The information technology (IT) and telecommunications industries are characterised by their increasingly rapid pace of change. Many information and communication technologies (ICT) used in humanitarian emergency response operations just five years ago are no longer practical – they are simply not fast, powerful or robust enough to meet the demands of today’s relief workers and their critical operations.

It is not as though newer, better solutions do not exist though - they do. They are everywhere around us and being utilised by the world’s corporate sector to enhance their business. So why isn’t the humanitarian community using these same tools in its efforts to save more lives?

Social media is being enthusiastically embraced by the public and could potentially be a valuable source of real-time global information to assist response and recovery organizations in disaster operations. It could also be used as a respectful way of engaging in two-way information exchange with affected populations. This important medium however is being underutilised and sometimes even ignored.

These subjects were amongst those discussed by a panel of humanitarian, government and private sector representatives in the Emergency Telecommunications session at the 2012 Aid and International Development Forum. The purpose of this document is to capture both the discussion and the outcomes realized by the panel as a guide for future operations.