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Special Reports
Origination Technology Update
SOA Concept Paves the Way For Interchangeable Tech
By Anthony Garrritano
LIVONIA, MI --In an industry plagued with assorted buzzwords, it's hard to discern
which are keepers and which will be replaced, but nonetheless service-oriented architecture is a promising technology
that most in the industry agree is of great value and will have a lasting impact on the mortgage space.
SOA is an architecture that allows the user to have the freedom to plug and play
software to avoid going down the wrong path. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to replace your loan origination software
without a long implementation cycle that may or may not work at the end of the day?
Traditionally all the components of an enterprise system going from the point-of-sale
system to default management are all integrated to each other using custom interfaces. If you have five systems
all integrated to each other to deliver your loan it becomes difficult to remove a failed LOS because it's interfaced
with your POS piece, default management piece, automated underwriting piece, secondary marketing piece, etc.
The solution is SOA because SOA is a business tier that the user can plug all
their applications into and at the same time allows the data to flow throughout the enterprise without the need
to interface each system to all the other systems in the mortgage chain. So, when the user wants to replace the
LOS, they only have to replace the one interface to the business-tier layer instead of having to replace what could
be hundreds of custom interfaces.
In theory, this architecture may prove to be the great equalizer because users
will no longer be forced to stay with a failing LOS for financial reasons when it's so easy to go in another that
may be a better choice in the end.
"We agree with the SOA approach," said Michael Hammond, director of
sales and marketing at LOS vendor Dynatek here. "It's really what our plug-in network is built on.
"However, you still need a core system of record," he noted. "If
pre-qual is its own ancillary system, closing is its own ancillary system, etc., where does that data reside? There
has to be a central repository."
Of course, that's where SOA comes in. Now the user can decide where the data resides
and which systems they want to keep and which are outdated or are under performing.
"We're working with a large lender right now that has a pre-qual and pricing
component that they don't want to lose," said Mr. Hammond. "They can keep that and plug in without having
to do a lot of implementation work. The key is to have a flexible enough LOS to be able to plug and play. The majority
of data being passed back and forth is in the LOS. The middleware is not the most important step."
"In general, the idea is wonderful but it has to be delivered in such a way
that it can work on any platform," said Bob Taylor, network administrator of Kennedy Mortgage, a brokerage
firm out of Las Vegas. "We don't have the budget to be able to continually invest in new technologies and
wait for a long implementation.
"Right now we have a core staff in Nevada and we work in 25 states,"
he said. "We're gradually deploying technology to enable us to get national coverage. However, we're not a
new company so we don't exactly have new software. When a new utility comes out we have to evaluate everything.
Yes, some of these new approaches would be great but the cost factor in upgrading our existing system makes us
think twice.
"For example, we use Calyx Point and they've just come up with a networking
program but we'd have to put in a Structured Query Language server and that becomes a monster," Mr. Taylor
concluded.
In the end, however, the best way to make a technology investment is to have an
eye into the future. While the cost of investing in a new technology may be a lot to justify right now, but if
it will enable the user to be more flexible and agile when new groundbreaking technologies like, MISMO, e-closing
and an e-mortgage get the acceptance they're now moving toward, SOA is an easy way to keep up and prepare for the
next refinance boom.
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