Web Design Company Creates SharePoint Site to Connect Staff of Louisiana Real Estate Firm During Hurricane Recovery
In the dramatic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New York City-based technology consulting firm making ideas work! created an online collaboration site using Microsoft SharePoint to help the scattered members of Louisiana real estate firm Sunrise Construction & Development LLC (“Sunrise Homes”) connect with one another and recover from their loss of operations.
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 2, 2005
In the dramatic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New York City-based technology consulting firm making ideas work! created an online collaboration site using Microsoft SharePoint to help the scattered members of Louisiana real estate firm Sunrise Construction & Development LLC (“Sunrise Homes”) connect with one another and recover from their loss of operations. With their Slidell, LA headquarters evacuated and their employees spread throughout the region in search of shelter, the New Orleans-area company was desperate for a collaboration system that would allow them to share electronic documents, create discussion forums, locate one another, and speed their business recovery process. Steve Rubich, principal of making ideas work! states, “When I first got the phone call from my client down in New Orleans and he asked me for help, I immediately thought of SharePoint.”
Developers at making ideas work! got started on the job that evening and within six hours had configured the new password-protected site and set up access for more than 50 employees at Sunrise Homes. The next morning, the making ideas work! staff walked employees at Sunrise Homes through the site so they could immediately begin using it to post business documents and to update one another on their current locations and contact information. This system is especially beneficial during the reconstruction period following Hurricane Katrina, with both the operations and the employees physically relocated, as it allows staff members to simultaneously receive and post important personal and business news and updates. “We got our ISP on the phone and together we configured the site in about six hours,” says John Park, Senior Application Developer for making ideas work! “SharePoint adds a lot of value for a company by helping employees coordinate and communicate over a wide area, as well as share electronic documents.”
A particularly useful aspect of the new Sunrise Homes SharePoint site is the General Discussion message board, where employees can post information about their current location and personal situation as well as electronic business documents, allowing them to remain up-to-date with the post-hurricane plans of the company and of each other. Messages range from quick postings to wish everyone strength and health to more detailed notes on the conditions of company offices and projects. “With the complete communications ‘blackout’ experienced during and immediately after the Katrina landfall, SharePoint provided one of the few means of communication with staff and critical vendors”, says Sunrise Homes president Larry Kornman. “The ability to share crucial information with employees scattered throughout the southern U. S. has allowed Sunrise to get back-to-business weeks faster than would have been possible otherwise.”
About Sunrise Homes
Sunrise Homes is a land acquisition, development, and construction company that concentrates both on single and multi-family communities. They are based in the New Orleans area and are one of the largest real estate development firms in the Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast regions.
About making ideas work!
Making ideas work! is a New York City-based, full-service technology consulting firm that specializes in Website design and development. A key element of their business theory is the use of web technology to connect people and ideas, as seen here following the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana’s Sunrise Homes real estate development firm. “Technology like SharePoint makes it easy for all types of companies to collaborate, even if they don’t have the IT budget of a Fortune 1000 company,” states Steve Rubich of making ideas work!. “We were just glad to be able to help out in any way that we could.”
Grace Lykins
Making ideas work!
37 W. 20th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212.924.2727 x109
Http://www. makingideaswork. com (http://www. makingideaswork. com)
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