require Wi-Fi. It doesn't require a smartphone. It doesn't require an account, a password, or a download. It works on every phone your team owns. It arrives whether the app is installed or not. That's why it's the only channel that actually reaches 100% of your workforce in an emergency.
Crew Check delivers the message before anyone leaves home
One broadcast. Every employee. Targeted by location, department, or the entire organization. Sent from your dashboard. Delivered to their lock screen. Documented in your records.