We recently took a deep dive into our numbers to answer some of the questions we’re asked the most by peers and prospects. One area of skepticism comes from title agents who swear by the use of offshore BPO firms to manage many of the time consuming, redundant tasks that come with producing a title policy.
There are four key reasons to consider automation in the title industry: to reduce errors, to manage escalating business, to maximize workforce hours, and to reduce costs. The last one may be the most critical when navigating a decelerating real estate market.
There are four key reasons to consider automation in the title industry: to reduce errors, to manage escalating business, to maximize workforce hours, and to reduce costs. The last one may be the most critical when navigating a decelerating real estate market.
Every time you add an application, you add the staff hours needed to input the information the application feeds on. This tech stack can become unwieldy and ineffective unless you can get these applications, systems and software to talk to each other and share data to cut down on all that manual input.
I recently spoke on a panel at ALTA ONE. It was a great conference and the session was attended by a number of curious title agents. The one thing that surprised us throughout the entire conference, however, was the number of title owners and executives who asked us, repeatedly, “Bots can do that?”
Let’s face it, trying to get accurate data from deeds, contracts or legal descriptions continues to hobble the real estate industry, with inaccuracies still abounding. It’s also time consuming and, at times, even mind-numbing for staffers who’d be better utilized facilitating closings or generating marketing leads.
While our industries thrive because of the data available to us, the challenge our industry faces is ensuring the data is accurate. The need for accurate data in the transaction itself is a paramount. But we also heavily rely on the data, as do all companies, to run and grow our businesses.
While our industries thrive because of the data available to us, the challenge our industry faces is ensuring the data is accurate. The need for accurate data in the transaction itself is a paramount. But we also heavily rely on the data, as do all companies, to run and grow our businesses.
Expect to see title businesses continue to invest in new technology during the current slowdown. But not a spending spree. Instead, the best title business owners are already realizing that their traditionally narrow margins could soon become unacceptable margins as their profits continue to be eroded by compliance, client and market demands. And so, title businesses are moving selectively to attack specific pain points in their workflows, realizing real benefits without breaking the bank.
Automating the workflow to manage the stale-dated checks/escheatment process.
As you are considering the wisdom of adopting the latest innovation to address a specific business need, it might also be an opportune time to do a little analysis around your legacy systems to see what is still effective in managing and growing your business and what might actually be holding you back or slowing you down.
Automating post-closing ledger balance reporting for a title insurance company
Title search updates is an ideal process to automate using RPA tools.
As you are considering the wisdom of adopting the latest innovation to address a specific business need, it might also be an opportune time to do a little analysis around your legacy systems to see what is still effective in managing and growing your business and what might actually be holding you back or slowing you down.
Recent mortgage industry headlines have been plastered with stories about mass layoffs, reduced volume and even lenders closing down or filing for bankruptcy. It’s difficult not to hesitate with plans for growth or investment in such an environment. But this article reminded us that, all is not lost. Far from it.
The title industry, by and large, is working hard to automate most of its manually intensive production tasks. Part of this mini revolution, we believe, is the availability of specialized technology.
As a company owner, you want to make sure that the automation you are adding is going to improve your processes. But you also want to ask yourself – and your staff – how to best invest the freed-up time and energy to improve the very necessary personal communications with your clients.
The growing wave of digital transformation in the title industry is not eliminating jobs. Far from it. Instead, it will go a long way towards improving employee retention rates.