BusinesSuites simplifies the process of establishing local offices for thousands of people in large and small businesses. We can get a client up and running immediately in a private office with a phone, phone answering, internet, and access to meeting rooms and a break room. This plug-and-play approach to office space converts the burden of traditional long-term leases into more of a subscription model.
When our company embarked on a significant technology plan seven years ago, we were struggling. We were losing money, struggling to integrate acquisitions in several markets across the country, our telephone and internet services to clients were subpar, and we had no central source of financial and reporting information to help us manage our disparate locations. We operate in a distributed environment (groups of three to five team members at 16 different locations), making collaboration a challenge.
People generally think that more technology means more complexity. Our goal is to use technology to simplify tasks and experiences for our clients and team members. We have gotten new ideas from the installation of large LCD televisions for presentations in windowed meeting rooms to replace projectors and screens. It has allowed us to diagnose problems which were affecting a number of clients. We integrated our systems with FedEx, so we can give each client a FedEx login tied to our master account. Clients can handle their own shipping on the FedEx website, and we will include the charges on their monthly invoice at our negotiated discounts. Early in 2009, we added a customer survey module to our enterprise software allowing us to deliver electronic move-in, move-out, and satisfaction surveys to clients. Most importantly, it allows us to internally track our progress in resolving issues. -We are in the testing phases of online account access for our clients. Most importantly, this system will allow clients to see meeting room availability in real time and schedule a meeting. With Microsoft remote desktop, we have central servers in a collocation facility and each team member accesses the system and system-wide files from anywhere at any time. We will soon be beta-testing a central voice over IP phone system which we will ultimately use for all sixteen locations (to replace premise based traditional phone systems), allowing us to provide better service (answer phones at any location) and allow our clients to take their phones with them when they outgrow our space and continue using our phone service and phone answering via their internet connections
Our investments in technology saved this company. We have really tied together the company, team members, and clients with technology. By using technology to reduce costs, push responsibility out to all levels of the company, improve the client experience, and leverage a smaller infrastructure, our company was more profitable in 2008 with 16 locations than we had expected to be with 30 locations when we put our growth plan together in 2002. Any company can invest in servers and software just like any company can provide office space. In fact, the components that make up our IT infrastructure are not all that unique, even though we have some custom and proprietary software. Really, what differentiates us from competitors is how we use the technology to create a great experience for our teams and clients. We hire great people, give them great tools, and keep them focused on clients. That's a people and management challenge, not a technology challenge. Not only is technology a product for us, but we couldn't hire, train, and collaborate with our great team members without technology. Technology is a critical tool and the common thread in our company. It's what allows us to create a community of great people who do an exceptional job taking care of our clients. That's what makes BusinesSuites a success.