Sometimes technology surprises us by offering benefits we may not have realized it provided, such as additional uses for existing software programs or innovative ways to manage workflow. That happened at our agency just last month, when our virtual private network (VPN) and voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) phone system provided an unexpected solution to a sudden crisis.
A VPN allows an agency with multiple locations to reduce software and maintenance costs by combining an agency management system database and a Microsoft exchange server for e-mail from a single location. We replaced two separate servers with one by using terminal service for data transmissions and remote voice access over a VoIP network, and as a result reduced management system operating costs by 40%. Our first year's savings offset the cost of the additional VPN hardware and software. Other agencies might also find that upgrading to a high-level technology platform creates enough savings to justify the investment.
Besides reducing expenses and improving efficiency, a VPN with terminal services allows employees to remotely access an agency's system. For a paperless agency, this capability may give the owner and staff members even greater flexibility than they may have anticipated. For example, because our office is paperless and we combine a VPN with terminal services, two of our customer service representatives can effectively work from home.
Recently, however, a set of unusual circumstances revealed even more advantages of our technological configuration. We knew that both our offices would be short-staffed for about a month because some of our personnel were scheduled to attend meetings, one person would be teaching a class, and another was working from home part-time. We had arranged coverage for both offices for the entire month, but with our staff already stretched quite thin, we hoped nothing would go awry because there was no room for error.
One week before the alternative staffing plan was to take effect, one of our customer services representatives surprised us by resigning to become a bookkeeper in a different industry. This revelation meant not only that in two weeks our agency would lose a CSR at a time when we could ill afford to, but also that we would have to hire a replacement–a process that takes considerable time and energy even during the best of times.
Our first priority was ensuring that both our offices were adequately staffed throughout the month. To do so, we would have to move personnel between them. We normally have three people at each office, but during most of the hectic month ahead, only one person was scheduled at each location. The CSR's departure left us with the prospect of having one office “uncovered” for several days.
As we scrambled to rearrange our logistics, we realized that our technology platform offered some built-in benefits we had not previously considered. Because employees can access the agency's management system and database from either office, people from the first office who were temporarily working at the second office–or vice versa–could bring just a few things with them and work as they normally would at their regular location. Also, the VoIP phone system allowed us to transfer telephone calls between the two offices (which are 35 miles apart) as simply as we transfer them from one extension to another. So “dislocated” staff members could take calls from their customers as if the calls had been transferred from the next room, provide the customary level of service, and maintain their zero-backlog performance standard. By tapping into some previously unused–or even unknown–features of our agency's management system and other technology platforms, we survived a potentially catastrophic staff shortage with minimal impact on our employees or clients.
So, the next time you hesitate to spend your hard-earned dollars on technology, think about the tremendous value of having built-in workflow flexibility during an unforeseen crisis such as the one we experienced. Investing wisely in technology can keep you operating smoothly under normal circumstances and also help you avert a catastrophe–or at least emerge from one unscathed.
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