Meritage Homes Corporation Uses HEAT® to Build ROI and Customer Satisfaction (email this article)

Dublin, CA (September 20, 2005) Recently named one of Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Corporations in America, Meritage Homes Corporation has constructed more than 20,000 high-quality homes across the South and West in its 19-year history. When rapid growth and an expanding employee base left its IT department looking for a more centralized and automated system for managing help desk issues, Meritage turned to FrontRange Professional Services Organization (PSO) and HEAT Service & Support.

Meeting the growing demands in some of the nation’s hottest housing markets, such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix/Mesa, Meritage has exceeded its goal of doubling in size every three to four years and reached $2 billon in revenue in 2004 – a 38% increase over the year before. To keep up with such growth, Meritage needed to expand its employee base to 1,250 people in 18 offices.

But as the number of employees increased, Meritage realized that its current system for managing help desk issues just wasn’t enough. More importantly, the company needed to centralize its geographically based IT support and create a nationally distributed model to all technicians to serve employees based on expertise rather than location.

An exhaustive search of as many as eight help desk applications led Meritage to HEAT Service & Support from FrontRange Solutions. Ultimately, HEAT lined up with the search team’s extensive needs matrix, which included ease of use, strong reporting, customizability, asset tracking, self service, a web-based client, automation and change management capabilities, among other criteria. “We were looking for the best-of-breed product for our business,” said Chris Filandro, Director of Network Services at Meritage Homes.

Eager to roll out HEAT within the quarter, IT turned to FrontRange PSO for assistance in implementing and customizing the software, as well as training. According to Filandro, FrontRange PSO’s ability to tailor HEAT to meet their growing needs has enabled Meritage to show their customers that “we really have a handle on what’s going on in the infrastructure. They find it impressive that we’re able to, regardless of location, access answers and immediately solve problems.”

“At the end of the day, we can now grow smarter with the business,” continues Filandro. “IT should be business focused, instead of just being a cost center. With HEAT, as we double in size, I don’t have to double my staff. When I look at what we’ve accomplished with HEAT, it’s what IT should be – an enabler to the business growth.”

About FrontRange Professional Services Organization
FrontRange Solutions Professional Services Organization (PSO) delivers maximized value to FrontRange Solutions clients. Comprised of Consulting Services and Educational Services, PSO has delivered over 7,500 successful (on-time, on-budget, on-scope) FrontRange Solutions systems – enabling clients to enjoy high productivity at a low total cost of ownership.

FrontRange Consulting Services achieves the rapid implementation of applications by leveraging the FrontRange Accelerated MethodologyTM and Solution Sets. Accelerated Methodology combines tools, templates, and techniques specifically engineered to deliver FrontRange Solutions systems. Solution Sets combine the certified installation with best-practice business process, workflow, process/application configuration, integration, conversion, reports, and analytics into a pre-defined Services Package.

Educational Services provides online and in-classroom training to project teams, end users, and executives to ensure maximum assimilation of applications and the online business process. In-classroom courses offer personal interaction with industry certified professionals delivering hands-on material in first class environments. Online courses are given through FrontRange Solutions University and include live, interactive instructor-hosted sessions as well as pre-developed online courses presented in a user friendly environment. Individual transcripts are also provided to allow students to track their own progress.

About FrontRange Solutions
FrontRange Solutions develops award-winning software and solutions used by more than 130,000 companies and over 1.2 million users worldwide to manage a wide variety of business relationships and provide exceptional service. FrontRange product families, designed specifically for small-to-medium-enterprise (SME) and distributed enterprise organizations include: GoldMine® for business relationship management, team-based contact management and sales force automation solutions; IT Service Management with HEAT® and ITIL® standards-based modules for complete service management; Communications Management including IP Contact Center for reduced telephony costs and increased agent productivity, streamlined customer service and communications; and Infrastructure Management, which provides the ability to optimize the full lifecycle of a company’s assets. Customers representing 44 percent of the Fortune 100 and 76 percent of the FTSE 100, include Coca-Cola, Shell Oil, Prudential Securities, Électricité de France, Mack Trucks, Campbell Soup, Avaya, Bechtel Corp, Bank of America, and Turner News Network. For more information, call (800) 776-7889 or visit www.frontrange.com.