- May 1, 2024
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A year ago, a shooting incident broke the routine at Halifax Health Medical Center. Communication among staff was needed as a man threatened patients and nurses before shooting and killing himself.
Kevin Noel, director of safety and security, was able to contact hospital executives when the incident occurred by using a communication system supplied by Ormond Beach-based VOLO LLC.
“I was able to use our notification system to provide real time updates to our executive team as the situation unfolded,” he said in a press release.
Fortunately, the incident ended without serious injury to employees and staff, and Halifax Health has since expanded the VOLO system to all employees.
“Care for your employees is critical.”
FELIPE PORTOCARRERO, president, VOLO
The need for communication with employees during unforeseen events, including storms, bomb threats and active shooters, has resulted in rapid growth for VOLO, 9 Sunshine Blvd., according to Felipe Portocarrero, president and co-owner.
The company, which was formed in 2009, has recently doubled its office space with a move into a larger building at the Ormond Beach Airport Business Park. Portocarrero expects to grow from 30 to 50 employees by the end of the year, and said they will be high-paying technology jobs, including software and network engineers.
Portocarrero said businesses are realizing that communication during a crisis is a necessity in today’s world. New technology allows communication by text, emails, phone calls and instant computer messaging to keep companies connected.
Unforeseen events such as terrorism and workplace violence have created a need for the product. And while hurricanes and other natural disasters have always been around, 24-hour news coverage has created more awareness.
Portocarrero said he first start creating communications software for government, and found that businesses today also need the service. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, with the largest having 200,000 employees.
There are four “tools” in the VOLO Recovery product. Notification, which sends a message to employees; Virtual Bulletin Board, which allows employees or others to call in for messages and updates; Virtual Switchboard, a backup phone system for when the primary systems is unavailable; and Thundercall, which sends weather warnings from NOAA to employees.
Their newest tool is called War Room and will help businesses recover after an event, with such features as collecting information about damage and sending out instructions.
There’s more to the operation than just selling software. They often maintain a relationship with the companies, as consultants or providing database maintenance.
On staff at VOLO is Dr. Robert Chandler, former professor of emergency communications at the University of Central Florida, who helps provide guidance to clients on sending out notifications.
“There’s an art to it,” Portocarrero said.
For example, a company does not want to burn people out with a lot of messages, or cause a panic.
Many local residents remember the “hurricane year” of 2004, when the area was impacted by several storms, beginning with Hurricane Charley.
Portocarrero was working for a different company at the time, but that year laid the seeds for VOLO. The hurricane knocked out the phone line at the company, and they had no way to contact employees.
“During that storm, we created the four VOLO tools,” he said.
Portocarrero said companies are starting to take steps to protect employees in the case of an unexpected event.
“Care for your employees is critical,” he said.
Volo is Latin, meaning to “move rapidly.”
Visit volorecovery.com.
