Every BC, CM, Risk, Safety and Security Needs Relevant Situational Alerts…

There is too much new and changing information to  monitor it manually. You must put yourself in position to  discover the ‘needles in a haystack’ before the competition.  

Listening tools can make the difference between being  disrupted or being the disruptor. I suggest you consider  using automated alerts, situational awareness, business and  marketing intelligence tools. These automated tools can  keep you in front of what is happening in our rapidly  changing digital world. 

My favorites use cutting edge technology including  artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to make sense  of torrents of public and/or proprietary data in real-time.  Rather than simply passing you raw data, great automated  tools add value to the data with filters and algorithms so the  results match your business needs. They then push these  insights to you, rather than you having to log on and pull the  information. 

When I first started writing about Situational Alert Tools it was before the reality of artificial intelligence, machine-learning and natural language systems. Well, these digitally infused tools are now a reality and I have tested them. They can potentially be life and business life and death. Add SYSTEM ??? MARTY

When I started using these magical types of tools, I  became so excited I passed on some of the insights to my  friend who is a supply-chain professional. She told me it took  her at least half a day of manual effort to discover what the  tools produced in seconds. She would never have stumbled  across the information that was automatically fed to her by  the system. 

Some savvy investors use intelligence tools in very  creative ways. For example, a tool that provides weather  information meant for crisis management may be useful to  predict weather patterns. Perhaps, it can predict an  upcoming freeze that will affect corn or wheat crops and  subsequent prices. I use these tools to learn, in near real 

time, of crisis events and to predict the likelihood of future  events by researching their database of historical events. In some time-sensitive cases, the intelligence you  receive seconds or minutes before the competition can be  monetized. Never has this been possible on such a grand  scale. Intelligence tools also empower you to peer into the  future. That can produce a competitive advantage for smart  and creative companies that learn how to customize and  creatively use the information.  

Think about it, in a crisis such as a tornado wouldn’t  even a few additional seconds or minutes warning be  potentially life-saving for your employees? During a recent  tsunami ocean sensors coupled with notification systems  saved many lives. I certainly would value that extra time to  get my employees to higher ground and safety. It can be life saving priceless information. 

The information you act on must be accurate: Inaccurate information whether by mistake or ‘fake news’  can be worse than no information. My advice is unless it is  from a credible source, you should dig deeper to insure the  information is accurate.

There are many digital tools that can tip you off to threats  and opportunities. A few that can provide value are:  

Google Alerts (https://www.google.com/alerts) is a free  resource that enables you to discover valuable ideas, news,  contacts and trends. It searches millions of online resources  on an ongoing basis and pushes precise information, that  meets your criteria, to you in real-time or batched (sent in  groups during at a specified time). You can set up multiple  alerts on different keywords and text strings. 

Hootsuite (hootsuite.com) enables you to monitor social  platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram  and Pinterest. It can be used in creative ways such as to  generate ideas, monitor competitors, detect potential  disruptors, collect information, automatically post content,  analyze what people are saying about your company,  discover career opportunities and anything else you can  imagine.  

Sendible (sendible.com) pro-actively monitors countless  conversations on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube  and other platforms. This empowers you to discover what  people are saying about your brand, company and  competitors and allows you to respond timely and  appropriately. 

Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/)is a  powerful free trend discovery tool that enables you to learn  what people are searching for, what is hot and what is not. It  has valuable trending charts that enable you to anticipate  what and when products will trend in the future. You can also  use that information to discover disruptor opportunities. 

NC4 (NC4.com) provides you with real time intelligence on  man-made and weather threats. It is highly customizable by  the type and severity of alerts. You can map threats to your  assets. Although, it is focused on safety and security the  alerts can be beneficial in many areas. For example, they  can help you decide where to locate an office or store and  where not to.

Early Alert (https://www.earlyalert.com/) is an excellent  weather alert tool that is especially strong providing  comprehensive management quality weather special reports  during large events such as hurricanes. 

RiskPulse (https://riskpulse.com/) has deep knowledge of weather and enables you to understand risks before you  ship products. Threats can be mapped to stationary  locations and mobile vehicles. Their weather information  including forecasted freezes and major events can also be  used to identify opportunities. 

Twitter (https://twitter.com/search-home) is a gold mine of  instant information but has historically been difficult to  search. Their current search feature is a vast improvement  over previous version. Twitter is a great tool to discover what  is trending and the experts you want to follow. 

If you are interested in learning more about using  Intelligence tools in new creative ways I suggest you  subscribe to my Digital Success Newsletter newsletter MARTY