cell phones of their own or college community mem- noti fic ation any where needed a unique solution
end up getting one here,” bers in the event of a crisis around the world. for emergency notifica-he said. “We did a push or disaster. The system, which can tion,” said Bryan Rollins,
last semester to get every- Once the new system differentiate between a vice president of product
body’s latest contact info, is implemented, Middle- real person and voice mail, marketing at MessageOne,
and, although the students bury will be able to rapidly is able to deliver a spoken, based in Austin, Texas.
are busy and not quick to and automatically commu- electronic or recorded “By analyzing the insti-respond … we ended up nicate with faculty, staff message and even ask tution’s needs, we were
getting 1,490 cell phone and students in the event questions such as, “Are able to provide a solution
numbers [out of about of any crisis or disaster. you OK?” in the event of with the flexibilityand reli-
1,800 students], so that’s Administrators will no a crisis. These responses ability to make safety and
actually pretty good.” longer have to distribute will be available to crisis security the school’s high-
Middlebury College, critical messages manually managers in real time. est priority,” Rollins said.
established 150 years ago, through a broadcast e-mail “We want to be proac- Unlike free text message
is in the process of install- or voice mail. tive in ensuring the safety systems backed by advertising AlertFind now. Whenanincidentoccurs, of the college community, ing dollars, AlertFind is a
Located in Middlebury, Middleburycrisismanagers and this system provides dedicated tool for text and
Vt., the school also operates will be able to quickly and one step we can take toward voice-based emergency com-the C.V. Starr-Middlebury automatically send impor- that goal,” said Middlebury munication. Since the sys-Schools Abroad at 28 sites in tant notifications to affected College Dean of Planning tem is used only in emergen-
12 countries. With students, community members. As John Emerson, who is a co- cies, AlertFind prevents the
faculty and staff in Middle- long as the recipient has chair of the college’s emer- “message fatigue” associated
bury and spread around access to a land line, text gency planning steering withad-basedsystemswhere
the world, it would be dif- messaging device, cell committee. users may ignore important
ficult to deliver emergency phone or e-mail, he or she “Due to its multiple cam- notifications, assuming they
instructions or account for can receive an emergency puses abroad, Middlebury are spam. ´
