Aurora Sunrise
The firm was struggling with a manual process that severely limited its ability to add business. Switching to Aurora Sunrise completely removed the constraint, allowing the firm to dramatically accelerate growth.
An Expensive Two Hours
The firm had been using email to ask the 21 questions needed to qualify, upload and respond to prospective clients. Every one of the clients missed answering at least one of the questions, with an average “miss” rate of almost 25%. Every miss required manual intervention, first by email, then by phone.
Once the data was captured in an email or two or three, the manual transcription process was laborious, requiring keyboarding technical data into the activation system, into storage, and into a complex matrix summary with customized delivery instructions. Errors, though not quantified, were frequent. Even with the relatively small number of questions and answers, the process was painstaking and required an average of nearly two hours to complete with accuracy. The firm looked at switching to verbal interviews but decided that the time involved would increase and the accuracy of critical technical details would decline.
The Hand-off to Aurora
The company transferred the entire process to Aurora Sunrise. Aurora collects the data, stores it, and uses it to create the matrix and instructions. The Internet-based questionnaire (termed an Aurora webQ) was created based on the questions in the email; 30% of the questions were improved by providing suggested answers—yes/no, dropdowns, and checkboxes—an approach that was not possible with emails. One new question was added. The Aurora webQ took a total of about 20 minutes to create and post for online access. Creating the first version of the complex matrix summary and instructions took nearly an hour. Two subsequent revisions to make it even more helpful and easier to follow have required a total of about 30 minutes.
By the end of its first week, Aurora Sunrise had reduced total task processing time from two hours to less than two minutes.
While there have been no errors since switching to Aurora, 10% of the clients answering the webQ have provided ambiguous answers to one specific question. The company is preparing to modify the question to provide additional specific answer choices, which should eliminate the issue. The correction will take about 15 minutes to create and post. No adjustment to the matrix is necessary.
A Minute Here and a Minute There
To use Aurora, the client adds the potential new customer as a Data Provider, which takes a little more than one minute, and Aurora automatically issues an email invitation. After the questions have been answered, completing the process requires only that the client name be entered and one button clicked. Aurora completes the work in about 30 seconds.
The Result
Aurora has increased the firm’s production capacity from 4-5 uploads per day to hundreds, completely eliminating that constraint on growth. Response times declined and customer service improved. Because the previous process required significant participation of high-cost personnel, the dollar savings, though not a goal, are substantial.
