Google has a new alert service called "Google Alert" that we think can be a powerful monitoring tool for credit execs. It enables you to search the entire web automatically each day.

Go to www.GoogleAlert.com.

You'll find an easy sign-in form that allows you to put in three key words. Then, each day you?ll receive an e-mail from Google if any of those key words is mentioned anywhere on the web.

The applications for this are limited only by your imagination.

It's a cheap and easy way to monitor a big or risky customer, a bankruptcy, a competitor, or almost anything else you'd want to track. Heck, you might get lucky and find an old, long-lost debtor. The first e-mail you receive has the top hits from ALL past listings with those keywords. But after that, it?ll only give you the new hits from the previous day.