Project - Improve Office Efficiencies

Shortly into my hire I noticed that only a few people stored their files on the file server, which was running low on space and lacked security. As I provided technical support, I became aware that the office was essentially paper driven as the Internet was only available on a few select computers, leaving customers to communicate by fax. 

Goals:

I improved general office efficiencies by implementing a MS Small Business Server, which provided email, desktop faxing, central file storage, and backup services. The server enabled IT to benefit from the use of the Active Directory and Group Policies, which were used to control software deployments, assign user / group specific securities, limit Internet access, and map network drives, greatly simplifying computer deployments and administration. The server also helped to improve file security, easily enabled the separation of user specific files from shared files on the network, and introduced email and desktop faxing to the company as a whole.

To improve customer communications, I sourced a more reliable ISP and secured the Internet connection using a low-cost Cisco 827 Router/Firewall. As the Internet was new to some of the staff, I created an Intranet web page that provided links to search engines and also to commonly used company documents. To help ensure we were not caught with a virus or malware, we worked with our Internet Service Provider to ensure that all incoming email was scanned by their anti-virus and anti-malware applications prior to being sent to our Exchange server, where we also performed scans (using a different engine). This greatly reduced on the number of viruses and malware ending up in company mailboxes.

The company was growing sales rapidly and increasing its customer base, but had not increased the size of the sales team. Customers were assigned to a sales representative, however there could be confusion at times when the dedicated team member was on vacation, ill, or away from the desk for a period of time. The company could not afford a CRM to help track incoming calls, customer issues, concerns, projects, and etc., so I designed a customized customer contact and address form in Outlook 2000 to enable the storing of custom information in Exchange. This was used to raise awareness of on-going issues, concerns, and projects, enabling the other team members the ability to more seamlessly serve the customer during the absence.

Throughout this project, no changes were required to operating procedures and training was tailored to each specific user during deployment. This project was viewed as a success by all, increasing employee performance and ease of communications.

As the company matured the Small Business Server was replaced with full BackOffice solutions, and the Outlook 2000 customer forms were replaced with a CRM.  As my position grew, overall exposure to the company provided me with the awareness that employees were adapting data processing procedures to keep pace with new products being released and the sheer volume of information that needed to be processed. The management team had not provided or set up official data processing systems or methods, so the procedures lacked standards and had become cumbersome or time consuming. Following approvals from Executive Management, I ran a second project with goals to: reduce overall operating costs, increase financial visibility, standardize data processing procedures, include an ability to measure employee and company performance, and ensure a higher level of reporting accuracy, throughout the company. Please review my accomplishments: “ERP Project – Reduce Cost to Process”, and “ERP Project - Reporting / Customization Initiatives” for more details.