PIONEERS OF PROCESS
Financial Services Corporation Success Story
Background Situation
It was an extraordinarily busy time in the default industry. We were consistently trying to find ways to improve processes and streamline our work product so that we could be more efficient and manage risk while mitigating losses. Having a portion of the work product outsourced and the remaining piece handled in-house was not the most efficient way to manage the overall process. Costs were skyrocketing at a time where margins were slim.
Rhonda Weston — Former Vice President, Multinational Financial Services Corporation
We needed to streamline our processes in order to survive.
We had to remain competitive in the current landscape.
We had a fiscal responsibility to reduce outsourcing and make the most of slim margins.
I was working for Bob Caruso, high level executive at a Multinational Financial Services Corporation, managing all of the foreclosures for first mortgages, as well as our Heloc and Heloan portfolio. It was clear that we needed a better solution to help with efficiency in process. There was too much manual labor, no way to measure efficiency, and too much overlap between outsourced and insourced staff to manage the workload. We needed a way to manage risk while mitigating our losses.
This is when we discovered Clarifire. We connected with Jane Mason and her team at Clarifire to build an innovative solution to improve the overall workflow management of the foreclosure and bankruptcy processes.
We believed in Jane's vision and her work ethic to get the job done. Coupled with her prior proven results in the industry, we had faith that together as a team we would succeed.
- Rhonda Weston
Former Vice President, Multinational Financial Services Corporation
The Decision to Bring Clarifire Onboard
In combination with the many facets that went into the decision of making a commitment to the Clarifire team, the one thing that stands out in my mind is the positive attitude and performance of all the members of Jane's team. This combined with the work product demonstrated and the promise for speed to market was the most attractive feature.
Jane and her team proposed a solution that removed the manual labor and decision process from simple tasks, which we were not able to do with our current system of record at the time. This was one of the key factors in our decision to move towards Clarifire. In addition, we believed in Jane's vision and her work ethic to get the job done. Coupled with her prior proven results in the industry, we had faith that together as a team we would succeed.
Collaboration and Partnership: A Great Working Relationship
Together with Clarifire, we collaborated on writing the appropriate business logic and rules needed to streamline several manual processes to automate them, thus enabling us to work in an exception-based workflow environment. Jane and the Clarifire team worked with us as a true partner interested in helping us reach our corporate and individual goals and find success.
Goals Exceeded, Proven Results
In April 2007, we were able to return our servicing process back "in-house," from a previously outsourced environment, without hiring any additional staff in the foreclosure department.
The exceptional workflow queuing provided by the CLARIFIRE® system automated the Document Execution process, streamlining the foreclosure referral process which:
- reduced the overall manual intervention from almost 20 steps down to three steps
- reduced the processing time from fifteen minutes to approximately one minute
Moving to an exception-based handling environment gave us the ability to monitor our foreclosure attorneys and the timelines of the foreclosure process so efficiently, that the foreclosure processors were able to triple their portfolio volumes without additional work tasks.
Bankruptcy proof of claim processes were reduced from almost twenty steps down to one step, the processing time from fifteen minutes down to two minutes, again giving the ability for representatives to handle an increased portfolio while simultaneously mitigating loss and risk.
Expanded Relationship and More Successes
Due to the success of our transition to CLARIFIRE® on the foreclosure and bankruptcy processes, we immediately began building out the business logic for our senior lien monitoring portfolio. By utilizing the CLARIFIRE® workflow tool, we were able to reduce the exorbitant fees and costs of outsourcing the senior lien monitoring, and handle the monitoring without increasing staff. We were now minimizing loss and further improving risk management.
Due to the improved efficiencies in handling and monitoring of standard day-to-day processes, the representatives could now concentrate their efforts on the exceptions and the outliers. We were now guaranteeing that we had strict adherence to compliance measurements and requirements. As new agency or government regulatory requirements were issued, Clarifire worked quickly and efficiently to build out the necessary new business logic to ensure that we were in compliance prior to the required new effective dates.
Overall, in the face of economic crisis we knew we had to think differently and quickly. We chose Clarifire due to the innovative approach to business process automation and the tenacity of the Clarifire team to get things done. Bringing the progressive, entrepreneurial spirit to our financial services institution provided us with a way to think forward and provide cost-cutting measures while improving the customer experience. Jane and her team guided us through the process and we built a lasting, trusted partnership between the two organizations.