Pothole in your road? text Randwick with Dialogue

Peter Dinham
Monday, 20 April 2009 17:29

Business IT - Technology

Sydney’s Randwick Council might just have opened a Pandora’s Box to a flood of complaints from residents of the suburb on everything from potholes in their roads to problems with illegally dumped rubbish, with its new community text service using a mobile application portal supplied by Dialogue Communications.

The council announced today that it has launched its community text service with the help of Dialogue’s M.A.P. solution, and that the service would provides local residents with information on council services ranging from playing field status, local road works, clean up days and events, instantaneously via the Internet or mobile SMS.

And, according to the Mayor of the City of Randwick, Cr Bruce Notely-Smith, Mayor of Randwick City said, residents can also report issues, such as potholes and illegally dumped rubbish, to the council by sending a text.

“We wanted to provide information to the community that uses the one device we all rely on – our mobile.  By opting in via our registration page or texting in a keyword to a mobile number, residents can receive up-to-date information on the availability of sporting fields and notifications on clean up days.
 
Dialogue CEO, Hugh Spear, said that by using the company’s M.A.P. solution, authorities were able to create different mobile campaigns quickly and easily, such as database builder, SMS to email, broadcast facilities, text to screen, and mms messaging to text in images and videos or distribute information or brochures.

“Our mobile applications allow authorities and institutions to quickly and easily communicate with their communities – whether it be residents or commuters,” and, he added, “the other advantage is that the portal can be set up quickly, so changes can be made by the authorities without a large investment of time or money.”

According to Spear, Dialogue is currently providing community text services to more than 40 councils and police forces in the UK including the Hampshire Constabulary to provide means for the deaf and speech impaired to report emergencies using text messaging, East Riding of Yorkshire Council for the reporting of benefit fraud and East Dunbartonshire for their youth community to focus on services that affect them by utilising text messaging.