Title One focuses on being able to provide quality service and handle large volume, while keeping overhead and expenses from increasing. The Minnesota-based agency achieved these goals by integrating RamQuest's technology and Business Process Analysis recommendations to increase efficiency and add capacity.
Introduction
Title One, Inc. was established in 1992 by Doug Miller and Lance Plummer. Located in Bloomington, Minnesota, Title One’s services include Purchase Transactions, Commercial Transactions, Refinances, New Construction, 1031 Exchanges/1031 Intermediary, O&E Reports, Title Insurance and Abstracting.
Title One has long recognized that most consumers don’t have a thorough enough understanding of title insurance to know how to shop and compare title companies. Therefore, Title One continually works to create an environment for their customer that enables them to shop and compare title companies. By providing complete information, fair prices and friendly, personalized service, Title One serves their customers in a way that other title companies might not.
But Title One President Doug Miller realized that this was not enough. Not only did they need to offer this level of customer service, but to succeed in the highly competitive title industry they also had to have a commitment to outstanding service and the ability to integrate technology to increase efficiency add capacity and enhance overall effectiveness. Without these, a title company can quickly become one of many “service” friendly companies with no differentiating capability to set itself apart from the marketplace. Miller commented, “We want to be on the leading edge of technology and the first title company in our area to market with and innovative ideas. We are always looking for new ways to do things but until now have not had the software to support this quest.”
Title One entered into a software evaluation and became a customer of RamQuest Software, Inc. during the first quarter of 2004. Coming off of a Title One was at a disadvantage. They had a technically deficient network environment that impeded performance. They were not able to truly track the production of each employee to see where improvements could be made.
RamQuest not only installed it’s software suite for Title One but also performed an in-depth Business Process Analysis to evaluate procedures and processes and make recommendations for changes that would positively impact the title companies operations.
The Situation
Business Situation
As a result of the high demand and requirements in the real estate market, Title One’s focus was on being able to improve and provide quality service and handle large volume, while keeping overhead and expenses from increasing.
Title One had recently purchased and implemented RamQuest’s complete suite of products including Complete Closing, RamQuest’s flagship product for title and escrow production; PaperlessCloser, a transaction management solution; FileScan Plus, facilitating document imaging and document management; and Closing Market, RamQuest’s digital marketplace allowing business partners to communicate electronically.
The Title One staff consisted of 49 associates. The RamQuest software suite provided the functionality and the management tools necessary to be able to track production and see, in black and white, where their strengths and where their weaknesses were. Upon evaluation of Title One’s business processes they, RamQuest discovered that, like the majority of title companies in the industry, Title One had very manual processes in place to perform the majority of tasks to complete a title order. They did not allow the software and technology that they had invested in to help keep them competitive and allow them to provide better service and be more efficient. They were performing tasks in an ineffective manner and getting less than satisfactory.
At the onset of this case study, Title One established a goal of being able to quantify existing profit margins for each service offering, and improve each by at least ten percent . They were also focused on becoming the leader in and dominating their direct market.
Technical Situation
RamQuest Software discovered several significant deficiencies in the physical hardware, architectural concepts and document design of the existing network environment at the Title One offices. They were experiencing frequent problems printing from various applications which proved to be detrimental to efficiency. Modifications and upgrades were necessary to see improved performance.
The Solution
In order for RamQuest Software to be able to increase the efficiency and profitability, and reduce waste and defects, there was a need for a baseline to be established. As part of the Business Process Analysis, RamQuest and Title One together gathered existing metrics for the business process and overall performance. RamQuest also documented the company’s work flow and structure in the following areas: process in each department, documentation, reports, tracking, and the overall utilization of software.
The Business Solution
Specific processes were identified for change. These processes would net the largest impact on Title One’s operation and the results some of these process changes are summarized below.
Examiners typing Commitments
Old process: Examiner would perform initial exam of file, after collecting a few, bring to Typist to type. File then returned to examiner by Typist to proofread prior to file being sent out, where it would often sit for a period of time while other initial exams were completed. Typically the time from the beginning of exam to the transmission of the commitment was ½ -1 ½ business days.
New process: Examiner performs exam, types and sends out commitment. The time from the begin of exam to the departure of the commitment is typically no longer than 1 hour. The benefit that Title One realized in addition to the faster turn-time was better Customer Service.
The positive results were realized by the entire Title One team. Bonnie Arneson, Examiner at Title One stated, “This has improved the turn time for an individual file greatly as the Examiners do not have to wait for the file to come back to proof it, and the file does not sit in the proofing rack until they have time to look at it. Over all I think it has been a beneficial change and has improved the turn time on most files.”
Another Examiner, Alisa Defoe, commented, “I like that I don’t have to proof typists’ commitment for errors – it’s quicker to proof my own work. It’s also better because sometimes I need to add verbiage to the commitment that there are no codes for – easier to type myself than explain to typist.”
Assistants and Closers issuing Policies at Closing Table
Old process: Physical file shipped to Production after Closing, Recording department sent documents to County, filed physical file along with others that needed policies, Policy department pulled files in numerical order, assigned physical jacket numbers, issued policy, scanned jacket and mailed policy, typically individually, to Lender and Owner.
New process: Policy is prepared by Assistant upon receipt of Closing Package from Lender. Owner’s Policy number is generated in CCE from Underwriter number pool and additional info (such as tenancy) completed and Policy is issued at the Closing table. Lender’s Policy sent along with Closed Package. File then shipped to Post Closing Department to send Recording Package to County.
The results were embraced by the entire Title One team. Charles Anderson, Post Closing Department Supervisor stated “The change in the issuance of policies has reduced both the time and expertise required to issue an accurate document. Additionally, future claims might be reduced by the correct issuance of the right policies along with the proper exceptions. When the policies are completed at closing it saves postage, envelopes and reduces delinquent requests by lenders. The overhaul of the policy forms and entry of data into those forms has been nothing short of exceptional. The time to complete a short form (the largest amount of our work) is minimal after a very short training period. The only drawbacks are twofold. Most policies are not being issued at the office which has increased the workload of post closing. It also increases the amount of delinquent requests because some policies are sent with the closed package to the lender and they figure we forgot when they are not there. Also when we don’t put the policy in the overnight package we have to pay for separate mailings.”
Auto-update fields in Standard Language
Old process: If there was a request to amend a Commitment (Loan Amount, Buyer/Seller names, etc.) The information would need to be updated both in Order Entry and in all requirements and exceptions where it appeared in the Commitment/Policy tab.
New process: Using different “auto-updating” brackets around the field reference within the Standard Language code ( [brackets] instead of {French brackets} ), the information need be changed only once in Order Entry. Updating a Commitment takes less than half the time it did originally. Commitment can be revised sent while client is still on the phone. Simply put, Alisa Defoe, Examiner at Title One says, “Good idea- saves a lot of time.”
This is the feeling shared by the entire Title One team. Bonnie Arneson, Examiner, comments, “This saves the examiners quite a bit of time as they get many calls to change loan amounts, buyer names and insured lender names. Having to only change it once is a great improvement and timesaver. Usually it can be done while the lender is on the phone and sent out by the end of the conversation.”
Chris Chapman further explains, “Prior to this improvement the examiner had to change a lender’s name in three places. It was slow and cumbersome. Now the data is changed in one place and everything else updates. It was a small change but it is extremely useful.”
The Technical Solution
RamQuest recommended hardware upgrades to bring Title One’s deficient network environment to an acceptable level. Modifications and upgrades in these areas provided enhanced application performance and increased business flow. Some of the modifications and enhancements and the results that they impacted follow.
SQL Server Upgrade 9/8/2006
The SQL Server Upgrade enabled Complex Document Merge Time (Cmmt, Policies, Doc Pkgs) to significantly improve. Merge Time Commitment before upgrade was143 seconds but Merge Time Commitment after the upgrade was improved to take only 98 seconds, representing a 32% increase in Merge Time. Additionally, the SQL Server Upgrade improved Scheduler build/open time by 68%. Prior to the upgrade, Open Time was 25 seconds; after upgrade, Open Time was decreased to only 8 seconds.
Dedicated Print Server 9/27/2006
The dedicated Print Server also increase Title One efficiencies, increasing Complex Document Merge Time (Cmmt, Policies, Doc Pkgs): by 64%, with Merge Time Commitment before the upgrade running 66 seconds and Merge Time Commitment after the upgrade reduced to only 24 seconds. Chris Chapman, Examiner commented, “The hardware update was the most significant change made. This upgrade improved the performance of all of the software applications .”
The Challenges
The title industry, as a whole, are creatures of habit. The resistance to change is significant, the desire for new processes and procedures is non-existent. Title One was no different. With processes and procedures in place that had been in place for years, they saw no reason to change. The old adage of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” resonated throughout the organization.
The processes that Title One had in place at the time of their conversion to the RamQuest software solution were inefficient and manual. Rather than embracing the software and technology that they had invested in and allowing it to help them create competitive advantages and become more efficient, they were resistant to change and the potential benefits that it offered.
The Benefits
Many high impact benefits were gained through the Case Study which led to Title One’s ability to reduce turnaround time, process files in a more efficient manner, communicate with agents/vendors electronically, store/locate information in each file on the server for instant access and increase profitability by reducing staff 24% while still accommodating the company’s business needs.
Kara L. Birkholz, Closing Assistant, comments on the entire process change, “The changes that resulted from the Case Study seemed to improve my overall daily work experience. Printing documents, title work, etc. is a much faster process. I also find it much easier to issue short form policies and long form policies when the closing package is received. Efficiency has improved. My initial reaction to the changes for issuing policies was positive. It always takes a few days to become comfortable with change, but I saw the improvement immediately. “
With great hesitance and resistance, this company was able to set aside their current process and file flow and accept a change in a highly demanding industry. The changes allowed for a difference to be seen within each employee’s work load. With the Business Process Analysis performed for Title One, measurements of each department were accomplished along with an understanding of the capability of the RamQuest software solution, Because of this, Title One was able to turn their technology investment into a profit not just in dollars but also in service.
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