AtClose extends platform with e-closing capabilities

October 23, 2017, Denver, CO – Visionet Systems, Inc. announces the addition of e-closing capabilities to its AtClose Title, Settlement and Appraisal platform at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Annual Convention & Expo 2017 being held in Denver, CO. The new e-closing functionality is being included in AtClose as a seamless, secure, and fully compliant module.

E-signatures simplify the closing process for lenders, settlement providers, and borrowers. Executed documents flow back into AtClose effortlessly, reducing the need for paper documents and giving parties additional time to review each loan package. AtClose is highly configurable, allowing agents to selectively enable e-closing for specific lenders or geographic areas to meet local recording requirements and individual lender or investor needs. AtClose gives settlement agents complete control over which documents will be pushed for e-signatures, and when they should be made available to the respective individual(s).

“The biggest advantages that AtClose offers settlement agents are a significant reduction in notary fees and the elimination of post-closing errors,” explained Arshad Masood, CEO, Visionet Systems, Inc. “Our sophisticated platform saves them the time and trouble involved in re-doing the signing process. With the CFPB and other regulatory bodies encouraging e-closing, it is time for Title & Settlement firms to begin closing all loans electronically."

AtClose is a cloud-based vendor and workflow management solution that provides a comprehensive and intuitive platform for the Appraisal, Title & Settlement industry. AtClose provides advanced security and high availability by leveraging core AWS cloud services, and improves operational efficiency by offering fully customizable workflows and numerous vendor integrations. Please visit www.atclose.com to learn more.

About Visionet Systems Inc.

Visionet Systems, Inc. is a full-service technology consulting and business process outsourcing company that delivers software solutions, services, and technology-led BPO products built on a best-of-breed philosophy to help its customers increase business agility, drive down costs, and reduce risk. With deep ties to the mortgage industry, Visionet has spent the last decade working with the top mortgage companies in the country, building various mortgage industry-specific products and solutions.  In addition to AtClose, Visionet products include production lead management, product recommendation engines, channel and broker profitability, post-close compliance automation, loan boarding and special loan setup, escrow float and shortage management, prepayment risk modeling, default risk analysis, loss estimation and tracking, and REO.

Can Robotic Process Automation (RPA) really help your organization? Here is a perfect example of how

Can Robotic Process Automation (RPA) really help your organization? Yes! Here’s a current, real-world example. Just this week, I was in a conversation with an executive who had an immediate need to identify the square footage of a parcel of land to help with pricing and vendor assignment.

This individual stated they had 2 immediate solutions available to them: 

1. Option 1 - go back to their client and request the lot size. While this reduced the workload on the organization, it simply made the overall process more complex and would impact service level agreements.  Not to mention, the cost of the client communications would eat further into margins.
2. Option 2 - obtain the information themselves from a public source. While this eliminated the back and forth with the client, it increased the amount of time it took them to process an order, which also reduced their profitability.  

At a volume of 5-10 orders a day and 2 minutes per transaction, this conversation is immaterial. It would take too long to recoup the investment in an automated solution given the fraction of an FTE you would need. However, at 500+ orders a day, that same 2 minute transaction could require multiple FTEs to meet daily demand, adding significant stress to the bottom line.

A system-to-system integration with the client’s system of record or the public source would provide a seamless way of obtaining the information in a high-volume environment. The drawback here is that it requires the organization to have access to the application code, or some type of middleware technology in place, to facilitate the integration. During our conversation, the executive commented he could look at building an integration to solve the problem, but with his current IT backlog this would be a 6+ month duration, and he needed to address this issue today, without adding FTE’s.

While RPA is the latest buzzword in the industry, most organizations are using it primarily for back office processes. This scenario is a perfect example of where RPA can provide lift to an organization quickly. Within hours, an RPA Bot was created that demonstrated the ability to obtain this information without waiting months or adding additional resources.

There are times when building a complete integration into an external system is required. But with the maturation of RPA technology, businesses can now solve problems more quickly and bring value to their clients and their organization sooner, without incurring such a significant investment in time and money. This was a perfect example of where an RPA Bot could be deployed that improves customer experience, reduces the burden on operations and solves a problem in days, not months. 

Over the next 12-24 months, we will begin to see a paradigm shift - from building direct integrations between systems, to simply deploying Bots for quick, efficient and less costly solutions. We will also see these Bots move from simply automating mundane back office processes to really improving the customer’s experience by impacting up-front, value added work steams. The applications for RPA are virtually endless - and its low investment, quick deployment and minimal risk mean all organizations can realize the benefits.

For more details regarding our services please visit: https://www.visionetsystems.com/services/robotic-process-automation

Staying Competitive in an Ever-Changing Market

While chatting with a friend who works at one of the top tech companies in the US, I discovered that he has not received a raise in the last 6 years despite several promotions and relocations. As the discussion unfolded, I realized that the mass exodus of talent from midsize companies to the better-known brands isn’t due to the prospect of jumping salary brackets but rather the work culture that is associated with the brand name.

Top tech companies are fortunate enough to be able to draw from an endless pool of resources, all clambering over each other to be the next chosen one. Mid-size organizations continue to lose their brightest talent to the allure of working for the big names. It is time for midsize companies to step in to the ring and don fighting gloves to retain their talent. While midsize companies can’t offer the prestige associated with the bigger names, with each swing they must remember the bottom line - people work for people not names. The key to staying competitive then lies in ensuring that that resources remain engaged.

Mid-size organizations, that have previously considered work culture to be a privilege, need to invest in change. This change must come at the top management in the form of servant leadership. Rather than dictating each step, management is there to encourage and guide strategic thinking. Top management must today invest in a culture that empowers its employees and allows them to function autonomously. Independent thinking carves the path for employees taking ownership of their projects. When each successful execution is incentivized, resources will more readily align career paths with targets that contribute to the overall growth of the company. “Monkey see, monkey do” is not only applicable in the toddler classroom but is equally applicable to adults. Recognizing the hard work of an employee at a staff meeting goes a long way towards others seeking similar approval. Neither a pat on the back nor verbal praise will offset the bottom line, however small a company.

Cultivating a work environment that encourages a healthy lifestyle shows its employees that management is not just concerned with profitability but is also focused on the wellbeing of its employees. Providing subsidized access to fitness, arranging incentives for attendance, organizing team building activities that foster healthy competition, all contribute to a more holistic approach to employee satisfaction. In 2016 more than half the US workforce only consumed up to 54% of their permitted paid time off. When the message from the top management is encouraging employees to utilize their allocated paid vacation and have a healthy work life balance, staff will no longer feel threatened or worried that they will lose out if they are not available 24-7.

A healthy employee is a happy employee. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind. A healthy mind will thrive under servant leaders that provide their employees opportunities for self-discovery and allow resources to set common growth goals and objectives with those of the organization.

Source: https://www.visionetsystems.com/blog/staying-competitive-ever-changing-market

Building a digital partner ecosystem beyond traditional B2B/EDI communication

Perception of traditional B2B (business-to-business) electronic communication is all about batch oriented, point to point transactional document exchange with the business partners through EDI VAN or directly managed file transfers.  This involves exchanging transactional information using various industry standard EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) formats configured for each partner along with partner/document specific logic customization for line of business applications. In typical supply chain or retail context, these partners are vendors, customers, services providers like 3PL (Third Party Logistics Providers) and b2C ecommerce websites.

Even though EDI based implementation model has matured over decades of commercial use, the traditional approach lacks many inherent capabilities required for modern digital evolution. The chart below highlights some of the fundamental features and gaps between the traditional models versus the capabilities required to support the modern digital paradigm:

Traditional capability model for B2B communication	B2B capabilities required for modern Digital Evolution
Batch Oriented (EDI or proprietary managed file transfer)	Near real time interchange (via API’s) where partners can exchange transactions, status and 360 degree visibility with the process context: For example, ·         Rapid fulfillment of B2C Ecommerce order fulfilment ·         Near real time inventory information exchange for automation based accurate decision making
Point to Point Architecture - Single document exchange centric architecture	Business process driven architecture where single B2B system manages all process touch points through the value chain
Tight coupling with internal systems where business logic is spread across (EDI and internal LOB applications) for inbound and outbound communication. Implication -> Replacing internal systems typically requires throwing away entire EDI system which is tedious, expensive and risk prone..	Open architecture with self-contained, scalable services as strategic self-contained systems, independent of any specific LOB internal application.
Scalability limited by the nature of the EDI application.	Linearly scalable services with inherent architectural capability to driven by demand.
Reliability and degree of recoverability varies from application to application.	Well defined system with the ability to recovery features and proactive notifications for manual guaranteed recovery

Given the prevalence of EDI based integration for decades, this form of communication will continue in near future. However, it is imperative for both business and IT leaders to assess how their current B2B communication ability will affect their organizations through the journey of industry wide transformation. It is also critical for businesses to start viewing B2B communication platforms as strategic self-contained, standalone asset and not just a bolt on to their internal business application(s). The modern architecture for deploying a strategic B2B communication capability needs to incorporate the following:

• Complements existing batch-based electronic data interchange (EDI) with API enabled real-time B2B collaboration
• Centralized B2B partner onboarding and management
• Common workflow for all type of communication
• Decoupled solution with minimal dependency on internal applications (in terms of code logic)
• Single point of management for all B2B communication by the operational staff  

A modern B2B communication architecture to support digital growth

A well-guided investment in B2B integration will reduce organizational risk, improve processes and increase the partnership advantage through longer-lasting relationships. When done wrong, B2B integration becomes a limiting factor, which will burden staff, introduce inefficiencies and increase compliance risks leading to substantial loss of revenue and opportunities.

 Visionet Systems offers PartnerLink, an innovative, process-centric B2B integration solution that streamlines setup, onboarding, operational management of all forms of B2B interchange including EDI, real time API’s and file based/proprietary integrations. It encapsulates all partner setups, document exchange configurations, API support, and business rules into a single robust solution. It leverages Microsoft’s cutting-edge Azure cloud and server technology to handle very large transaction volume and provides native integration adapter for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations (Azure Cloud based ERP platform). PartnerLink solution is a long-term strategic asset for the organizations for B2B interchange that is no longer dependent on any specific source or target ERP system. 

Source: https://www.visionetsystems.com/blog/building-digital-partner-ecosystem-beyond-traditional-b2b-edi-communication