focusIT Blog

Technology Trends in Mortgage Banking

Scott Robbins - Saturday, June 26, 2010

In any business ensuring data security is a tremendously important issue, but even more important for mortgage companies. Just think for a moment what measures you must take to secure your physical documents and computer network. Your physical documents must be shredded, disposed of in locked bins and collected by professional disposal agents hired from private companies. Your digital documents must be stored in encrypted format, behind firewalls and under virus protection.

Having a security breach at your mortgage company in which you lost client data could be devastating to your business.  If you were to have clients’ identities stolen, or become the victim of internet theft, your reputation could be ruined and you could lose your business, not to mention the inevitable lawsuits that would ensue.  Many new state laws and regulations require you, as a business owner, to provide minimum protection standards to safeguard this critical information.  Simply put, most small to mid-sized mortgage organizations simply do not comply.  And really who has the time or resources to keep up with technology and regulatory issues?

In order to avoid this nightmare situation you must ensure that your data is protected by the most cutting edge security software, and administered to by experts. As a business owner you can either take the time to learn this yourself, which given the hectic and time consuming nature of the mortgage industry is highly unlikely; hire a full time technology professional which can be risky and costly, or outsource your technology needs to an experienced technology company like focusIT.

Of the three options, using managed services company is clearly the most logical and cost effective choice. By hiring a technology expert you ensure that your Calyx Software, Exchange Email Server and SharePoint document management infrastructure are properly installed and administered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your software and all of your sensitive information is held on a hosted virtual server unique to your company, and stored in a secure SAS70 Type II data facility. This means that you, and only you, can access your files from anywhere without the need to physically take your database with you. These servers are protected with the latest security devices and overseen at all times to ensure that your and your clients’ information is protected.

Don’t take the risk of exposing your clients’ information and your reputation to lost or stolen data.  The technology trends in mortgage banking are moving towards these type of managed or outsource IT solutions.  Business owners see the value in moving their technology support to companies that focus on these services and spending more time on their business.  If you are interested in this type of outsourced IT technology solution call the experts at focusIT to learn more about securing your technology network. FocusIT is the largest Calyx PointCentral hosting company in the US.

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Experts In Managing Your Calyx Point Software

Scott Robbins - Monday, June 21, 2010

When you or your loan officers are selling your company and your services to a client one of the cornerstones of your pitch will inadvertently be the expertise you bring to the table. Why would a client want to slog through all of the paperwork, guidelines and regulations that make the mortgage industry so complex? That is why they pay you to perform this valuable service for them. You present to them the fact that you and your team are highly experienced professionals. This goes a long way to closing the deal and earning the business of a new client, correct?

So following this same line of reasoning, why would you not trust technology experts to assist you in your mortgage technology needs? Follow your own advice and bring on the services of a trained specialist to manage your Calyx® Point® software suite. By using the experts at focusIT you can ensure that your Calyx PointCentral system will be properly installed and administered.  Benefits to hosting your Calyx Point Software with a focusIT, inc include:

• Reducing the go live time from several weeks to just a few days.
• Never worrying about software updates or increasing hardware demands
• Dramatically increased security of your systems are housed and managed in SAS70 Type II data centers

Beyond the myriad benefits of having the experts and specialized staff at focusIT, Inc. running your Calyx Point system, you will also see a dramatic reduction in cost to you. Why? Because you will not have to invest in the required hardware to run the system, and you will eliminate the need to hire the staff to administer to this complex system. This alone dramatically reduces overhead for your mortgage company by harnessing the power of true managed outsourcing. When the factors are weighed, the choice becomes clear. Trusting in experts at focusIT, Inc. is not only good for your clients, but also good for you and your business.  Contact the experts at focusIT to learn more about our hosted mortgage software solutions.

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Lowering Cost While Increasing Profit

Scott Robbins - Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The primary function of any business is to earn a profit. That alone is the reason you get up every morning, drive to the office and put in a hard day’s work. All the headaches, fires to be put out, snags, underwriting setbacks, changing guidelines, ego driven loan officers and capricious borrowers are enough to drive any sane human being out of their mind. If not for the profit margin that keeps food on the table and a roof over you and your family’s head, the mortgage industry would not be worth the stress.

So why not maximize the good while minimizing the bad? If you are going to be putting in the herculean effort to keep the wheels turning then you should be earning the maximum possible return for your energies.

This is where outsourcing your Calyx® PointCentral™ infrastructure to an expert company factors into the equation. In order to install, maintain, protect and run your PointCentral system in-house you need to invest a great deal of resources. The solution requires a robust hardware infrastructure that includes computers, servers, routers, and a solid backup in order to properly run. These components consume valuable upfront capital, running into the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the size of your operation.

In addition, you also need to the Microsoft and other non-Calyx software make all the hardware run (not to mention the expertise to install and properly maintain the systems). If you do not have these skills, which most people don’t, then you must either hire a new staff member or pay for a contractor to setup and administer the system.

You must also keep your system secure as it contains extremely sensitive information on all of your clients’ financial information. This, too, requires additional hardware, software and expertise to properly administer to it all.

Why go through the hassle and expense to do all of the setup and maintenance yourself?

By outsourcing all of this you eliminate the upfront capital investment needed to set the system up yourself. You can rest easy, secure in the knowledge that your PointCentral system is being expertly run and maintained for a fraction of the cost it would take to do it yourself. This allows you to maximize your profit and take the time to enjoy what you are best at with less stress in what is already an incredibly stressful industry.

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Outsourcing Your Mortgage Companies IT Support

Scott Robbins - Tuesday, April 06, 2010

You may be asking yourself why outsourcing would be good for your mortgage company. In order to stay competitive in the mortgage industry you must have the best talent and the best resources. One such tool is the Calyx® Point® software suite which allows for the smooth and efficient operation of a modern mortgage company. This is an accepted fact in the industry but how does outsourcing play into this equation?

The natural instinct of the entrepreneur is to control every aspect of his or her business to ensure that things are done correctly. We all know, though, that this is simply not possible. Why? No one can be an expert on everything. In today’s technology saturated environment, it takes years of schooling and focused practice to master the various means by which your network infrastructure is built and managed. Trying to be a jack of all trades means that you will be a master of none. Even in a small mortgage shop there are specialized tasks upon which employees focus according to their strengths so that the whole may function at a level greater than the sum of its parts.

Deploying an effective infrastructure to support Calyx’s innovative web-based solution, PointCentral™, is a perfect example of this. When you consider the cost of purchasing all of the hardware and professional IT services required for both implementing and maintaining this platform, the increased overhead can become staggering.

This is where outsourcing is good for your business. You can implement the industry’s leading mortgage technology platform, Calyx PointCentral, without needing to invest in or maintain a large IT infrastructure. The professionals at focusIT have worked with tens of thousands of mortgage professionals and know exactly how to setup and operate your Calyx PointCentral infrastructure to maximize your business’s productivity.

FocusIT has the expertise to meet your mortgage technology needs. They can administer your Calyx PointCentral infrastructure for less cost than setting up the same system in-house. By outsourcing you can increase efficiency, decrease stress, and most importantly, maximize profit. Click here to learn more about our online business productivity offerings.

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