February 24, 2005
STOCKTON TURNER & COMPANY MORTGAGE BANKERS SWITCHES TO ENCOMPASS® MORTGAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Ellie Mae's acclaimed mortgage management system sets the standard for leading mortgage banking firm
DUBLIN, CA—February 24, 2005—Ellie Mae Inc., the award-winning provider of innovative software and services for the mortgage industry, today announced that Florida-based Stockton Turner & Company Mortgage Bankers has standardized on the Encompass® Mortgage Management System.
Stockton Turner & Company started in 1997 as a privately owned mortgage banking company. Incorporated in 1999 as a mortgage branching company, which enables independent loan originators to benefit from being a part of an organization with a larger scope, the company originates and brokers all types of loan products, and also has warehouse capacity to fund its own loans. Stockton Turner's formula for success is the absence of bank ownership, corporate boards, or management for stockholder approval: enabling enhanced agility, a focus on market trends, and delivery of total customer satisfaction.
Stockton Turner's technology infrastructure included a variety of legacy systems that were resident on individual computers and could not be easily networked, hindering collaboration among the staff and ultimately restricting productivity. When a timely offer of a free trial version of Ellie Mae's Encompass Mortgage Management System arrived in the email box of Richard Peek, Vice President, he was immediately interested. "With Encompass, we could centralize the data across the network to get an overall, real-time view of our business, and integrate other software that we use for management and in branch office services," said Peek. "Unlike any other loan software, Encompass has these features built in-it equates to a 'plug and play' environment."
New approaches and innovative ways of working help Stockton Turner keep pace with business evolution. But decades-old software that hasn't matured with its industry was a detriment to growth. "I recognized early on that we were data deficient; we had branch offices that weren't communicating key data back to the corporate office," said Peek. "We needed a tool on the front end that would allow us to integrate the data into all our various systems. With technology advancing, we needed to do something sooner rather than later, or we'd be left in the dust."
Stockton Turner purchased an enterprise license to enable implementation of Encompass across the entire branch network. "We did all the installation and implementation ourselves, and our Ellie Mae account executive provided tremendous support," said Peek. "We set up a secure central server in Atlanta, and it was simple to configure so that all our remote users can access the data. It's been very smooth."
Stockton Turner chose a phased rollout, running the old and new systems in parallel at first, to make the transition easy for employees. Online instructor-led training classes, offered free, allowed employees to participate from their own desks. Within about six weeks, all new loan applications were being taken using Encompass, and within eight weeks after that, all transactions were being performed using Encompass.
"The response to the training courses was tremendous," said Peek. The Ellie Mae staff customized the training just for Stockton Turner, offering multiple sessions of four different courses, spread over a two-week period. About 60% of the staff went through one or all of the online training courses during that time, and the feedback was uniformly positive. Ellie Mae also conducted onsite training for the corporate headquarters staff. "Employees can go back and take additional online classes through Ellie Mae, if they recognize they need more training, and we will continue to take advantage of Ellie Mae's training services as part of the orientation process when we bring new offices on board."
Considering what makes Encompass stand out over other loan origination software, Peek emphasized integration. "Encompass allows all our branch operations to centralize-in our business, it's critical to disseminate information back across the platform. This issue makes or breaks companies every day."
Another issue that can make or break a company is data security. With new privacy laws, a customer's sensitive financial data can't be openly emailed. Stockton Turner employees are widely dispersed, and travel frequently out of the office. What to do? "As long as they can access the Internet through their own laptops, they can use Encompass," said Peek. The stringent security measures built into Encompass provide automated compliance with government borrower-security regulations. "We're looking at making it possible for them to go to the library or an Internet café and log in," he added.
With the continual enhancements that occur, and that Ellie Mae is envisioning for the future, Stockton Turner predicts a bright future. "Encompass is the front-end piece where the data begins, so enhancements will benefit not only a branch office but also deliver greater efficiency for investors, vendors, and suppliers that are providing services inside the software," concluded Peek. "Ultimately, it's the mortgage customer who benefits the most."
About Ellie Mae, Inc.
Ellie Mae, Inc. is an award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, which has been recognized in each of the past three years as one of the fastest growing companies in the California Bay Area, and recently was named to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies. Ellie Mae provides a comprehensive line of products and services including the company’s flagship Encompass® mortgage management system, Contour™ and Genesis 2000® loan origination software, Executive Websites™ for mortgage brokers, and Ellie Mae Docs™ services for document processing. Ellie Mae’s ePASS® Network is the mortgage industry’s online transaction platform enabling 40,000+ mortgage companies in the United States to easily do business online with hundreds of leading lenders and nearly 100,000 settlement service providers. Ellie Mae is based in Dublin, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.elliemae.com or call (888) 955-9100.
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Ellie Mae, Encompass, ePASS, and Genesis 2000 are registered trademarks, and Contour, Executive Websites, and Ellie Mae Docs are trademarks, of Ellie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved.
Media Contact:
Katie Drake
Ellie Mae, Inc.
925-227-7719
katie.drake@elliemae.com
© 2005. GKM Management LLC. All Rights Reserved.
