For example, Aline Ward, CIO at Southern Co.'s Mississippi Power Co. subsidiary in Gulfport, detailed Southern's experience in rolling out an automated resource management system for functions such as service order dispatch and vehicle location. The system includes radios that broadcast an alert when an emergency button is pushed.

Ward, who is also responsible for all of the power transmission and distribution systems at Atlanta-based Southern, said that soon after the rollout began five years ago, a worker fell out of his bucket truck and was seriously injured.

'He happened to have his radio, and he hit the emergency button,' Ward said. 'Someone got there very quickly.' She added that emergency services workers told Southern the rapid arrival 'was very critical to his full recovery.' And because the company places the utmost importance on worker safety, she said, the incident 'sold the system a lot.'

Another surprise benefit of the technology was the ability to recover stolen trucks, Ward said. Three years ago in Alabama, a field worker radioed that his company truck had been stolen.

Because the wireless system was built to track vehicles, Southern's dispatchers could see the truck on an electronic map. Ward said they notified police and then provided location updates until the truck was recovered, with no damage.