Download PDF
Northwest Title Utilizes RamQuest with Informer 5 to Visualize and Achieve Customer Success Goals
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Professional Service
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Jonathan and team were lacking a scalable and easily managed solution to track data such as customer success and team performance. “Our ability to set and track goals was limited by the reporting software that was included in our title production system, and we were unable to find a satisfactory solution until we tried Informer,” said Holfinger. Northwest Title had stated objectives, but most of the tracking and reporting was solely about key financial metrics, and not on the details of what was happening within transactions. The various reporting software they had tried were not able to effectively measure response times and gaps in action items within the title and settlement transaction process. Northwest Title was only able to gauge their performance based upon order counts, numbers of closings by location, revenue numbers, and similar macro reports, and these were insufficient in providing a complete picture. In addition, the amount of time and effort it took to create visuals in Excel or using spreadsheet grids was not sustainable, nor did they create actionable change or digestible visualizations to show trends. Aside from lacking a data-tracking solution, Northwest Title was utilizing staff that served various roles to try to compile the macro-level data across departments. They did not have a dedicated, trained business intelligence employee.
About The Customer
Northwest Title are industry leaders with experience in complex real estate transactions of all types including residential, commercial, and land development. Northwest Title emphasizes precision and top-notch customer service, and in 2021 the company was named as one of Central Ohio’s Best Places to Work. Jonathan Holfinger, President of Northwest Title, is a licensed attorney and title insurance agent in multiple states. Aside from overseeing the general operations of the company, Jonathan works closely alongside escrow and administrative staff. His job encompasses many responsibilities as he also serves the Ohio Land Title Association as its President, and additionally provides continuing education to the industry.
The Solution
Installing Informer 5 and utilizing visualizations greatly benefited Northwest Title. “Orange Standards,” which are Northwest Title’s customer success standards that help them ensure customers are being served well, were now able to be revised and became much more specific to how well tasks were completed within the transaction process. Although Orange Standards existed prior to Informer, they were more aspirational, rather than truly actionable performance standards. For example, Northwest Title aspired to send recordables to the county within 24 hours of closing, but this could not be verified until they had Informer 5’s visualizations and ability to track the time between tasks completed in RamQuest’s production software. In Informer 5, Northwest Title has over 50 graphs tied to their Orange Standards, many of which relate to tracking the time it takes to complete certain tasks. With Informer, they track task completion times in the production system such as how long it takes their abstractors to complete title searches, the time it takes to produce title commitments, and how long it takes staff to review the commitments and send them to customers. They also track how quickly they fix post-closing issues, and how fast they fully open an order in the production system from the time the order is emailed to them. Northwest Title also uses Informer 5 to measure internal culture goals for their teams and leadership groups. Since Northwest Title did not have a dedicated business intelligence employee, it was important that Informer be easy to learn. Mackenzie Fennell previously worked as an Escrow Operations Specialist and Senior Marketing Specialist at Northwest Title. Fennell was a key person in managing the title production’s administrative platform and was very familiar with the datasets in the RamQuest system. As Northwest Title’s use of Informer 4 increased, she migrated to handling more report creation needs, and when Informer 5 proved to be so valuable with creating visualizations, she became the company’s Business Intelligence Manager due to the value it adds to the company. Fennell did not have a coding or technical background but was able to learn how to utilize Informer with her prior understanding of the production system they use as their primary Dataset. “A user of Informer needs to understand the data and what it means, prior to being able to build reports and visuals with it. I have had no formal training in computer science or databases, and I was able to learn how to make basic reports on my own without any real training from Informer,” commented Holfinger.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
UBM plc: Taking the pulse of the business and engaging employees with a far-reaching strategic transformation
UBM, a leading global events business, was undergoing a significant strategic transformation named 'Events First'. As part of this transformation, the company was preparing to complete the largest acquisition in its history - Advanstar, a US-based events and marketing services business valued at more than USD970m. The company faced the risk of human capital flight if it was unable to effectively engage top talent with the new strategic direction. UBM needed to make significant structural, process and systems changes, uniting its previously autonomous regional businesses. The challenge was to ensure all of its employees were engaged and aligned with the new future vision.
Case Study
Wittmann EDV-Systeme launches IT monitoring services
Small and medium-sized businesses often lack the know-how and resources required for thorough IT system monitoring. Wittmann EDV-Systeme wanted to launch a solution to plug the gap – enabling it to improve its own competitiveness and that of its customers. IT landscapes are becoming ever more complex and outsourcing is gaining popularity, IT systems must nonetheless remain easy-to-use and extremely reliable at all times. Automated, round-the-clock system monitoring therefore represents an immensely valuable proposition for companies: downtime for business-critical applications can be avoided, and IT systems remain available at all times.
Case Study
Uncovering behavioral insight to help reward and retain the best employees
The HR services company, an IBM client, was facing the challenge of understanding the factors underlying personal employment choices. They wanted to offer their clients unprecedented insight into what motivates employees and prospective job candidates. However, their existing systems were not capable of handling the surging data volumes collected from a wide range of different data sources. With the total volume likely to keep on growing, the firm looked for a solution that could meet current needs and scale to meet tomorrow’s demands.
Case Study
Infosys achieves a 5–7 percent effort reduction across projects
Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology, and outsourcing solutions, was facing significant challenges in application development and maintenance due to its distributed teams, changing business priorities and the need to stay in alignment with customer needs. The company used a mix of open source, home-grown and third-party applications to support application development projects. However, challenges resulting from distributed teams using manual processes increased as the company grew. It became more and more important for Infosys to execute its projects efficiently, so they could improve quality, reduce defects and minimize delays.
Case Study
Flex Contact Center: Supporting rapid business growth with IBM Connections Cloud and IBM Verse
Flex Contact Center, a professional services company offering telesales, call-center, anti-attrition, back-office, helpdesk and collection services, has grown rapidly since its establishment in 2009. With operations in 12 sites across two states and four cities in Brazil, the company employs more than 11,000 people. However, the company realized that to prevent barriers to future expansion, it was essential to make it as easy as possible for its people to work together effectively—even if they were based in separate geographical locations. Traditional approaches to collaboration—based on email and phone calls—threatened to reduce productivity. Flex Contact Center wanted to enable better collaboration and communication across its workforce, but did not want to make large investments in infrastructure.
Case Study
PureFluent: Connecting to partners and customers through the cloud for enhanced productivity
PureFluent, a translation services company, was facing challenges in managing its translation and document review processes. The company often received files in uneditable formats from customers, which required staff members to transfer text to word processing or spreadsheet documents. During the translation process, maintaining version control was a challenge because PureFluent sent work to hundreds of translators in multiple geographic locations. It was also time-consuming for staff to manage the large volume of emails and FTP transactions required to submit translations for customer review and ensure the integration of requested changes. Furthermore, staff were spending significant time hunting through their emails for specific attachments.
