Mobile Computing

IQ Onsite Debuts Communication App

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 01/12/16

IQ Onsite, a company that provides mobile tools for constituent relationship management, has launched Campus Ping, a communication tool for educational institutions, with two new pilot programs.

Campus Ping "is a smart phone app that enables organizations to send and receive proximity-based targeted messages and security alerts using wireless iBeacon and GPS technologies," according to a news release. Features include:

• The ability to send alerts to or from students, faculty or security in a specific part of campus;
• A silent alarm;
• The ability to send non-emergency communications, such as announcements, requests, evaluations and information about special events, entertainment and marketing; and
• Tools for documenting incidents to the organization's incident management platform for easy reporting and retrieval.

Florida's Volusia County School District is currently piloting the app as a parent communication tool.

"We were impressed with the Campus Ping app as a way for us to conveniently communicate directly with parents, and the project's zero cost was instrumental in our decision to adopt the program," said Volusia County School District spokeswoman Nancy Wait in a prepared statement. "We are piloting the app with 10 schools within our district to work out any kinks and make sure it functions the way we want it to before rolling it out in all 70 schools."

Daytona State College will launch the app in April for use by students and faculty.

"We look forward to seeing how Campus Ping works in the trial run," said Tom LoBasso, president of Daytona State College, in a prepared statement. "With the safety of our students and staff on campus a top priority, we continually explore effective ways to increase safety communication and alerts."

"In today's world it is more important than ever to give students and parents a tool that allows them to engage with campus security and administration in real-time, by adapting to the evolution of technology with the main device virtually every citizen communicates with – their smartphone," said James Beckmann, founder and president of IQ Onsite, in a news release. "It's simply logical to empower the millions of active bystanders within campus communities to work hand-in-hand with authorities as partners to help keep our schools and surrounding environments as safe as they can be."