The solution is a responsive web app. Newly submitted applications feed into a queue. From there, the team directly communicates with applicants. Many of the scenarios require the same response, so we built an interface that allows them to send a canned reply which automatically replaces placeholders in the templates with information from the application, which saves significant time.
Applicants sign the Rackspace Startup Program agreement electronically, and the billing department which processes the discounts got an automated data export with the relevant applicant details.
I appreciated that whenever we tell Anton what we want, he responds with ‘Tell me what problem you're actually trying to solve here.’ He then says ‘Have you thought about doing it this way?’, or ‘Here's one way we could do it and here's what it would cost. Here's another way that I think solves the same problem.’ He gets you to the same place but in a different way. He does that all the time, and never just says ‘Okay we'll do it’ and goes off and does something that may not be the best solution in the end.
— Graham Turney, Senior Marketing Manager, Rackspace