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72 One of the things that gives MCS the advantage is the company's technology, under the direction of MCS' Chief Technology Officer, Rob Colbeck, who has been with MCS more than a decade. MCS360, the firm's proprietary platform, connects a rather staggering array of professionals in all corners of the property preservation and servicing industry. Everyone from their clients to staff members to those who put actual boots on the grounds of a property are connected to MCS, allowing the company to monitor and maintain properties everywhere it does business. And it does business pretty much everywhere in the United States. Part of MCS's edge over its first 30 years has been its reach, which grew steadily over time and has truly ramped up since its facelift in 2008. e company's regional roots in Florida (where the original office remains) grew into a broad network of professionals in every corner of the country, and the company's ever-improving technology platforms have led the charge. "I remember the day we told our vendors they couldn't fax and send Polaroids to us anymore," Reaves says. "at was only in 2007." Until then, the standard way to conduct business in property preservation and servicing was about as technologically advanced as the old card catalogue in the library. It was Polaroid pictures stapled to paper files and tucked into folders in large filing cabinets. To get access to any of the information meant either retrieving the file in the office or having someone there who could dig it out for you ‒‒ and to receive it, you usually needed to be next to a fax machine. MCS360 puts everyone in more immediate contact with information, Hinkle says. Mobile access is a main foundational component of this. And in a once pastoral industry that nowadays moves at the speed of right now, the ability to see what you need to see on the fly, from anywhere, is a major edge. "Technology has really enabled us to increase our productivity," he says. MCS's platform has allowed the company to standardize several aspects of property preservation, from inspections through maintenance. It also is allowing MCS to expand the fields it covers, such as utilities management. "It always comes back to industry-leading technology," says Mosley. "and a focus on quality and compliance that has allowed us to navigate the changes in the industry." But this has also allowed MCS to help direct those changes. "MCS has been really focused on being active and visible," he says. e company has worked with major entities in the mortgage and servicing arena, such as the Five Star Institute and the Mortgage Bankers Association, to, as Mosley puts it "be part of the process." e process he refers to is the very direction of the industry, as decided by federal officials and agencies. As MCS sees it, the best way to be ahead of the curve is to be part of the curve as it's being devised. Five years ago, when federal regulators essentially tipped the industry over and shook out the box of old rules, companies like MCS were forced to react to whatever new rules the government threw at them. "We've all been caught off guard by regulations," Mosley says. "But now we are proactive. We have more time to be prepared." MCS regularly consults with agencies such as HUD, which, he says, now contact MCS and make the company part of the discussion. "HUD comes in and asks us for our opinion," say Reaves. "ey don't always take what we say, but they always listen to us. ey've been very receptive." If you were paying close attention to all that, you'll have noticed two important business lessons. One is quality control and the other is relationship cultivation. Staying at the top of an increasingly challenging and changing industry demands attention to quality, not merely to keep government regulators appeased, but to maintain the one irrevocable element of relationships: Trust. In an industry with little room (and little forgiveness) for inadequate business practices, proving you can get the job done well, again and again, is essential. So is proving you're worthy of being part of the conversation about the future. Building that future, of course, requires bold moves and smart growth strategies. In 2012, when the real estate industry and all its support arms were still shaking off the haymaker the recession had dealt, MCS opened a new office in Ruston, La., a few miles from Grambling State University and Reaves' alma mater, Louisiana Tech, and an ideal spot to tap into the region's burgeoning tech/professional market. Opening the Ruston office was a pivotal moment for MCS, not just because it expanded its business footprint but because the company's impact on the area is rather grand. For an economy in northern Louisiana that continues to grow, there are now more than 170 new jobs, thanks to MCS, and no signs of slowing down. A year or so after opening in Ruston, MCS continued growing when it acquired the collateral solutions and field services business units of national real estate analytics firm CoreLogic. MCS revamped the operations and restructured the IT to make its newly acquired business as comfortable in the MCS family as possible, Hinkle says. "It's a growing business." Speaking of IT, Reaves has nothing but praise for the techies who keep MCS at the fore of the industry. "We've grown steadily because we've been able to be a leader," she says of the technology. "Kudos to our IT and management teams. I'd put them up against anyone." So what does 30 years add up to once you factor all this in? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 750 years of collective servicing experience, "millions and millions" of unique properties managed, and more than a billion images of those properties on file, Reaves says. And that billion is just digital, that's not the old- school Polaroids stapled to pages. Maybe a better question is, what will all this add up to in, say, another 30 years? More growth, of course. And more ability to anticipate the unknowns that will inevitably come along. But under it all, says Mosley, there will remain what has been MCS's stock in trade these first 30 years ‒‒ a focus on high quality, from the tech to the vendors who help manage and maintain properties. "In our daily discussions, we never talk about being the largest company in the industry," he says. "We want to be the best in quality." Staying at the top of an increasingly challenging and changing industry demands attention to quality, not merely to keep government regulators appeased, but to maintain the one irrevocable element of relationships: Trust.

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