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Mortgage Brokers - Deadline Imminent |
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 With seamless back office systems fast becoming a necessity, advisers need to consider which software model will best serve their needs, says Paul Holden. The deadline for mortgage brokers to have their treating customers fairly (TCF) regime in place is imminent and never before has the need for back office technology been greater.
What the FSA's 31 March deadline means is brokers must be able to demonstrate they have treated their customers fairly through the advice, sales and after-sales processes, and importantly, they must be able to produce management information (MI) to prove the various steps have been completed in accordance with their stated regime.
Every broker – especially every directly authorised broker – will have to use back office software to remind, track and report the TCF steps and checks required. Paper-based systems do not have pop-up reminders and they do not have the facility to produce a MI report detailing that the process has been completed.
There are a number of different back office solutions available, however. All of these systems fall into two distinct camps, namely online or offline. Online case management requires the user to have access to the internet at all times when the system is in use; offline systems have their database stored locally on the hard drive of a laptop, PC or on a server, usually in the same office building, and therefore do not require web access to work.
Online
In addition to the fact web-based systems are simultaneously available to PC, Apple Mac and Linux users, the other advantages of the web-based system are obvious, namely that a user can access the information from a browser anywhere in the world. This is a great feature, allowing different brokers and administrators to share the same information regardless of where they work.
There are a number of disadvantages of web browser-based systems. First, as mentioned above, web access is required to access the data. Additionally, they tend to work in a similar manner to other browsers in that the user may have to click 'next' or 'back' to move from one screen to another, which can often be slow and inconvenient while waiting for screens to refresh. Furthermore, if the internet connection is lost data may also be lost. If a user is called away for a while, database screens will time out if no activity is recorded for a period of time. All of these events would require the data to be re-entered, an event most brokers hardly have time for.
Browser-based systems will often not easily interface with the most popular Windows Office programmes, such as Word, Excel, Outlook and Outlook Express, and might offer their version through a proprietary word processing or mail programme.
Another consideration for many brokers is that data relating to clients is held by a third party at a remote location, something many brokers might be uncomfortable with.
This situation could be avoided by the brokerage hosting the data in-house, although the broker would need to employ an IT service to install and maintain a web server and the required internet connection – with ample upload speed – around the clock, to ensure data is always available to the users.
Offline
The alternative to online systems is a Windows-based offline system running on a PC. However, users with the latest Apple Mac computers can install Windows-based programmes in addition to their Apple software.
Because the database is stored locally, the data being accessed by the user is stored on the hard drive of the user's laptop, PC or local server. The differences are manifold.
First, the system might run faster because the data does not have to be accessed over the web. Another advantage of an offline system is the software will be able to exchange data seamlessly between other offline systems: all four main sourcing systems – Trigold, MBL, Mortgage 2000 Encore and Home Buyer System – are all offline. There is no delay because the data is moved instantly from one part of the hard drive to another.
Windows-based systems are popular due to the fact users can open multiple windows and flick back and forth between the windows without delay. There is no screen refreshing required, there are no time-out messages, and internet downtime will not prevent the entire firm from working.
Windows-based systems tend to have easy integrations to other Windows Office programmes for the production of documents, template letters, emailing from client records and mailshots, among others.
If a user requires remote access to the system from outside of the office, access can be made easily and securely through a number of different facilities. Go To My PC, Log Me In, pcAnywhere and VNC are a few examples of software that allow users to securely access their PC or server from other locations.
Data protection
In every business, there is the need to restrict access to sensitive data. Advisers must ensure they choose a system with multiple-access privilege levels, allowing advisers to view their data, but not necessarily that of other advisers, while permitting administration staff to access all cases.
Accounts personnel should be able to access all financial information easily without having to get involved in case progression – unless they want to, of course.
Finally, firms need compliance and director-level access to set access privileges for other users and to define the compliance and TCF regime for the brokerage. If firms can clearly demonstrate to the FSA they have software in place that fulfils all of the obligations under the TCF requirements, they are more likely to be given a clean bill of health.
In these days of sophisticated data storage, it is essential companies have bomb-proof data back-up and disaster recovery facilities – in fact, this is a stated FSA requirement.
Until recently, firms employed all manner of complicated tape-based data back-up. While these are perfectly adequate to do the job, they do have one inherently unreliable element – human error, for example, users forgetting to put the tapes in.
Fortunately, these days there are a couple of easy-to-use alternatives. The most popular is an external hard drive, set to automatically back up key data. However, users have to remember to take the device out of the building each night to ensure no data is lost in the event of a fire or flood.
Easier still is the offsite data back-up service. This facility is available from a number of providers such as Depositit, Clunk Click and BT.
Users can specify which files and folders need to be backed up, and each day after work the files are encrypted and then sent across the internet to three secure storage servers. The next night the same thing happens again, with only the changes from the day before being sent. This is known as incremental back-up and saves time and data storage space.
In the event of a fire, flood, theft or other disaster, new hardware can be purchased and the data is restored through a download from the back-up server across the internet, therefore allowing the business to be backed up and running on the same day.
No human is involved in the data back-up and the service runs seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Each day the user receives an email confirming the back-up from the night before was completed successfully.
Paul Holden is sales director at Mortgage Stream |
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