2012 is the year of technology - at least it is in my office…read more
My colleague and I are leading the charge to upgrade our current technology platform. We just completed our first implementation, a new CRM system, two weeks ago. Our old CRM had been in place for over 15 years and was a lifeline for our firm's biggest profit center; in other words we couldn't afford to screw this implementation up.
When our consultants outlined their recommendations for interactive training sessions, I got worried. Currently, we're not a mobile office; with little exception, everyone's work machine is a desktop. I didn't anticipate asking employees to drag their desktops into our conference room or instituting a "bring your laptop to work" day being viable solutions. Panicked, our consultants suggested we rent machines - something obvious that had never occurred to me. A Google search led me to Meeting Tomorrow, a Chicago-based company that provides computer, AV, and even rental solutions nationally.
After perusing their website site and reviewing the few reviews on Yelp, I made contact - admittedly a little hesitant. Their website has a chat feature; I was able to quickly explain my needs and received an initial quote. I was put in touch with an account rep, Anthony, when I was ready to move forward.
Anthony was amazing! Based on our needs, he gave us a better deal than I was expecting, in terms of both price and rental period. Since he was a national account rep, he was able to use my order specifications for the rental our Denver office needed to place. Anthony was very responsive, all of my questions were answered quickly; from quote to payment everything was smooth sailing. He had our machines delivered early to ensure we had them in time. Our project had me so harried, I nearly forgot about our rentals; fortunately, he didn't. A crate of Lenovo laptops - each in a laptop bag - arrived well in advance of our scheduled training. When I tested each one, I was thrilled that they connected to our wireless network without issue.
At the 11th hour we made the decision to push our go live date back two weeks, which changed our entire training schedule. Concerned, I called Anthony hoping to extend our rental; it was no problem, Anthony gave us the machines for another three weeks (more time than I needed). Within the hour I had a revised agreement and the price increase was very reasonable.
The only hiccup came when I returned the machines, but it wasn't Meeting Tomorrow's fault. The shipping crate contained return instructions and zip ties to reseal everything. Missing my chance to arrange a pickup, we tried to send our order back through our local FedEx store to avoid a late return. Frustratingly, they refused the crate, wanting to repack it at a ridiculous cost. Fortunately, Anthony again came to the rescue; he pushed our return date back a day, so that I was able to schedule a pick up an not incur a late penalty.
We have at least two more software implementations planned for 2012. I'm not sure if we'll need more laptop rentals, but if we do I wouldn't hesitate to call Meeting Tomorrow again; they're aces.