Today, Angel.com issued a press release highlighting the company’s participation in the city-wide launch of the Notify NYC Program. The Notify NYC Program is a citizen warning system that was created to enhance New York City’s public communication channels by distributing critical text and voice messages directly via the Web, e-mail and SMS text messages. Angel.com will manage the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to streamline the registration process for those who want to receive notifications from the City and also facilitate internal communications amongst City employees and work groups.

“Notify NYC gives people a chance to prepare for emergencies before they actually happen. By using Angel.com’s IVR technology, callers can easily become a part of this program so they can be automatically informed of any critical event.”

This is an amazing program that we can see being rolled out in a number of cities across the US.  While residents can register for Notify NYC online, the IVR registration line allows people to immediately sign up for this program wherever they hear about it.  This is one of the biggest benefits of such phone-based IVR applications — it brings immediacy to all consumers.  The likelihood that resident of NYC will only hear about this program while sitting at home with their laptop, or at work while a computer is handy is slim.  The IVR registration allows residents who hear about this while reading the paper on the subway, or from a friend at the local coffee shop to immediately dial 3-1-1 and register on the spot, before they forget about it as they go about their day.

For speed and simplicity sake, entering a telephone number and a zip code is all that is required for registrants to receive notifications in case of emergencies. Multiple account management features enable registrants to add, change or remove additional phone numbers, zip codes and notification types.