Contents
1. Alan Stevens Raises the Roof
2. Scribcor's Lease Tracking Service
3. How Are You Connecting?

1. Alan Stevens Raises the Roof... One of the extraordinary features of the Internet is the ability to take a conventional business process and transform it into a qualitatively different (read "stronger") business relationship. Take roof management. Yes, the maintenance and repair of low tech roofs... For example, Alan Stevens Associates, based in Cedar Rapids, IA, uses its powerful extranet to manage over 4,000 roofs nationwide. Clients include the Bank of America, Best Buy, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Nestle, Wells Fargo, Bank One and the County of San Diego.

Recently Jim Kelly of Alan Stevens took me through his company's terrific extranet service. (Reminder: an extranet requires a login name and password for private access.) Want to look at your roofing systems and their ages? Which warranties are about to expire? Want to see re-roof recommendations?

Need a report on recommended corrective, HVAC and preventative maintenance repairs? Want a digital photo of the roof problem? Need to analyze repairs -- actual vs estimated? Want to look at your current roof projects? Want to track your roof leaks? (Alan Stevens provides a call center 24 x 7.) Want to look at the causes of your roof leaks? Want to see which roof contractors' repairs last the longest?

And the list of queries goes on and on. Using specified date ranges and output formats, literally hundreds of reports can be generated in real time. All of this is designed, in Jim Kelly's words, "to assist owners and asset managers to meet their financial objectives." ... Wow, with this strong digital connectivity it sure looks like Alan Stevens can retain customers for life. Why would anybody change?

2. Scribcor's Lease Tracking Service... Continuing the extranet theme, here's another Web Success story. Scribcor, a Chicago-based firm, provides consulting and lease administration services to companies like IBM, Prudential, Columbia Energy Group, and Florshiem Shoes. According to Jeff Tosello, Scribcor's system will work with any property management software. Scribcor simply provides an Internet front end to your database back end. Here's how Tosello describes the value of Scribcor's system:

"When one of the operating units of Columbia Energy Group wants information about a leased or owned location, they simply log on to our web site, enter their password, and have access to their abstracts, image copies of the legal documents and even reports. Scribcor's lease administration staff performs the necessary back office functions that keeps the information current and handles the accounting functions of bill payment, bill collection, etc."

3. Question ... How is your firm using the Internet to connect with clients? Send e-mail to me , and I'll report more in future issues of the Dispatch.

--Peter