Case Study: Sears achieves rapid, life-saving weather alerts to protect employees and customers with OnSolve (Send Word Now)

How Sears uses Send Word Now’s WeatherBlast Features to Protect Employees and Customers

Sears Holdings Corporation (Sears), which operates about 3,900 retail locations, faced gaps in timely emergency notification after a 2011 tornado came within 200 yards of a store. To improve employee and customer safety, Sears adopted OnSolve’s Send Word Now notification platform, including the WeatherBlast location-based alert feature, to automate weather and emergency communications.

OnSolve’s Send Word Now WeatherBlast delivers automated, location-specific weather alerts in seconds, integrates seamlessly with Sears’ store contact data, and leverages National Weather Service and WeatherBug feeds. During a February 2012 storm outbreak that affected over 300 locations, Sears sent more than 800 messages in a 24-hour period; managers received tornado warnings (one less than 5 miles away) and moved people to safety, demonstrating reduced notification times from minutes to seconds and improved situational awareness and reliability across stores.

Sears

Clint Fransen

Crisis and Emergency Manager