Problem: Servers periodically crashing at major insurance carrier, and even though only happens a few times a year, results in thousands of employees left idle, costing upwards of $80,000 an hour. Although organization is using a Network Monitoring software, the antiquated paging software used in conjunction will not be compatible with planned email server upgrade to Windows 2000. Additionally, the current paging software only uses email to send messages, as does the Network Monitoring software. If the mail server should crash, that monitored event cannot be sent without using the mail server itself. IT management needed alternative ways to transmit message-critical pages to IT personnel. Additional problems with current paging software include difficulty in configuration of each week's on-call staff; almost an hour is spent tediously configuring the software.
Solution: Semotus' Business Analysts were called in to assess the situation, and ultimately recommended installation of HipLinkXS®, Semotus' wireless paging software solution. Fully supported on most every major platform, it provides several means of paging staff. Rather than alerting staff via email (which can often crash), system alerts are now sent to pagers carried by the IT staff. Messages are delivered to the wireless carrier directly through the Internet, and if that Internet connection is not available, a direct connection to the carrier using dial-up access will automatically take over. In either case, the right person will get the alert at the right time, saving the insurance company thousands of dollars. Server crashes are alerted to the IT department quickly, allowing for speedier recovery. The easily configured Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows IT staff to configure the weekly on-call schedule in minutes.
Results: Quick recovery from network failures resulted in substantial reduction in employee idle time, saving almost $80,000 an hour for several hours per year. As a bonus, administrative savings of about one week per year in scheduling configuration time, or $2000 per year are recouped. Insurance carrier acknowledged multiple returns the first year.