On April 1, members of the financial banking and technology industries participated on the "What's All the Imaging Buzz About" mortgage technology panel, at the MBA's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo in San Diego. As one of the last sessions of the conference, the panel discussed the current trends of imaging, the decline of paper and what the future of imaging will look like.
Moderated by Dave Williamson, executive vice president and director of mortgage consulting at LendingLogix, the panel included Anne Beckett, senior vice president of Thornburg Mortgage, Inc.; Ed Figueroa, advanced capture solution manager for Kofax.; Bob Stellick, product manager at Stellent, Inc.; and Mark Swift, product manager of content management and imaging at Mortgage Cadence. Together the panelists explored the benefits of document imaging in the mortgage industry today, evaluation criteria, real-life examples of imaging in the mortgage process and how document imaging fits into the future world of e-Mortgages.
Currently a popular topic within the mortgage community, the imaging panel was selected by the MBA's ResTech Committee to help dispel some of the misconceptions about this technology, as well as clarify its real world benefits and limitations. The panelists agreed that today's mortgage loan companies are inundated with paper and electronic documents, which leads to inefficient business practices such as printing multiple copies of documents, handling thousands of folders, the loss or misplacement of needed documents, cluttered offices and off-site storage, poor data security and compliance issues. A past study conducted by the MBA, which lists imaging technology at the top of mortgage companies' IT hit list, demonstrates that companies are strongly investigating solutions that can acquire and store all of their documents electronically.
The panelists discussed the current definition of imaging and how the differing definitions among vendors and lenders in the industry today can be confusing. According to Mark Swift, "imaging is a catch phrase that the mortgage industry uses. The word 'imaging' in the enterprise content management (ECM) industry implies the capture of paper, but in the mortgage industry the word imaging is used to cover all types of document capture, automatic cataloging, workflow, bar code and forms recognition, viewing, annotating documents, security, compliance, retention, and auditing. A better phrase for all of this technology is Document Management." Together, the panelists felt it was important to clear up the confusion of what imaging really meant. Although the common term is paper-based, the group agreed that it includes so much more. The panelists also thought it was important to point out that even though imaging [paper] maybe a transitional technology and eventually fade away, document management and its associated technology will be necessary even when the completely paperless e-Mortgage is a reality.
As a lender, Anne Beckett gave the panel an insider's perspective as she discussed how imaging affects and improves a company's outlook on the entire process. "Once you get the concept of imaging, then all of a sudden the sky is the limit. You can suddenly re-imagine the things that you've been doing in a whole different manner. Imaging is certainly about document management, but ultimately it is about data management. We have already gained efficiencies and been able to pass the resulting benefits on to our customers."
When the panel discussed the future of imaging and how it can be used elsewhere in an organization, Bob Stellick stated, "When evaluating this type of technology, it is important to determine if there are requirements to also support the management of other types of documents or content in your organization, rather than just captured paper — whether it is a Word document such as a contract, an Excel spreadsheet, a PDF, business Web pages or even electronic forms." He continued, "We expect the management of all types of enterprise content to continue to increase — regardless of the use or decline of paper-based processes or origination — as organizations leverage existing technology across other applications." Although many banking and financial institutions are still undecided on whether to adopt imaging as part of their origination process, the real question lies in how companies can benefit from this technology across all areas of their company.
About Mortgage Cadence
Mortgage Cadence supplies mortgage lending platforms that enable companies to focus on profitability and superior service. Comprised of comprehensive end-to-end loan origination software at its core, a business rule management system (BRMS), workflow engine, product and pricing functionality, automated underwriting, imaging/electronic document management and document preparation services, the system gives companies the flexibility to readily adapt to industry changes and easily capitalize on new business opportunities. Built on an ever-evolving, SOA-based architecture, consisting of functionality to innovate the mortgage process, and an eye toward the eventual realization of e-Mortgages, Mortgage Cadence provides the last lending platform a company will ever need. To learn more, please visit us on the Web at http://www.mortgagecadence.com.