MessageOne recently published a press release discussing the impact that its AlertFind emergency notification service has had on the American Red Cross efforts in Florida. The system is used primarily to alert the Red Cross' 1,500 on-call volunteers so that they can be more effectively mobilized in the event of a natural disaster or other problem.

The Red Cross is using AlertFind in central Florida not only to dispatch volunteers to emergency situations as quickly as possible, but also to provide information on who has already responded to an emergency, who is en route, who is not available and to identify the particular expertise of volunteers, and so forth. AlertFind replaced a system of having volunteers make telephone calls to other volunteers, saving the Red Cross a significant amount of time when dispatching volunteers during emergency situations.

Picking up on my last column, there are a variety of business applications in which emergency notification systems can be put to good use, short of a hurricane or other major calamity. Notifying employees in your department about changes in a meeting time, notifying employees to replace workers who have called in sick or notifying suppliers about a potential production problem are all examples of the utility of emergency notification systems in less-than-life threatening situations.

In addition to MessageOne's AlertFind, there are other systems available that provide emergency notification, such as Amcom, National Notification Network, MIR3, Enera and Send Word Now, among others. Although the capabilities offered by these companies differ, they all provide the ability to dramatically reduce the time and effort required to notify large numbers of people in a short amount of time.

Michael Osterman is principal analyst of Osterman Research.