The Magazine

Lenders looking to add a new business channel may find that it isn't an easy task. Compliance Systems and Integra have integrated to help lenders along so they can more easily automate all lending business lines from one system. In addition, new tactics are emerging to help lenders combat fraud. Data aggregation is looking more and more like the right way to use technology to stop fraudsters. Also, advances in Software as a Service, cloud computing, virtualization benefits, etc. are discussed in this issue.

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Featured Story

Eyes On The Web

By Scott Kersnar

If you ask Dorado CEO Dain Ehring whether it’s true that Software as a Service and cloud computing are sweeping away traditional software models for mortgage technology, he is likely to direct you to apps.gov, the government portal for cloud computing, where you will find a video clip explaining why the model is being evangelized to improve efficiency and lower costs for all government agencies.

Heading Dorado’s prognostications for 2010 was the prediction that “Software as a Service adoption will reach critical mass in mortgage originator use, with more than 30% of all originations in North America occurring in the cloud.”

Two other SaaS-related Dorado predictions for 2010 were (1) that turnkey approaches to updating systems for regulatory compliance would offer lenders a competitive advantage, and (2) that new integration and interoperability capabilities would bring unprecedented expansion of low-cost choices in external mortgage services.

Though SaaS often has been portrayed as best suited for small and medium-sized lenders, Mr. Ehring flatly predicts that within five years most of the processing in the mortgage industry will be done — by large and small lenders alike — with SaaS-based technology. Why? Because today’s rapidly changing market conditions mean that large lenders no longer are willing to take a chance on lengthy and expensive implementation projects, given that “seven out of the top 10 lenders have had $100 million projects that have failed in the last 20 years.”

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Tech Niches Blog

AmTrust Isn’t Done By A Long Shot

In the last edition of this blog I mourned the loss of an electronic mortgage pioneer, AmTrust. As it turns out, that obituary was premature and this mortgage technology editor couldn’t be happier. New information has come to light that will make e-mortgage believers very happy, indeed.

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Executive Spotlight

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Tech Innovation Blog

Apple’s iPad: Perspective on Best-of-Breed

By now almost everyone has heard about Apple’s introduction of its tablet the iPad. Blogs, Twitter and mainstream media have all weighed in on Steve Jobs’ announcement. Will it be a game changer? How is it going to change the eReader market? Did Apple miss the mark? What is missing in the iPad? In reading all of these differing opinions, I ran across an interesting blog from Stan Schroeder, European Editor at Mashable. His insights made me think of the mortgage industry and the ongoing debate of “Best-of-Breed vs. End-to-End”. Here is what Stan had to say about the iPad.

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Video Newscast

Mortgage Technology Awards

And The 2009 Mortgage Technology Magazine Award Winners Are ...

SourceMedia, the publishers of Mortgage Technology magazine, gave out awards in 10 categories honoring achievement in mortgage lending technology. The awards illustrate that especially in times of uncertainty, innovation is critical to future success. In the end, innovation matters and those that innovate will thrive in any mortgage market.

"This has been a transitional year for the mortgage industry," said Tim Murphy, mortgage group publisher and vice president at SourceMedia. "However, in times of adversity, true leaders emerge. Through these awards, we honor their ability to step up and reshape the space for the better by adopting new technology and overall business practices."

In fact, the awards competition itself has stepped up by adding four new categories including the Servicer of the Year Award, the Green Originator Award, the Customer-Focused Lender Award and the Innovative Lender Award, specifically to recognize the efforts of leading lenders and servicers that have taken this time to reinvent the mortgage process through technology adoption. "Realizing the severity of the problems lenders and servicers are facing," added Mortgage Technology magazine editor Anthony Garritano, "now is not the time to abandon or outsource technology. Our award winners this year stand out as examples of how success in a down market can be achieved by embracing change and using technology as a tool to help bring about a better way to conduct business that benefits everyone involved in the mortgage chain from the borrower, to the lender, to the investor, to the servicer, and so on."

In each of the 10 categories commendations are given out and one winner is announced. The 2009 companies and individuals recognized are:

Daily Mortgage Technology News

2009 Top 25 Tech-Savvy Lenders

Last year Mortgage Technology magazine included a lot of top 25 lenders in this list. This year, however, that has changed. Midtier lenders make up most of the list of lenders using technology to remain ahead of the mortgage market.

Why? There has been a lot of consolidation at the top of the market that has forced small and midtier lenders to try new avenues to compete and remain relevant. In addition, new regulation is making it almost impossible for lenders to avoid automating. And with future RESPA changes expected, lenders will have to adapt.

2009 Top Providers

Each year Mortgage Technology magazine names its Top 50 Service Providers. Our four major criteria for inclusion of eligible vendors and service providers on our list are customer satisfaction, functionality, market share and viable revenue model. Demonstrating functional value to lenders is our most important criterion. It is crucial that the providers on our list have satisfied users and show the ability to hold them by keeping those customers apace of the technology deployed by competing lenders. What makes the list even more compelling this year is that 19 providers that made it this year were not on the list last year.