July 2021

Page B13 JULY 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on B MEDIA,PA— ASD–Answering Service for Directors recent- ly achieved a significant mile- stone, recording the 10,000th version update to the company’s answering service system. ASD’s vice president and family-mem- ber owner, Marty Czachor Jr., first custom-designed the com- pany’s state-of the-art telephone answering computer system back in the mid-90s. Since that time, it has been updated 10,000 times with numerous enhancements. From the early days of call for- warding, to the addition of the ASD Mobile app integrations and the evolution of the com- pany’s remote capabilities, ASD’s funeral home answering service system otherwise known as Sta- tionMaster (SM), has proven to be highly adaptable and custom- izable. Each version update rep- resents a new stage in the de- velopment of ASD’s technical solutions for funeral homes. The company’s ability to continually refine SM has enabled ASD to develop features and tools specif- ically for the funeral profession. It is not a typical thing for an answering service company to develop their own custom-built technology in-house. Most an- swering services utilize a third- party software and are therefore at the mercy of those vendors who do not work directly for their company or their clientele. ASD’s flexible technology programs and in-house tech team have allowed the company to remain highly innovative, developing multiple patented solutions no other an- swering service can offer. One of the most significant up- dates to impact ASD’s SM was the development of the ASD Mobile app, first introduced to funeral directors in 2011. The app integrated directly with SM, giving funeral directors the abil- ity to review all communications (including written messages and call recordings), update the on- call instructions on their ASD account, send funeral service de- tails for ASD to relay to callers, and set up automated commu- nication methods such as texting and push notifications. Direct- ly linking SM to the ASD Mo- bile app has dramatically trans- formed communications for thousands of funeral profession- als across the country. The introduction of mobile phones ushered in a new wave of technical advancements. ASD was able to remain on the fore- front, creating solutions to help funeral directors be more effi- cient. These automated process- es built into SM eliminated the need for a lot of manual work, allowing funeral directors to re- ply to their messages via text or mobile app rather than having to take the time to call ASD to have their messages read aloud. The most recent major up- date to SM occurred when ASD sought to expand the company’s remote capabilities. ASD began exploring these options several years prior to the pandemic to help its staff work safely and ef- fectively from home during ma- jor weather events. The compa- ny’s technical team established an ultra-secure VoIP link which ASD Call Specialists use to easily access SM from their home com- puter. When COVID hit, ASD was able to seamlessly transition to a completely work-from-home model. Of course, moving its en- tire workforce to a remote system required a great deal of SM up- dates. ASD’s in-house technolo- gy team spent the better half of 2020 upgrading computer hard- ware and software along with implementing many custom improvements to SM to handle COVID-related requests. While these big updates are certainly noteworthy moments in the history of SM, Marty and ASD’s technical team also add small but important enhance- ments to the system on an al- most daily basis. Just about ev- ery day, all of ASD’s employees will receive a message instructing them to update their computer to implement a new code of pro- gramming. Take for example the recent updates made leading up to the 10,000th version update. Most of these updates revolved around code changes to better support remote training, making it simpler for ASD Training Spe- cialists to remotely screenshare with new employees. “My brother is the last person to toot his own horn, so I have to do it for him. What Marty and his team have been able to achieve is truly remarkable,” said ASD vice president and family- member owner, Kevin Czach- or. “StationMaster is Marty’s cre- ation – he began programming it more than 25 years ago and has never stopped looking for ways to make it better. He loves talk- ing to funeral directors to find out what new solutions he can develop to make their lives easier. He is so passionate about helping funeral directors streamline their processes. It’s amazing that today we still have a few clients who call in and ask us to read mes- sages, but the vast majority have discovered how ASD’s technolo- gy can make their lives better. In- novation is such a huge part of ASD’s company DNA and none of it would be possible without Marty creating that very first ver- sion of StationMaster!” ASD–Answering Service for Di- rectors has created a new class of answering service for the funer- al profession. Family owned and operated since 1972, ASD blends state-of-the-art technology with an extensive, 6-month training program focusing on compas- sionate care. The company’s cus- tom-built communication sys- tems and sophisticated mobile tools were designed solely to meet the needs of funeral profession- als. By offering funeral directors unmatched protection for their calls, ASD has redefined the role of an answering service for funer- al homes. For more information, visit www.myASD.com or call 1-800-868-9950. ASD–Answering Service for Directors Records 10,000 th System Update Continued from Page B1 dedication have allowed us to achieve so much,” said Rav- er. “I also want to thank our customers, communities, col- leagues, shareholders, and the board of directors for their ongoing support. I have worked with Kim for many years and am confident she will be an excellent leader for Hil- lenbrand. I look forward to working closely together for Hillenbrand Announces CEO Retirement and Succession Plan Joe A. Raver to retire at the end of 2021, after 27 years with the company and 8 years as CEO Kimberly K. Ryan, Senior Vice President and President of Coperion, appointed Executive Vice President and named CEO successor 11,000 employees, we want to thank Joe for his leadership and impact over his more than two decades with the orga- nization,” said Joe Loughrey, Hillenbrand chairperson. Ryan’s selection is the culmination of a robust, multi- year leadership development and succession planning process led by the board with the help of an independent external management consultant. the balance of the year to ensure a smooth transition.” The CEO transition begins June 2, 2021. Effective imme- diately, Ryan will have responsibility for the company’s busi- nesses, including Mold-Masters , Milacron InjectionMold- ing & Extrusion, Coperion, and Batesville. The leaders of these businesses will report directly to Ryan, and she will lead the development and execution of their strategies and busi- ness plans to drive profitable growth. The other members of the company’s executive management team will continue to report to Raver during the transition. As executive vice presi- dent, Ryan moves out of her role as president of Coperion. Ulrich Bartel, president of Coperion’s Polymer Division, has been named Coperion president and joins the Hillenbrand executive management team, effective immediately. “I want to thank Joe Raver for his distinguished leader- ship at Hillenbrand and also the Board for its confidence in me as I step into this role,” said Ryan. “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to work with our tal- ented leadership team and employees around the world to advance Hillenbrand’s profitable growth strategy.” Hillenbrand is a global diversified industrial company with businesses that serve a wide variety of industries around the world. They pursue profitable growth and robust cash gen- eration to drive increased value for their shareholders. For more information, visit www.Hillenbrand.com. BATESVILLE,IN— Hill- enbrand, Inc (NYSE: HI) has announced that Joe A. Raver, president and CEO plans to retire at the end of 2021. The board of direc- tors has appointed Kim- berly K. Ryan to succeed Raver as CEO on Janu- ary 1, 2022, at which time she will also join the Hil- lenbrand board. She will become executive vice president of Hillenbrand effective immediately. “On behalf of the board of directors, the management team, and Hillenbrand’s Ryan joined the Bates- ville Casket Company in 1989 and in her 33 years with Hillenbrand, has held many senior roles, includ- ing president of Batesville. Since 2015, she has been president of Coperion, Hillenbrand’s largest busi- ness, where she built a strong management team and drove excellent results. “It has been an honor to serve as CEO of Hillen- brand during this period of transformation and growth, and I want to offer my sin- cere thanks to our employ- ees whose hard work and Passare ® Announces New Integration with MKJ Marketing ABILENE,TX— Passare® is excited to announce a new website integration with MKJ Marketing. “With this integration, cus- tomers who use MKJ as their website provider can send obituary information and service details to their web- site with a single click,” said Josh McQueen, vice presi- dent of product at Passare. “When MKJ reached out to us to integrate with our pub- lic API, we jumped at the opportunity to partner with them to help make our cus- tomers’ daily operations run a bit more smoothly.” Passare introduced its pub- lic API in early 2020 and has been able to partner with fu- neral home website providers to help funeral homes stream- line their data entry. “MKJ Marketing’s website designs are unique to each business and incorporate out- standing video, custom copy- writing, and SEO into each site,” said Courtney Gould Miller, chief strategy officer and head of digital for MKJ Marketing. “We have focused on delivering the marketing results our clients are looking for, and we can now offer all of this, plus the added conve- nience for staff of only hav- ing to enter in a family’s infor- mation once. Integrating our websites with Passare creates a seamless connection for our clients with one of the best platforms in funeral home software management.” “Passare’s goal is to help fu- neral directors simplify their lives, streamline processes, and get to spend more time with the families they serve, and this integration doing just that,” said McQueen. “We’re proud to partner with com- panies like MKJ to bring the funeral profession incredible time-saving integrations.” For over 35 years, MKJ Mar- keting has been a trusted mar- keting partner to funeral homes, cemeteries, and cremation busi- nesses. For more information, visit www.mkjmarketing.com. Security National Financial Corporation Reports Financial Results for First Quarter 2021 SALT LAKE CITY,UT— Securi- ty National Financial Corporation (SNFC) (NASDAQ: SNFCA) an- nounced financial results for the quar- ter ended March 31, 2021. SNFC’s after-tax earnings from operations in- creased 751%. Scott M. Quist , President of the Company, said: “I can’t help but admire the execution excellence our teams have accomplished in the first quarter. Over- all earnings are up 1,000%. The Cov- id induced climate brings blessings and curses. In no way do we minimize the personal hardships and losses the Pan- demic has inflicted on so many individ- uals and families – our insurance and memorial businesses essentially have front row seats to observe some of those effects. From a financial point of view, low interest rates have helped our Mort- gage Segment, but low rates and high- er death claims have hurt our Life Seg- ment. In total, death claims increased 37% over 2020 levels with the major part of that increase being Covid re- lated. Better cash and expense manage- ment has helped to offset the increased death claims. While our Memorial seg- ment has experienced higher death counts, a major factor in its increased profitability has been improved preneed sales. Again, our job is to execute our business plans in whatever environment we have, and I believe our teams have done that in an admirable fashion.” For full details and more informa- tion, visit www.securitynational.com.