Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. We often remind you, our credit union users, of the importance of implementing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Synergent has one of its own, and we need your help to be able to communicate with you quickly and effectively in the event of an emergency!

Synergent Notification Services (SNS) is an important tool that enhances our ability to communicate efficiently and effectively with credit unions – especially in times of emergency. Powered by Everbridge, the industry leader in automated notification systems, SNS allows Synergent to rapidly communicate information to our credit unions independent of Synergent’s data center infrastructure.

Implementing SNS

The primary reason for implementing an automated notification system is to enable timely, succinct communications to our employees, credit unions, and vendors in a crisis or during operational disruptions. SNS enables Synergent staff to initiate communications from virtually anywhere and at any time of the day or night to keep your credit union apprised of any emergent situation at Synergent.

Emergency SNS messages are sent electronically via email and through text messaging. Notifications could include information about:

  • Disaster declarations and/or business continuity plan activations
  • System or infrastructure outages
  • Severe weather or other environmental alerts that could impact your business

SNS also can be leveraged for non-crisis communications such as routine maintenance and progress updates. These standard SNS messages are typically sent by email. This service is offered to credit unions free of charge.

How It Works

The SNS tool provides credit unions real-time, tailored information via email and text messaging during major service incidents, critical security events, and disaster recovery/continuity exercises. SNS messages may vary based on the type of relationship your credit union has with Synergent and can be restricted to specific audiences based on services, infrastructure, or even hardware to reduce or eliminate messages that are not specific to your credit union.

Message Types:

Priority Messages: These types of messages would be sent only if Synergent email was impacted – for example, in a systems outage; or to provide notification about a disaster declaration impacting Synergent. These messages would be distributed via a blast and broadcast to all text and email contacts simultaneously to speed delivery.

Non-priority Messages:  These messages would be sent sparingly (typically once per quarter) for testing/awareness building, or as part of a planned maintenance window to improve familiarity with the system and ensure contact information is updated and accurate. Non-priority messages would be sent via a blast email only.

Leveraging Contact Records, Maximizing Reach

While currently each credit union will only represent a single contact record in the SNS system, we have leveraged the multiple available contact paths to maximize the reach of the system when needed. This leveraging is composed of three key components:

  1. A group email list (provided that you already have or can create one), representing all of the individuals at your credit union you would want to include in automated notifications. This email group can be as small or large as you prefer.
  2. Each credit union will then be asked to designate one individual as a primary contact for SNS. This individual will have additional contact paths available in SNS, including the Everbridge app, email, business phone, mobile phone, home phone, and text device, and will be able to manage contact information for your credit union through both the app and the SNS portal.
  3. Each credit union will be asked to designate one individual as a secondary contact for SNS. This individual will also have multiple contact paths available in SNS, including email, business phone, mobile phone, home phone, and text device.

Throughout the year, SNS will conduct regular tests and send informational notifications to ensure it is working properly.

Register Today

Registering for SNS is easy. Simply send an email to notify@synergentcorp.com to get started. A Synergent team member will then contact you to complete the initial setup and get your credit union registered in the SNS portal.

Upon completion of your SNS registration, we recommend your Primary contact download the Everbridge Mobile App – available for iOS and Android devices – to have the power of this unique platform at your fingertips. The app allows you to manage your credit union contact information right from your smart device, adds an additional contact path, and gives you the ability to send us messages through the system directly should the need arise.

Have additional questions? Please contact Bill Ashland, Assistant Vice President of Business Continuity.