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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 59 COVER STORY SPECIAL FE ATURE INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT EXPERT OPINION "Simply put, the next frontier in mortgage field services technology is simply solutions that combine existing capabilities and technology into value- propositions that meet the compliance and risk demands." –SEAN RYAN maneuver through uncharted waters. However, we are seeing bright pockets of light as the job market improves and the economy continues to steady itself. is leveling off has provided us some breathing room and the opportunity review the steps, and sometimes missteps, we as an industry made as we were forced into a situation beyond our control. e market crash has created a fundamental loss of trust in our industry, and I believe external regulatory forces will be exerting pressure for years to come. Although the recent elections have many on Capitol Hill chattering about the potential Senate review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd-Frank Act, Safeguard will continue to meet regulatory scrutiny head-on and align with what regulators are focused on. At the recent National Property Preserva- tion Conference, several field services compa- nies referred to themselves as technology com- panies. I would have to echo that sentiment, but add that we also are innovation companies. Increased regulatory and compliance oversight has put us on this evolutionary path. At Safeguard, technology is by far our biggest dollar spend. We have assembled an IT team that is the best in the industry. ey continue to look at innovative ways we can use technology to protect our clients' interests, to protect properties and communities, and to protect Safeguard and our vendor network. Currently they are focused on what I consider a game changer – real-time mobile video transmission from the property. Without a universal definition of vacant and abandoned, the field services industry's No. 1 risk is determining occupancy. With video, if there is a question about a property's status, the inspector can share the live video stream right from the property and another set of eyes can assist in determining the property's status. On the property maintenance side, when a vendor is submitting a damages bid, live video can be used to provide a detailed view of the issue and get approval while still on site. Live video transmission is just one of the many technology innovations we are working on. We have invested millions of dollars in these efforts for many reasons – but primarily to advance industry standards and quality control procedures. Technology and innovation are what will help us to adapt quickly to market changes and support our clients' and Safeguard's current and future needs. PROPERTY VALUATION MARC HINKLE Senior Vice President at MCS Valuations More so than ever, we are seeing clients devoting greater attention to the quality review of our valuation products, and we have absolutely embraced and welcomed that. ere's been a pendulum that continues to swing back and forth from adding more data and having a more data-driven report to relying exclusively on the judgment of the real estate professional or the appraiser. Our clients and lenders want our valuation products to be relatively in the middle. ey are asking us to bring together an optimal combination of data and human judgment that results in one product that can be easily understood. It's data that the appraisers can get their arms around, but it's also other national data that we at MCS Valuations add and provide to the appraisers. Our clients want a licensed, seasoned, local real estate appraiser or professional to interpret all of the data available to render a good final conclusion. We're seeing more demand for what we would call hybrid products that combine a broker perspective and an appraiser perspective with electronic or automated data. Some of the products MCS Valuations offers do that very thing, where ultimately the market value is rendered by a licensed appraiser, but it also includes many other components. We're able to provide components of a BPO perspective, or an AVM perspective, along with all the other available data. at is what our clients are asking us to do – to use the data that we have, but interpret it correctly and accurately for them. A client does not want us to simply add another page on the back of their report with a bunch of market data. at actually creates more challenges for them. It's the interpretation of that data that is critical. Our plan is to have that as our primary focus – having the best combination of interpreting data and having the very best qualified appraisers on the front end completing the work. Because of the CFPB and other compliance requirements, we have seen many of our clients go through a rebalancing effort where they are being asked to perform very rigorous third-party oversight on us as an AMC or a valuations provider. We embrace that and we understand what's driving that. It's our responsibility to continue to perform and deliver a top-notch product backed by quality data and an experienced review process. TECHNOLOGY SEAN RYAN CEO, Aspen Grove Technology is generally driven by business, regulation, and consumer need – although there are some notable exceptions – so to predict the next technology frontier we must first look at the business drivers. In the world of mortgage field services (inspection, preservation, appraisals,

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