Business Uses for Google Latitude: All in the Name of Efficiency!

The other day Google released Latitude, software that allows cell phone users to share their location with others. You can now simply flip open your phone to see what restaurant your friends are at. Or, if you’re a manager trying to corral a mobile workforce, you can flip open your phone to make sure your team isn’t off enjoying a caramel Macchiato.  Ok, so most IT professionals will not be registering their whereabouts in the name of greater efficiency, making this particular app more effective for getting drinks than getting paid. But the concept has some merit – current Alert Management platforms do something similar.

By entering static or dynamic location and contact information into an Alert Management platform, you are participating in “Information Request Management” which is the first tenant of successful Alert Management.  This capability says “if something happens that I need to know about, find me.”  To be effective, an Alert Management platform should be able to get pretty granular: what events you are responsible for or interested in, what level of information granularity you require, your location and availability, when you’re at the office, on vacation or going for a $4.00 Cup-a-Joe. 

There are no pretty icons or smiling faces, but other than that, Alert Management can be like Latitude for the workplace – all in the name of greater efficiency and a really fancy coffee.