We recently had the opportunity to speak with some of our amazing clients. We are spotlighting some of those clients in a series of posts tagged #MyAffinityStory. In this series of case studies, you’ll gain an insider’s perspective on some of the challenges faced by legal organizations today and get a peek at how the Affinity team works with clients to help them achieve their goals.
Founded in 1970, Petosa Law LLP provides legal services to mortgage lenders, servicers and real estate professionals in the state of Iowa. The firm, focused since 2003 on the default servicing industry, supports clients in the areas of foreclosure, bankruptcy, loss mitigation, eviction and post-foreclosure closing coordination.
When the firm’s 2013 CaseAware® implementation stalled, Petosa turned to the default services team at Affinity Consulting for help.
The Challenge
By 2013, Petosa’s 10-year-old Microsoft Access-based case management system was ready for retirement. As part of an initiative to better leverage technology to streamline workflows and ensure quality, Petosa purchased CaseAware®, a case management system designed specifically for firms in the default services industry and began laying the groundwork for rollout.
“In our proprietary system, nothing was connected,” says Lynn Carlson, Petosa’s long-time Office Administrator. “Billing was separate from process was separate from document preparation—they were all in different modules.”
CaseAware® offered the ability to create end-to-end workflows in one place and would give Petosa better control over document quality, particularly important in the face of the slower market’s increased regulatory scrutiny. As implementation discussions progressed, however, it became clear that some outside help was needed.
“We’d been working for several months, and we’d started developing sequences… but it just wasn’t going anywhere,” explains Carlson. “We’d had a similar experience with [another product] in 2010, and we were not anxious to repeat it, so we made the decision to hire a consultant.”
The Solution
Petosa began to research consulting firms that could implement CaseAware® and discovered Affinity Consulting Group, a well-known company with a long list of CaseAware® clients.
“Speaking with some of those clients is what really convinced me,” says Carlson. “We were going to need Affinity’s help or we were never going to get CaseAware® implemented.”
Erica Fujimoto, Affinity’s Director of Default Services, quickly convinced Carlson that her attendance at Affinity’s CaseAware® Bootcamp, an annual training event for CaseAware® administrators, would be the ideal first step toward a successful implementation. Bootcamp provided Carlson with a much deeper understanding of the product and the skills she needed to take a more active role in tailoring CaseAware® to Petosa’s needs. Subsequent meetings with Fujimoto yielded even more clarity.
“What I saw before working with Erica was a ‘flat’ picture,” says Carlson. “Erica made the picture ‘3-D.’ As I watched Erica doing our process mapping, and I began to understand how something she put on Line Z was affecting what was on Line A, CaseAware® started to make a lot more sense.”
With Affinity’s help, Petosa successfully rolled out CaseAware®, provided in-depth training, and secured staff buy-in, resulting in precisely the efficiency and quality gains the company had hoped for when investing in the product.
The Results
“In CaseAware®, everything just ‘talks to each other,’” says Carlson. “We don’t have to have separate people requesting checks or processing the invoices… it’s all right there.”
As the default services industry continues to weather a downturn, Petosa is confident in its ability to thrive thanks to a streamlined business model that emphasizes quality.
“CaseAware® allows us to do more with less,” Carlson explains. “We’re going to stay in this industry and stay specialized. Everything looks good for staying steady and holding our own. And quality is something we can always sell.”
Seven years after its first engagement with Petosa, Affinity remains a trusted advisor and technology partner. Fujimoto recently completed an on-site engagement in which she helped to optimize Petosa’s department structure and workflows, removing bottlenecks and creating redundancy that allows business to operate smoothly even when key employees are absent.
Carlson’s advice for other firms considering CaseAware® or struggling with implementation challenges? “Having Affinity on-site when we implemented was just the only way to go,” she says. “Affinity can see the big-picture solutions, and we just can’t do that by ourselves. Our experience with them has been excellent.”
Want to learn more about how Affinity can help you optimize your business processes? Contact us at info@affinityconsulting.com or request a consultation.
