There is more than technology to consider when looking to streamline operations and processes, what attendees at the National Summit on Settlement Services learned in Cleveland.
During a Tuesday afternoon session titled “Lean and Mean … Optimizing Your Title Machine,” panelists offered advice on process refinement and outsourcing.
The main operators of the session participated in a round table on staffing and production strategies, including the use of outsourcing, offshoring and technology to reduce costs without reducing the quality of service.
Perfecting staff alignment was an important focal point, but as Timm Kalep, president of Real Living Title Agency noted, “If you have the right people in the right positions on the bus, you will need fewer people.”
When a title business reaches a certain level of volume and revenue, it is impossible for only the best performing staff members to take care of everything, added Prashant Kothari, founder of String Real Estate Information Services. That’s when a good process really matters.
In terms of process engineering, many companies have been concerned with mastering Six Sigma. Implementing Six Sigma processes, however, can be a daunting process, the speakers explained, and reengineering doesn’t have to be all that intensive.
Simply starting the conversation with your employees can be a great starting point. Companies can start by committing to building a team that defines existing processes, which can be a great company in itself.
Jeff Eisenstadt, president of Title Source, said his employees are constantly working to “build a better mousetrap.” The introduction of process refinement to workers has generated many ideas. Even if those ideas are not implemented, he said, employee morale improves because they are involved in improving the company.
Eisenstadt became involved in outsourcing several years ago. Title Source used outsourced services in the production of titles (key efforts, mostly) and has not gone beyond that to include abstracts and reviews. The key outsourcing process has helped the company reduce costs and get employees to focus on their jobs rather than training new employees each time order volume increases.
“People who ‘get it’ can move on to abstract and examine positions so they are not tied to production work,” Eisenstadt said.
Despite the obvious benefits, outsourcing (offshore services in particular) remains a political and moral dilemma.
Title Source has used offshoring in the past and told its workers, “They are not here to replace your work. They are going to be your assistants.”
Although workers with property titles tend to worry about job security when their companies sign services abroad, anecdotal evidence suggests that outsourcing is not causing companies to contract. Kothari, for example, said its top customers are growing 20-30 percent.
As Kalep put it, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” In other words, there may be some burnout, but outsourcing will help companies and their employees more than harm them.
Still, you need to separate the truths from the myths when it comes to outsourcing.
One myth, the panel noted, is that outsourcing and offshoring are absolutely new. Outsourcing service work is nothing new from an economic point of view, Kothari noted. It is basic global commerce.
“If you are against outsourcing, you should be against importing coffee and tea into the United States,” he said.
The top countries offering offshoring / outsourcing services to US companies (the Philippines, Ireland, China, and India, for example) account for just 1.5 million jobs. In other words, about 1 percent of jobs are outsourced, Kothari noted, which is not even a “rounding error.”