The best way to determine the productivity impact of an appraisal ordering platform is to talk to chief appraiser peers. The personalized experience of implementing a new workflow system provides context for the day-to-day challenges of an appraisal department. Asking lots of questions from your peers provides context of how you can use the system to get what you need.
As a co-founder of Realwired, I get super excited when our clients are happy. In the video below, we have a conversation with Drew Simmons, Chief Appraiser at Encore Bank.
The interview is not about testimonials but rather the business outcome. How has the YouConnect platform impacted their appraisal department and their bank in general.
Drew had previously spent eight years at Bank OZK which used the RIMS platform for quite some time. He discusses the differences between RIMS and YouConnect. A key take-away is the overall positive experience Encore Bank lenders, vendors and appraisal staff had during the launching of YouConnect.
Customize on the fly is HUGE
All appraisal departments don’t have the same processes, reporting, and documentation, and many don’t even use an appraisal management software. The ability to customize fields on the fly was a huge benefit to Drew and his staff. Changes to the request form were typically done in less than 24 hours with YouConnect as compared to the legacy provider which may take (at best) three to four weeks plus various phone calls and meetings.
Drew’s feedback was listened to and brought into the YouConnect development roadmap. Having the ability for him to make many admin changes on the fly was also huge. If he, for example, got feedback from an appraiser saying the language in the engagement letter wasn’t clear; Drew could quickly make the change on the spot.
Confidence in reporting
Another positive business outcome was the confidence in reporting when providing data to management. Many reports Drew wanted were already built out in YouConnect, so he didn’t have to recreate the wheel. Consistency of the reporting was very important. Drew was no longer second guessing the accuracy of the reporting if someone else ran a different report with the legacy platform.
“The last thing you want to do is have a meeting with management and not be a 100% certain what you’re presenting is accurate.”
Welcome to the club
Drew highlighted the importance of excellent customer service. He believes that Realwired has an incredible support team that’re very knowledgeable about the system. Other YouConnect bank clients also are very communicative with Drew, sharing best practices about the platform. Drew continues to reach out to these peers to best optimize his operations. He said it’s like a club, where everyone is so eager to share helpful tips.
No complaints
Another important outcome is that the YouConnect platform has made his bank easy to do business with. Helping him accomplish this has been important. He had concerns prior to onboarding YouConnect since it’s tough to roll out a new system in a bank when you don’t know how it will be embraced. He worried about the “squeaky wheel” not liking the platform. Feedback from his lending markets was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone bought in 100%, no one has complained.”
After a demo of YouConnect, Drew was drawn to its ease of use. “It was night and day as compared to RIMS.” He also previously demoed Collateral 360 and other solutions. He mentioned that utilizing former platforms left him wanting more. He asked himself; “I wish we could change or tweak this and that.” During the YouConnect onboarding process, Drew and staff made a lot of changes.
“YouConnect had all the features of RIMS plus all the benefits we were looking for.”
Proud partner
He was confident that he made the right decision; it was a no brainer. YouConnect has been a huge impact on his ability to process workflow and be effective within his bank.
Drew reached out to various other institutions and scheduled calls with them. He was surprised to learn they had very different size institutions, backgrounds, geography, uses for the platform and their feedback was pretty much unanimous: “You’ve got to try it; you’re going to love the customer service team. We got really close to the support team.”
“It was almost like they were working inside the bank with us.”
See why your chief appraiser peers are making the switch to YouConnect, and watch the full video for yourself:
