The Niche Report - Center Stage with Applied Business Software

Published: 3/20/2012

Click here to see the center stage article in The Niche Report

The developers of The Mortgage Office, the leading software for private money lenders, announce a new, game-changing technology - their free iPad app.

How does the new iPad app help users of The Mortgage Office software?
The iPad app is the next innovation that'll help our customers grow their businesses, and attract more investors. Best of all, the iPad app is free.

Was it difficult to develop the iPad app?
Any time a team of programmers has to learn a completely new programming language, with its own tricks, nuances, and code subtext, it's inevitable that challenges will arise. It was an arduous process of getting approved with Apple, but our experience in learning new technologies allowed us to quickly learn the ins and outs ofthe new platform. Our programmers are known for being extremely detailed and fast, but even then it still took us months of continuous programming and testing to achieve the desired functionality and ease of use.

So what does the iPad app do?
It's a miraculous product that works seamlessly with our software. It allows any borrower, investor, or company owner to use their iPad to see anything related to their loans. If a borrower needs to know the amount due, their history of payments, or when their payment was received, they can do all of this within seconds.

What about on the investor side?
That's the best part. Let's say an investor is on a flight to Texas, and wanted to see if a loan paid off, if a loan paid on time, or to see the latest investment offerings - they can do all of this right from their iPad. The simplicity and the smoothness of the application is incredible - users will be amazed at the speed and fluidity of the application. And of course, our customers will love that it's downloadable for free.

But how will your customers grow their businesses, or attract more investors with it?
Look at it this way. Let's say Company A is trying to attract a big investor, but so is Company B. The investor sits down with reps from both companies, and says "Show me why I should invest with your firm." The rep from Company A pulls out piles of printed materials, and lays everything out all over the table - a myriad of printed spreadsheets, documents, appraisal reports, financials, etc. With his best efforts, he tries to assure the investor that his money would be in safe hands. The investor is skittish - his millions of dollars invested on spreadsheets, Word documents, and yellow Post-it notes? How are the calculations being done, and where is the history of all payments received, sorted by borrower? The sales rep starts to get nervous. He knows he's lost him. Now it's the rep from Company B's turn. Instead of pulling out a manila folder full with paperwork, he only pulls out one thing: An iPad. He slides it across the table, smiles, and asks the investor if he's ready. "Ready for what?" the investor asks. The rep says "Ready to see everything - your loans, your portfolio balance, your yields, year to date returns, interest income, loan performance, and available investment offerings." The investor starts gently gliding his index finger across the iPad, moving seamlessly through the screens, all flowing smoothly from one to the next. The investor smiles; and his decision is made. Company B will get the business. Company A won't.

Has something like this happened to some of your customers?
All the time. Just think about it. Who would you rather invest with - the company with the piles of paper, or the company that'll give you a free iPad app for online access24 hours a day, seven days a week? It's a no-brainer; you can either be left behind, or be ahead of everyone else. Our customers like to be ahead, and that's why they love our software so much. We've actually had many companies over the years callus because they were losing their investors to companies that had our software. They all said the same thing, I'll probably lose them all if I don't buy your software."

What kind of growth do you see with your customers?
It's amazing. Our customers constantly tell us that their investor base has grown tremendously since implementing our software. My favorite story is the company in Texas who had purchased our software a few weeks prior but didn't know that it produced a full color Lender Statement that he could email right out of the software, with 3D charts and graphs. I showed them within a couple of minutes how to do this, and how to get their logo on there as well. They sent all of their investors their statements right on the spot, and within minutes their investors were contacting them to invest more within the coming year. They had goose bumps, and said "Your software just paid for itself."

So how does ABS keep ahead with changing technology?
Our mantra has always been to be five to ten years ahead of everyone else. A good example of this is Web Publishing, which we developed over a decade ago. This allows borrowers and investors to go online 24/7 and checkout their accounts, recent payments, due dates, rates of return, etc. This is very popular with our customers, and tens of thousands of their clients are logging in on a daily basis to view their accounts. While this is commonplace now with large institutions and banks, it wasn't back then. We rolled this out to our customers long before the largest banks in America did. It took some time for customers to accept that this was the future, but once they did they never looked back.

But why an iPad app, and why now?
It would be difficult to overstate how Apple products have altered and enhanced the technology landscape. Apple has been extremely successful in marketing their products to consumers, but the next wave will be for businesses. For younger consumers, many of them have never even owned a Walkman, a cassette, an 8 track tape, or a radio. They've only had iPods. It changed everything. The iPad has done the same. Personal computers and laptops will suffer the same fate, and soon enough these items will also be forgotten. It's hard to imagine now, but it's true. The iPad is the future, and as usual, ABS is a few steps ahead.

Is your software only for private lenders?
Primarily, but we also sell our software to cities (Miami, Jacksonville, Beverly Hills), public companies (Baltimore Life Insurance, The Irvine Company) and even banks - our most recent being US Bank, which is the 5th largest bank in the United States. Any of these groups could've bought any software on the planet, and after looking at everything in the marketplace, they chose The Mortgage Office. And since they did, all of their customers can now download our iPad app for free. Pretty cool.

Click here to see the center stage article in The Niche Report