IVR Systems Help Emergency Alert Services

Bharti Airtel (News - Alert), an integrated telecommunications company, recently launched an emergency alert service in India. With the new option, mobile subscribers can send an alert message to up to 10 mobile numbers. The caller’s location is included in the message.

"Airtel mobile customers can now send an alert with their geographic location to their closest 10 loved ones simultaneously with just a call, facilitating an access to easy and quick help," Airtel explained in a company statement quoted by The Times of India.

It doesn’t stop there. Subscribers can send what the company calls a “SAFE” SMS message, too. It goes out to a pre-set group of up to 10 recipients. The concept is to keep friends, relatives or others informed about your condition if a natural disaster or other emergency hits a region. It only needs a single click to be sent.

In addition, subscribers can call 55100 to send voice and SMS alerts to the 10 recipients with location details. The alert can be sent through SMS, too, by typing HELP in the message box and sending it to 55100.

The service operates around the clock, Fonearena reports.

The Airtel Emergency Alerts costs Rs. 30 for 30 days. (Thirty Indian Rupees are equal to about $0.55.) It works on mobile phones with a SMS feature even if there is no customer account balance.

The news shows the importance of a streamlined system to provide emergency information.

Similarly, an interactive voice response (IVR) system has been used elsewhere for emergency communication. Interact, Inc., offers location-based services featured in its IVR solutions that can help create a better emergency alert system, according to a report from TMCnet.

Often, in many kinds of emergencies, SMS alerts make sense, according to a recent commentary from Australia.

“People need real-time, trusted information from the relevant government agencies, and communities need to be able to provide current, local information that can be leveraged by those agencies and emergency services,” Jason McClintock, CEO of JASCO Consulting, explained in the commentary for ABC of Australia.

So as technology improves, so does the probability that loved ones will be more easily kept informed about everyone’s whereabouts and conditions.

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