Posted by Maureen Petron - Tonight, the NASE has to shut down part of its Web site. It's an important part -- the Member log-in area -- and it'll be down for a few days.
That's the bad news. For someone like me, who likes to do everything online, it's a drag for me to consider calling the NASE Member Services 800-232-6273 phone number to get information I might need between now and Monday. Things like the phone numbers to favorite benefits, or even to submit a question to one of the NASE business and financial consultants -- I have to call for a few days instead of finding it on the Web site.
But the good news is that it's all being done for great reasons! We're launching some cool new features on the site soon, and need to do some maintenance and clean up. We've moving this blog over to www.NASE.org, and adding the ability for you to comment on, question, and share all the educational articles we have on the Tax Resource Center and Health Resource Center. We have an interactive benefits guide that'll let you download a PDF of just your favorite benefits for easy reference (making it less of a concern if we need to limit Web access in the future!).
Because the shut down needs to happen, we're doing it on a Thursday-Sunday of a summer weekend; I hope that minimizes the impact because those are typically slower traffic days for us.
We've sent out an e-mail alert to all our members letting them know about the interruption. And we have a big sign posted on the homepage (the shut down only affects the members-only portal, so you can still find lots of great stuff online).
What else could we have done to let you know ahead of time? What do you do in your business when you have technical shutdowns like this? Or even when you're just headed for vacation for a few days and no one will be around to answer the phone -- what's the best way to communicate to your customers that the interruption is temporary, and with their best interests at heart?