5 minute read
We asked Executive Directors to list the most significant problems we solve for them. Here's what they told us! They are presented here in no particular order. Do any of these problems sound familiar? If yes, please let us explain how we can help.
"Paper submissions would get lost in the mail or, later, get misfiled in our office. When they did arrive, they were often missing important required forms. Or the applicant had used an old version of a form that was no longer valid. Quite often, we simply couldn't read their handwriting!"
"Checks and money orders would get lost in the mail. It was a real chore taking them to the bank for deposit, especially during the COVID lockdown. We would sometimes have to wait weeks or months for a payment to hit our bank account, which sometimes created cashflow issues."
"Hard-to-read handwriting and rushed rekeying of data meant that our data had way too many errors. Simple things like a misspelled name or email address or phone number would take us hours to fix down the line."
"Candidates would enter hours that didn't match our requirements or weren't supported by the evidence documentation we required to verify their hours. In some cases, there was no evidence documentation at all!"
"We had an entire room full of filing cabinets. Locating files sometimes took a long time. If a file was misplaced, it became almost impossible to find again."
"We made it so difficult for our customers to work with us that many of them abandoned their application or renewal. We lost all the time we had invested in them plus the associated application or renewal fees."
"Printing and mailing application forms, requests for additional information, and certificates of completion for successful candidates quickly added up to a major office expense."
"Every new applicant or renewing professional would ask us the same routine questions about how to complete a form, or where to find the additional information we needed, where to find CEs, or simply asking us about the status of their submission. We had no time left over to step back and find ways to improve and grow our program."
"Employees paying our fees to complete our credentials would often ask us to print and mail a physical receipt so they could get reimbursed by their employer."
"We were so busy processing applications and renewals that we had no time to audit the important details, especially CE hours and certificates of completion. As a result, we had no real idea of how many of our professionals were meeting all our requirements."
"We wanted to add more credentials to our program, and our professionals wanted them too, but we simply couldn't break away from servicing our current credentials long enough to build out the new ones."
"With no automated registry, we had to manually research and respond to every new verification request from employers or other interested third parties. This took valuable time away from processing applications and renewals."
"With data scattered across filing cabinets and spreadsheets, we were unable to answer simple questions like how many professionals were active, inactive, and past-due for renewal for any of our credentials."
"Everything we needed to review and approve, along with the checks and money orders we needed to fund our operations, was snail-mailed to our office. Our entire program ground to a halt when we couldn't get into the office to process submissions and payments."
"Many paper applications were incomplete. Some would be missing the required fee. It was difficult to track and manage the email and snail mail requests for additional or missing information and payment. People would call in asking why we hadn't approved their application, and it would take us way too long to answer their question."
"Without seeing what they were seeing, it would take an hour or more to help someone fill out a complicated form."
"We charged CE provider partners for access to our professionals, but we didn't have an easy way to close the loop between the professional's needs and our education provider's products. As a result, we experienced a lot of churn in our accreditation program."
"Our old system did not function well and had unclear navigation. As a result, users would get frustrated and abandon the process, leading to high attrition and revenue left on the table."
"Our admins spent hours helping users with technical issues and system outages."
"Modifications and repairs of our old system required an outside developer's time at a high hourly rate. It would sometimes take weeks or months for us to make a simple change like a new requirement or a modified fee."
Most boards choose us because we offer the fastest and most affordable way to solve all of the problems listed above. Book a personalized consultation to see how we could help you, too — and learn how long it would take and how much it would cost.