Case Study
Wrangling Overwhelming Emails and Managing Tasks with a Custom-Fit App
2020
Sun Vista Rentals is a real estate company that helps property owners rent out their homes to visitors who want unforgettable beach vacation experiences. In 2020, COVID-19 expedited developments in the vacation rental industry, namely, the digitization of booking processes. Suddenly, Sun Vista was receiving an overwhelming influx of reservations via email. Even after investing in a channel manager’s integrated software, the company had difficulty organizing hundreds of emails. The barrage of new requests muddled Sun Vista’s view of complete and incomplete tasks.
Sun Vista’s Sharon Harper knew that they needed a professional solution to get back on track and recalled TechHouse’s Tony Pizza telling her, “You know we do more than Office 365, right?”
She immediately called TechHouse.
Pizza promptly scheduled time for Harper to meet with TechHouse consultants. Upon meeting, it became apparent that communication is essential to keeping Sun Vista running smoothly. When property owners register their homes with Sun Vista, the owners require reliable communication to ensure the security of their homes. Consistent communication is important for guests inquiring about and reserving rental properties. During their stay, guests also need to be able to communicate with Sun Vista about any concerns.
The bustling vacation industry’s recent and rapid move to the cloud shifted phone and walk-in traffic to email and web traffic, respectively. Sun Vista needed an efficient way to manage the increase in digital communication—and they needed it fast.
Having come from a software design background I think I can easily say this design experience was on par with what I experienced working with large developers.
Sharon Harper
TechHouse’s custom-fit property management application for Sun Vista leverages Dynamics 365 Power Platform model apps and custom workflows in Power Automate. TechHouse’s solution provided Sun Vista with a well-organized list of tasks assigned to different employees based on the type of request. TechHouse further optimized the solution by embedding source emails into the task itself, eliminating the need to flip between different applications to get the job done. Employees at Sun Vista simply need to read emails, execute their assignments, mark their tasks complete, and move to the next one.
Now, when I have a technical problem, I just say ‘Let me call my technical staff.’ That would be TechHouse.
Sharon Harper
TechHouse also provided coaching sessions for the Sun Vista team and how this new application fits into Sun Vista’s vision to make current processes easier and more effective. With the app and training deployed, Harper has a quick view at the end of the day to see which tasks are completed and which tasks still need attention. Thanks to TechHouse, Sun Vista now has an efficient “Communication Hub” to handle the company’s overflow of traffic and business.
The TechHouse Team is one of the best I have ever worked with. At any time, [TechHouse’s CEO and Founder] Kathy [Durfee] would pop in to answer a question or explain why we needed to go in a certain direction. The right people were available when we needed them.
Sharon Harper