The benefits of IT upgrades hardly end with the trimming back of bureaucratic expenses. In fact, technology can aid in many aspects of business, especially customer service. Ponderosa Homes, for example, according to its IT manager Becky Shifman, is continually looking for ways to integrate information throughout its Pleasanton, Calif.-based organization. “Anything you can do to make the home buying experience more enjoyable and more efficient sounds like a good idea to us,” she says.
In 2005, Ponderosa began implementing Pharaoh Information Services Inc.'s Webview product for homebuyer options sales and communication.
Webview is linked directly to Ponderosa's Web site. By uploading the hundreds of buyer options already set up on the company's IBSWIN server system and then attaching pictures to each of these options, the software provides their homebuyers with a simple way of reviewing the available options before, during and after meetings with sales representatives. As a result, the homebuyer has more time to explore available options, research costs and formulate ideas for designers.
In addition, Pharaoh-provided custom relations management (CRM) applications run on Ponderosa's internal server. These applications allow Ponderosa Homes to print out professional-looking catalogs and provide custom tailored documentation for each homebuyer's floor plan.
With the Webview product handling the options sales process, Ponderosa uses ServiceView, a module within Webview, to automate customer service requests online.
In these ways, Ponderosa Homes has employed IT tools to streamline processes and more attentively service its customers.