A lot has been going on at NSS this year. We have had large digital-transformation projects going on amongst our customers, including expanded use of the system’s embedded rules engine North Shore IQ, the customer portal, agency B-2-B, mobile computing, and some fantastic product developments in Servicing. Many new CRE software advancements were made in our system over the last year and we are excited to continue to enhance The CREF Operating System™ in the next quarter.
NS IQ
As part of building out end-to-end digital workflows, we have also been helping our lender customers regroup from recent shocks to the market, assessing market changes, and determining appropriate operational changes. New operational directives and business strategy can be implemented via the North Shore platform. With a technology stack such as North Shore, changes to debt products offered, underwriting criteria, and workflow can easily be made to adapt the business to the changing market. Our customers have been increasing their usage of the embedded North Shore IQ BRE. NS IQ can be used to build and maintain a layer of business intelligence in the system accordingly. This expanded knowledge of NS IQ has also allowed them to make the system easier to use, to validate processes and data as it flows through, and to closely monitor the portfolio for exception or watchlist conditions.
Customer Portal
The system’s Customer Portal has become an essential part of the digital transformation and new CRE software advancements of 2023. The new-deal process can be started in the Portal, by either a customer or a broker. The Portal can be incorporated into a lender’s externally facing deal sourcing and CRM with white-labeling features. In addition to deal and document submission, construction budgets & draw processing is supported, and third parties can join the deal team to participate. The portal is used all the way through to asset management and servicing.
Mobile Application
Another area of focus in the company’s R&D efforts has been mobile computing. As many of the functions in the origination of deals and the management of assets are performed on-site at properties, and others on-the-go or remotely, North Shore for iOS has been developed as a delivery platform for those functions. The mobile app takes advantage of the phones photographic capabilities, input methods of speech and scanning, and file sharing/signing. A construction lender, for example, can inspect and approve draw requests, with photos and narrative. It is utilized to access the database in real time, update status and make approvals, plus generate and share documents. Ultimately, the new mobile app makes it simpler and convenient for users to streamline and automate the entire loan process.
Integration Layer
When it comes to ‘innovation’, there has been tons of excitement, and promises, generated by AI and document capture vendors. North Shore provides an integration layer for easily working in conjunction with a customer’s data capture service. This integration forms a fully digital stream of data from scanned documents, pdf’s, forms, and other external data. The integration layer eliminates manual data entry and dramatically reduces input errors.
