Pittsburgh Community Crier Online Public Alert System Notifies Residents in Minutes

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) November 30, 2009

Phoenix Business Technologies Group (PBTG), an established IT consulting firm, presents the launch of Community Crier Online Public Alert System with the Borough of Mt. Lebanon in Pittsburgh, PA. Community Crier Online is an innovative Web-based public alert system providing governments and agencies with the means to automatically notify residents of non-emergency, emergency, and other vital community service related information immediately.

Ever since 9/11, communities across the country have been thinking about security and realizing that something terrible you don’t expect can happen anytime explains Susan Morgans, Public Information Officer. “Basically we want people to know right away what is happening, what is happening next and where to go for more information.”

This is definitely the way of the future,” says Nick Schalles, Manager of Information Technology. “Lots of colleges and universities are doing it. We are the only ones in the region that have a custom designed system to do what we can do.” (Source: Susan Morgans and Nick Schalles, Mt. Lebanon)

Secure and built for ease of use, municipal staff is able to create tailored notifications of most any type from almost anywhere while connected to the Internet. Mass broadcasting of alerts can be automatically relayed to a resident’s computer, cell phone, PDA and other types of mobile device via text messaging, and / or email, RSS feed and Twitter. Integration and delivery through the public telephone system by text-to-speech or custom recording is also available.

Community Crier Online allows any municipality or agency to painlessly manage the alert system requiring no special training; if you can use email, you can use Community Crier Online. There is nothing to install, and saves time and resources with no maintenance or increase in overhead, and benefits municipal eco-friendly and green initiatives.

The Portal’s look and feel is easily customized to accommodate the name and colors of a municipality or agency, including the input of text, logo and/or seal placement.

Alerts are delivered to the public as they happen and to-the-minute when needed, significantly improving communication efficiencies within communities while lowering costs for local governments. Residents can easily subscribe to the specific alerts they want, change selections when they want and choose how they want their alerts received with just a valid email address. Residents who choose not to subscribe can see alerts by simply visiting a township’s Alert Portal, or through RSS feed and Twitter – no email address or registration is required.

Here are some alert samples:                    

•     School closings and delays
•     Emergencies
•     Non-emergencies
•     Amber alerts
•     Weather delays
•     Construction
•     Utility notifications
•     Power outages
•     Street closings
•     Community Events
•     Parades
•     Public Service Announcements (PSA)

Original development of Community Crier Online was at the request of Mt. Lebanon Borough in Pittsburgh PA. Custom systems are available for all types of municipalities and agencies from Phoenix Business Technologies Group.

For more information visit the Community Crier Online Website.
Visit Mt. Lebanon borough’s version of Community Crier Online.

About Phoenix Business Technologies Group
PBTG is a privately owned full service business technologies solution provider headquartered in Pittsburgh PA. Incorporated in 1994, PBTG has been effectively helping small and mid-sized organizations of all types - from manufacturing, medical, law, industrial, non-profit and host of others solve some of their biggest business problems while helping them grow using technology.

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