Apisphere, the Berkeley, California-based provider of geo-aware business solutions, has developed a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that acts as an automated, and location-aware, personal assistant. The plug-in allows users of GPS-enabled mobile devices and laptops to send and receive messages based on appointments in their Outlook calendar and location.
For example. say you have a meeting today at 10AM. The plug-in will create a sphere around the entry in Outlook, and provide real-time information to get you there in optimal time. Prior to your 10AM meeting, Apishere’s plug-in will map your route to the meeting’s location, taking into account real-time traffic updates and road closures, then notify you by email, SMS, or phone when you need to start heading to the meeting.
You can also create geo-triggered text or voice messages that notify you of a particular task when you enter a predetermined sphere. Not only a handy business feature, but also for remembering the milk on the way home from work, etc. The plug-in can also be integrated with Salesforce CRM so that a salesperson nearing a client’s location would be delivered the client’s information prior to arriving.
You can get your hands on the Apishere plug-in now, in beta, at http://beta.apisphere.com.
