RainedOut Announces Next Generation of Group Communications Service in Sports Technology
(SPORTS TECHNOLOGY)
Omnilert, a group communications service for sports organizations and events, announced the launch of the next-generation sports technology, its RainedOut service.
Earlier in May 2010, Omnilert launched their new mobile advertising medium Omnilert RainedOut, a text message service for sports leagues and clubs that will display a national sponsor at the end of the RainedOut notification. RainedOut delivers time-sensitive news such as game cancellations, field changes, requests for volunteers and more. Each text message will be 160 characters long. Out of these, the last 20 characters will display a national sponsor.
Important innovations in the new RainedOut service include a new fundraising function, mobile opt-in for subscribers, elimination of usernames or passwords for subscribers, remote messaging for administrators, and custom keywords that make mobile opt-in more relevant to users. Company officials say these innovations and features make it easy for organizations to "go mobile" and communicate timely information to their community via text messages, e-mail, Web and social networking websites.
Wade Wishall, director of information technology at Heartland Park Topeka Raceway, says the new RainedOut service made his life a lot easier. Wishall continues in a press release, “The new remote messaging and mobile opt-in process are amazing features. The fact that we can actually sell our own sponsor ads is a great feature as well. We will use it more than we were because people can sign up from their phones in the stands.”
The new fundraising program of RainedOut is revolutionary, allowing organizations to attract their own local businesses to sponsor their alerts. The message sent includes a footer message that acknowledges who sponsored the free alert for the subscriber. The organization receives 10 percent of whatever their sponsors’ paid to be listed.
To receive alerts, RainedOut subscribers are no longer required to visit the RainedOut website, nor the organization's website. Members of the community can now use a standard cell phone to sign up for alerts from anywhere with mobile opt-in. RainedOut subscribers’ accounts now corresponds to an individual cell phone number or e-mail address, thus they are no longer required to enter a username and password for online access.
According to company officials, the remote messaging feature enables account administrators to use a standard cell phone to issue alerts from anywhere, such as a rainy parking lot, without the need to login to a website. The built-in security feature of RainedOut accounts prevents unauthorized users from sending remote messages. According to company officials, other new features for administrators of RainedOut accounts include the ability to create custom keywords.
These keywords make mobile opt-in more relevant to users, cut-and-paste Web widgets that automatically post alerts or make member signup easy on the organization's own website, and a completely redesigned administrative interface that makes sending messages quick and effortless.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
