Local Private School | Anonymous Title Company | Testimonials

CASE STUDY: LOCAL PRIVATE SCHOOL

SITUATION
A group was ready to open a private school, catering to students with special needs. While they had a "sister" program already in operation, they needed to establish a different Information Technology platform and system to support the new school and future locations as the student population grew.

CHALLENGES
To manage the complete planning, procurement, installation, configuration, and system administration for their IT infrastructure.

To establish the IT platform with budget and time constraints (4-6 weeks).

SOLUTION
Elm Street Management deployed several experienced IT professionals to this start-up project. Our team did competitive research, obtained quotes, coordinated all services with subcontractors, and performed project management throughout the initial set-up. We leveraged the strength of our relationships with contractors and our experience to move the project along in a cost and time-effective manner.

Once the school year commenced, Elm Street worked with the school's corporate staff and faculty to ensure that all teacher and student accounts, software applications, and hardware components were functional, and performed any necessary troubleshooting. Over the course of the school year, Elm Street handled on-going maintenance, security, backups, and troubleshooting.

RESULTS
The school was so pleased with Elm Street's set-up and ongoing services, that we were engaged to assist them with the opening of a new location the following summer. Elm Street Management completed a similar system for the additional site, which also tied the schools together for ease of server administration and allows for capacity to grow, and streamline the maintenance and troubleshooting process.

CASE STUDY: ANONYMOUS TITLE COMPANY (Metro DC)

SITUATION
Like many of its competitors in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, the anonymous title company thrived during the past real estate boom. However, the cyclical nature of the real estate market is expected, and the title business is competitive and dependent on external factors outside of its control. How would the company remain profitable during a downturn?

CHALLENGES
To remain a successful and growing corporation through the inevitable decline in the real estate market and be positioned to take the greatest advantage of a business upswing when it occurs.

A corporate infrastructure that would strengthen core business operations while allowing for new revenue streams from expanded complementary services was needed. This meant acquiring a greater share of a shrinking market, increasing the rate of return business, maximizing ancillary lines of business, and implementing operational efficiencies to cut costs.

SOLUTION
The integrated Elm Street Management team performed a comprehensive analysis of the company’s operations, including Human Resources, Finance, IT, and Marketing.

Elm Street Management helped solidify key business relationships and executed careful and strategic geographic expansion and targeted acquisitions to increase market share.

The Finance team maximized vendor contracts, streamlined work flow procedures for efficiency, carefully tracked headcount even down to the labor expense per case, and diligently managed cash flow to help reduce debt. IT costs were cut by centralizing resources that were duplicative in function while making the company’s network servers more robust and secure.

As cyclical businesses are particularly vulnerable to HR obstacles—losing employees (and the investments that were made in them) during downturns and bearing the cost to re-staff in upturns—we introduced new benefit plans and perks for employees, and continued to reward employees for outstanding performance. Regardless of economic challenges, the company reinforced that employees were critical to the long-term success of the company.

RESULTS
Execution of specific action plans for each functional area resulted in cost savings of nearly one million dollars, superior RESPA compliance, and a broader regional footprint.

Expert financial reporting, metrics, and analysis contributed to the company’s continued existence through drastic market flux.

Although the company’s core business initially dropped almost 50% in the downturn, they reaped the benefits of diversifying both its services and client base.

Employees remained loyal, and the company was named the #1 mid-sized “Best Place to Work” by The Washington Business Journal.

Overall, the strategic initiatives developed and executed during a period of uncertainty in the market prepared the company for future stability, survivability and profit through sustained growth and market share as business rebounded.

"With their ability to identify problems and take decisive, strategic measures in a prompt and professional manner, Elm Street helped our agent reach the next level. A soft real estate market can be the best time to help assure your company’s survival by engaging these business-savvy professionals who understand our industry."

TESTIMONIALS

"As a new business with growth aspirations, having the consulting and certain key operations handled by experts at Elm Street allowed my company to realize its goals. Elm Street has been instrumental in providing operations support that ensure organization and accountability."

"As our company has experienced close to 100% growth in personnel, having Alissa consulting with us has been a key component to our sustainability. She has been greatly involved in the implementation of policies and procedures strengthening the structure of our HR department. In employee relations, Alissa has also effectively gained the trust of staff promoting a better work environment. Her advice to me and executive staff has always been on point. Alissa can be counted on; her availability to me and staff is to be commended. Thank you!"

"Elm Street Management played a huge role in the start up of our McLean and Great Falls Keller Williams Realty offices. They have proven to be an invaluable resource in our day-to-day operations. Their staff is very knowledgeable, prompt, friendly and always available to assist whenever they are called upon. We would highly recommend their services."