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Using Technology to Improve Fax Delivery service in the real estate
industry
Headquartered in Sydney, Property4U specializes in real estate
advising and management of commercial and residential properties.
Property4U Real Estate manages about 600 properties with more than 80
employees across Australia.
The Problem
A year ago, Property4U Real Estate relied on local office
administrators to manage incoming phone calls and manually send faxes.
Over time, the limitations of this system began to negatively affect
Property4U’ s ability to deliver quality customer service.
“We are a national company with offices in different time zones across
Australia,” explains Belinda Richter, IT director. “When clients or
potential customers tried to contact us at any one of our offices
after-hours, not only were they unable to reach the appropriate party,
they weren't even able to leave a message. In real estate, missed calls
can mean missed sales opportunities. Even our own employees were unable
to communicate effectively with their associates in other offices.”
Recognizing the business benefits that would result from improved
communications, both internally and externally, Property4U started
looking at the various technological options to address these issues.
The Solution
TraiTel Telecommunications services covered all of Property4U’s
requirements. The TraiTel messaging service is enabling its users to
access all their voice, fax and email messages from a desktop computer,
wireless device or the Internet. The TraiTel service is a high
capacity, messaging system that allows users to manage all message types
from their familiar Microsoft Outlook or any other type of email Inbox.
When out of the office or on the road, users can also access and manage
all their messages from any internet connected PC.
One of the greatest selling points for Property4U was TraiTel’s tight
integration with Microsoft Outlook. “We had been using Outlook for
email and their service fit in beautifully with our existing system,”
Belinda says. “By using TraiTel, our employees are able to access their
voice, fax and email messages from their Microsoft Outlook interface.
This single point of message management saves them time, and saves us
money in increased employee productivity.
Employees using the products were thrilled with the results and soon,
the TraiTel service was implemented throughout the entire Sydney office
consisting of 22 employees. Property4U is planning a nation-wide rollout
to the company’s 86 employees.
Belinda’s IT department has been able to run the company’s help desk
much more effectively with TraiTel's messaging service. The
department’s ability to respond quickly and efficiently has been
directly impacted since they started using the service. For example,
each of Property4U’s 52 locations has computers that are used for
running the leasing office operation. Before using the TraiTel service,
when property offices experienced computer problems, their ability to
collect rent and perform other critical functions in managing properties
was threatened.
“In the past, the property office experiencing computer problems would
try to call the IT department, but more often than not, the caller would
receive a busy signal or be transferred to a receptionist who would take
down a handwritten message,” Belinda explains. “Due to the volume of
calls and the complexity of the problems, we were often unable to return
the call and resolve the problem within a reasonable timeframe. When we
did call, we had to spend time finding out exactly what was wrong before
we could proceed.”
The TraiTel service changed all that by enabling callers to leave a
message (email, voice or fax) detailing their issue. The IT department
can then review and prioritize problems before returning the messages.
Property4U soon found that the service saved them time in resolving
technical issues with fewer resources, and helped them to manage their
properties more efficiently.
“Today, one year later, we continue to be pleased with TraiTel,” says
Belinda. “Now, all communications here are transferred into a universal
messaging format. The system is very easy to understand and to use. Most
importantly, the service enables us to work with our clients more
quickly and effectively.”
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