In 1972, ASD Founders Marty and Barbara Czachor sought to establish a small answering service business to support their growing family. Never could they have imagined their company would become the leading answering service for funeral homes a half-century later, working with more than 9,000 funeral homes across the United States and Canada.
To this day, the ASD answering service for funeral directors is proudly family-owned and operated. From the beginning, our goal has been to improve the world by enhancing communication and help those who are dedicated to helping others. We remain committed to our mission through our consistent, transparent funeral answering service and award-winning, patented innovative technology.
The story of ASD’s growth and evolution over the past five decades is one of passion, innovation, and leadership.
Marty and Barbara established our answering service, Answering Service Dispatch. With nationwide call forwarding still decades away, we worked with locally based businesses who physically wired their phone lines to us. This included Griffith Funeral Chapel in Norwood, PA, still an ASD client.
ASD transitioned to the Rolla paper-based system widely used by answering services during this era. This equipment emulated switchboard answering service procedures but used a DID (direct inward dialing) system, offering one-touch dialing and a much smaller footprint. Messages were handwritten and then placed in a Rolodex-style messages system.
ASD 2nd Generation Family-Member Owner and CTO Marty Czachor, Jr. officially joins the company after graduating from Drexel University with an MBA in Computer Science.
2nd Generation Family-Member Owner and CMO Kevin Czachor officially joins the company after earning a B.A. from Widener University in Business Marketing.
ASD transitions to a computerized automatic answering service system. The company begins utilizing Cadcom Telesystems’s suite of answering service products as part of this change. This includes the LineMaster system, the first digital integrated switch aimed specifically at answering services, and the StationMaster system, the first software utilized by our answering service agents.
With the introduction of nationwide toll-free calls, ASD can expand to businesses outside our local area. Soon after, ASD decides to work exclusively with funeral professionals and to change our name to ASD – Answering Service for Directors.
ASD 2nd Generation Family-Member Owner and CFO Kathleen Kelley (nee. Czachor) officially joins the company after earning an MBA in Finance from Temple University and gaining experience working for PECO energy company.
ASD CTO Marty Czachor, Jr. creates the very first version of our customizable answering service system using Cadcom’s Stationmaster program as a starting base. This is why we still refer to our system as StationMaster, even though it is entirely comprised of our own programming.
ASD becomes the first answering service to record calls for clients to review in a voicemail box. Along with this upgrade, ASD also introduces a RingTracker™ feature that notifies clients what ring each call was answered on. Together, these two features allow ASD to offer funeral professionals greater transparency than any other answering service.
ASD Founders Marty Czachor Sr and Barbara Czachor retire from the day-to-day functions at ASD. The two continue to guide our 2nd Generation of Owners while remaining active in supporting charitable organizations.
ASD integrates text messaging into our answering service system, allowing funeral directors to receive their messages via text.
ASD unveils a new website, myasd.com, which allows clients to access messages, call recordings, and send ASD details about current services online.
ASD expands operations and moves from a small office in Glenolden, PA, to our current headquarters in Media, PA. In addition to offering more office space, our new facility allows us to invest in multiple redundancies to protect our clients’ sensitive phone calls.
ASD attends our first National Funeral Directors Association convention in Philadelphia. This allows us to get to know our clients more personally while understanding what communication solutions would help make their lives easier.
ASD transitions our answering service operations from an antiqued analog process to a modern, secure digital system.
ASD begins taking active steps to grow a Spanish bilingual team and marketing our services to funeral homes needing a bilingual answering service.
Integrations with other funeral home websites and software companies lead ASD to introduce a new FuneralSync™ solution. This feature allows clients to automatically transfer First Call data and obituary information between ASD and other funeral home software programs.
ASD releases its First Call Alert® and First Call Connect® features which immediately alert clients when ASD begins taking a First Call for their funeral home and allows them to connect to the call while in progress.
We also add a Solicitor Shield® feature to enhance our answering service system. This telecom invention protects ASD from recorded spam calls that would otherwise flood their phone lines and allows clients to block unwanted calls from specific numbers.
A powerful hurricane is forecast to hit our local area. More than 40 ASD employees camp out at our office during Hurricane Irene to ensure that funeral professionals have protection for their calls through the storm.
We introduce ASD Mobile for iPhone. Within just a few months, funeral professionals provide thousands of downloads and hundreds of 5-star reviews.
Hurricane Sandy strikes our local area, but ASD stays ahead of the storm by providing accommodations so that more than 50 employees can shelter overnight in ASD’s building. This event prompts ASD to begin exploring remote solutions so that, in the future, staff can work from home when necessary.
In November 2012, ASD releases the first version of ASD Mobile for Android.
The United States Patent Office provides official patents to ASD for First Call Alert®, First Call Connect®, and Solicitor Shield®. The patents protect the proprietary technology utilized by ASD’s in-house programming team in the development of these solutions.
The United States Patent Office issues ASD an official patent for our company’s MobileFH® feature. The patent protects the propriety technology utilized by ASD’s in-house programming team in the development of this Caller ID solution.
ASD begins to actively seek out new ways to engage with our staff and enrich our company culture. This leads to the establishment of our company’s Team ASD events, which include athletic competitions, charity walks/runs, volunteer events, picnics, and other engaging group activities.
NFDA recognizes ASD’s Suicide Telephone Operator Patch (S.T.O.P) System with the 2017 NFDA Innovation Award at the annual convention in Boston.
NFDA recognizes ASD’s Web Form WatchDog™ feature with the 2018 Members’ Choice Award (formally called the Innovation Award) at the annual convention in Salt Lake City.
After several impactful winter storms hit our local area, ASD begins taking more active steps to ensure staff can work remotely when necessary. By the end of 2018, more than 80 ASD employees have home computers.
ASD develops a new Obit Texting solution that enables ASD Call Specialists to text obituary information to funeral home callers requesting those details. This feature, which is offered to all ASD clients at no cost, helps make obituary information more accessible to callers while enhancing the funeral home’s brand. This feature is especially useful for funeral homes during the pandemic because it makes it simple for ASD to text callers URLs to funeral live streams.
ASD records the 10,000th version update to our company’s answering service system.
ASD officially turns 50! We celebrate this milestone by hosting our clients and friends for an unforgettable evening during the 2022 NFDA Convention. We spent an incredible night with our wonderful clients and dedicated employees.
ASD introduces our new NEXT STEP Text™ feature, which helps funeral homes to provide necessary funeral planning resources to families immediately following the First Call.
Compassion is our calling at ASD. From our funeral answering service to our technology solutions, we aim to improve the lives of funeral directors and those calling in life’s most challenging moments. With ASD, funeral homes can trust consistent and transparent service 24/7. Contact us today to get started with a free trial.
