To adjust to its growing workforce, AlertMedia announced Thursday that it’s moving its headquarters to the top two floors of RiverSouth, a new 15-story office building centrally positioned between downtown Austin and the South Congress district.
AlertMedia’s software allows organizations to alert employees about severe weather, terrorist attacks, wildfires and other emergency situations. The two-way communication system allows employees to share information during an emergency.
CEO Brian Cruver has said he founded the company in 2013 after realizing the importance of time-sensitive information sharing during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing.
AlertMedia has doubled its revenue every year since the business was founded. In the past year alone, the company has added nearly 1,000 new customers, boosting its client list to nearly 3,000 organizations across 130 countries.
AlertMedia is growing its headcount to match its growing business. It has hired more than 90 employees since the beginning of the year, bringing its overall headcount to 260 employees. Cruver said the company currently has nearly 90 open roles to fill.
AlertMedia’s new office space at 401 S. 1st St. comes with ample space for these new hires. At 70,000 square feet, the new office is more than double the footprint of its previous office space. The office is expected to open in the spring of 2022.
For Cruver, the new office represents more than a symbol of growth; it represents a shift to a new hybrid office culture.
Cruver told Built In that he wants the new office to be a place where people come to collaborate and brainstorm. Employees are still able to use their home office for individual work, he said.
“The past 18 months have taught us a lot about what helps employees be at their best while also challenging some long-held beliefs about the office and remote work,” he said. “Before the Covid-19 pandemic, we had an in-office culture. But when we were forced to go fully remote in early March 2020, we learned there are several benefits – more time for our team to focus on individual tasks without being distracted by office chatter or meetings, extra productivity and balance when employees don’t have to worry about a commute and an even greater opportunity to attract top talent beyond Austin.
“At the same time, we felt even stronger about what the in-office experience offers: more engaging planning and brainstorming sessions, space to connect more personally with colleagues, a place to host and get to know our customers better, and more.
“As a result, I no longer see the office as the place where employees come to get individual work done every day. Instead, I envision the office primarily acting as a space for team collaboration, innovation and future planning, problem-solving and celebrations.”
The pandemic brought about a surge in business for AlertMedia, as companies needed to share rapidly-evolving bits of information. Cruver told Austin Inno at the time that companies were using the software to fill open shifts, communicate closures and alert employees to potential Covid-19 exposures.
“We saw a massive spike in demand and an acceleration in our pipeline,” he told Built In. “Within two and a half weeks, we closed more deals than we expected to do that entire quarter.”
As companies transitioned to remote workplaces, AlertMedia adapted by expanding access to information from its global threat intelligence division.
Led by Sara Pratley, the former vice president of national news at CNN, AlertMedia’s global threat intelligence division tasks former journalists, law enforcement and government intelligence employees with finding, analyzing and verifying emergency situations, which are then pushed out to organizations.
Earlier this year, the company launched several new mobile app features that made AlertMedia’s global threat intelligence feature available to remote employees — not just their employers.
“Giving employees access to information that will help them be more aware of the level of risk any location brings will not only help them take extra precautions but will ensure organizations can continue to fulfill their responsibility to keep their workers safe, no matter where they are,” Cruver said.
