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Elertz, a UK start-up company has just come out with an alternative method of web-based broadcast communication in an effort to tackle the rising concerns over spam and phishing scams. This new method of tackling spam also goes by the name of elertz and comes in the form of a free Web toolbar. The elertz web toolbar is an alerting system that provides a unique way for companies to communicate directly with their customers, only giving them the information that they really require, and when they really want it.

With elertz, information is delivered to customers who have requested for specific information from web sites by a very smart alerting system, in the form of a flashing red star that will be located in their desktop browser.

According to Steve Morris, CEO, Elertz, “The only real way to prevent spam and social engineering techniques, such as phishing, is to use another broadcast communication channel that is not email based. An alerting system such as elertz provides an anonymous service for the subscriber. The subscriber does not have to divulge personal information such as an email address. The subscriber is also in complete control of the communication channel. Elertz that have been set up can be deleted easily, ending any form of communication between publisher and end user.”

And if you thought that the only problems faced by customers was something to do with security, then that is not all. Customers also face an overwhelming amount of the so called ‘information pollution’ from different sources such as via e-mail, IM, voicemail, direct mail and faxes.

“We’ve almost reached a stage of communication gridlock. Businesses are so focused on ‘pushing’ information to customers that often the key messages about the product or service are lost,” added Morris .

Thus when so much of information is pushed on to customers, they should be allowed to pull out whatever information they require. Customers who are able to stay in control and manage information are more likely to respond positively. Using elertz, businesses will allow their customers to set up a quick and very reliable alerting system which provides up-to-date information as when it is updated.

Another distinguishing point is that elertz is much more precise and quicker than other broadcasting communication channels such as e-mail or RSS feeds, which are usually sent out in batches. So, customers who are located at the end of the batch may experience delays. Besides, spam filters often block such e-mail notifications. RSS feeds are also refreshed on an average every 30 minutes or so. However, websites that use elertz are updated every 30 seconds.

The following are a list of professions that would benefit from using elertz: