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Barr Management Deploys e/pop to Support Corporate Training Initiatives
Real-Time Communications can take many forms
including secure instant messaging, which has gained
incredible market traction over the past three years and
is now used by a vast majority of business organizations
throughout North America. The popularity of instant
messaging has, in turn, helped other Real-Time
Communications applications gain a foothold in the
business enterprise. This is in part due to the
considerable leaps that have been made in web services
and Internet Protocol technology. As a result, Real-Time
Communications has taken on a whole new meaning for
organizations that wish to interact, collaborate and
conduct business instantly. Gone are the days of sending
emails and waiting for a response, or leaving multiple
voice mail messages and awaiting a return phone call.
WiredRed’s Real-Time Routing Architecture provides the
platform by which any type of data, including lengthy
documents, short text messages, or even voice and
synchronous video can be delivered in real-time. Many
companies are taking advantage of new on-premise
software solutions such as secure instant messaging and
web conferencing, to enhance training processes,
meetings and business-to-business communications in
general. Barr Management, a Chicago-based check-cashing
company, founded in the early 1950s, embraced the
concept of secure instant messaging and deployed
WiredRed’s e/pop Professional for intra-office
communications about two years ago. Last year, Barr
decided that WiredRed’s e/pop Web Conferencing software
would greatly enhance the company’s ability to train
affiliates, customers and vendors located around the
country and deployed it as well.
“Secure instant messaging has worked so well for us as a
way to communicate better, faster and help to resolve
issues, we thought that web conferencing would be a good
complement and provide additional functionality not
found in IM,” said Jon Klein, Barr Management’s vice
president and general manager. “Because it’s entirely
browser-based, e/pop Web Conferencing also allows us to
communicate in real-time with companies not on our LAN.”
Barr Management owns and operates 47 check-cashing
locations in and around the greater Chicago area. As the
person in charge of managing operations for all of the
company’s check-cashing facilities, as well as the
administrative headquarters, Klein sought a secure
solution that could be easily installed, didn’t require
a high-level of maintenance and most importantly, is
relatively inexpensive and is extremely intuitive and
easy to use.
Klein uses e/pop Web Conferencing to remotely enable
vendors, such as Western Union, to train Barr employees
on new wire transfer procedures, which is required when
routine software updates are completed. Barr also
develops check-scanning software that is being used by
other check cashing companies around the country. e/pop
Web Conferencing’s remote control capability streamlines
and makes the software training process much more
efficient.
“We’ve used online web conferencing services from Webex,”
said Klein. “The service works really well, but it is
too costly for us. Also, I have considerable security
concerns about using a service for remote control
purposes.”
As a company that relies upon the security of their
network to protect their assets, Klein has instituted a
lock-down on software that can be installed on any
client desktop in the company’s 47 locations.
In order to adhere to strict security policies, each
exchange communicates with the headquarters office via a
T1 Internet connection and a private line network
through a firewall. Barr Management also hosts its own
email server and has installed virus and spam protection
filters on the Windows 2000 and XP Servers in order to
decrease the likelihood of being hit by a destructive
virus. Barr utilizes a standard non-dedicated server for
e/pop Web Conferencing.
e/pop Web Conferencing has proven that it can be a
reliable, fast and secure means to conduct conferences
for training, remote control and in the near future,
company-wide meetings that don’t require travel or time
out of the office, says Klein.
“I am definitely looking forward to the convergence of
e/pop IM and web conferencing,” he said. “It will be a
very efficient way to see if people are online and
available to join a conference. With a simple click the
person is invited to the conference. As the person in
charge of efficient operations at Barr, simplistic
software that works each and every time, like e/pop
Professional and e/pop Web Conferencing make my job that
much easier.”
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