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COMPANY OVERVIEW
George Mason Mortgage, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cardinal Bank. The company was founded in 1980 and has been officially ranked as one of Northern Virginia’s leading lenders for the past several years. Loan closings in 2004 were more than $3.5 billion. With the motto, “Service is our commitment that never expires,” George Mason Mortgage’s employees pride themselves on providing competent and professional service to
their customers.
THE CHALLENGE
The mortgage banking business is ultra-competitive and rapidly changing. To compete in this environment requires a highly productive workforce with dependable, reliable and flexible communications so that employees can provide the best customer service possible.
To improve the productivity of these employees, as well as the IT staff and senior management, the company implemented BlackBerry® from Research In Motion. Although the solution worked well for sending and receiving e-mail messages, over time it became clear that the company’s mobile workforce needed more functionality. The IT department also wanted to find a mobile computing solution that was easier to manage.
As an example, George Mason Mortgage’s loan officers often use Microsoft® documents in their communication with clients. With BlackBerry, the officers didn’t have access to these documents while they were out of the office, hampering their ability to do business.
THE SOLUTION
While looking for alternatives to BlackBerry, Chris Schwarz, IT Project Manager for George Mason Mortgage turned to Sprint,® the company’s carrier, for advice. Sprint recommended Good Mobile Messaging and Good Mobile Intranet from Good Technology.™
After an initial presentation from Sprint and a reference check of Good Technology’s customers, George Mason Mortgage signed up for Sprint’s free 60-day experience program. “The testing went great,” said Schwarz. “At the end of the trial period we decided to do a wholesale swap of RIM® for Good Technology.”
George Mason Mortgage installed both Good Mobile Messaging, Good’s wireless messaging system designed for businesses that want enterprise-class usability, security and management on a broad range of handhelds, and Good Mobile Intranet to provide fast and secure mobile access to the company’s intranet.
The firm also chose to deploy Good Technology’s solutions using Sprint as its main carrier. Sprint’s all-digital, all-PCS nationwide network provides multimedia services to all major airports and 99 percent of the largest cities in the United States. Sprint’s deployment of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) also makes it easier and less expensive to support higher-speed data services.
After using the new products for several months, George Mason Mortgage has enjoyed the benefits of the additional functionality and manageability offered by Good Technology. “We’re glad we made the switch,” said Schwarz. “The benefits of using Good Mobile Messaging and Good Mobile Intranet instead of BlackBerry have been significant.”
Lower TCO and easier management with Good Mobile Messaging
One of the biggest benefits for George Mason Mortgage has been the Zero IT Touch™ capability. With Good Mobile Messaging’s Over-the-Air (OTA) management, the IT department can deploy devices and update software without ever having to physically handle the devices.
For example, when an employee receives a new handheld, the IT department just has to add the user to the server and send an e-mail message with instructions on how to get started. This is in contrast to competitive systems, which require the IT manager to borrow the device and cable it to a computer to download the software. “This
has been the biggest advantage from a management perspective,”
said Schwarz. “Most of the devices have never even been attached
to a computer.”
An easy-to-use solution, on the devices that end users want
Device choice was another important difference between Good Technology and RIM. When the Palm® Treo™ smartphone first came to market, Schwarz was inundated with requests to support the new device. Today, the majority of employees are using Treo smartphones. George Mason Mortgage is also evaluating the Sprint PPC-6700 and expects to support both Palm OS and Windows Mobile-based devices over time. “With Good Technology and Sprint, our employees have the flexibility to choose the device that best fits their needs,” said Schwarz. “With RIM, choice was not an option.”
Another feature George Mason Mortgage employees and the IT department appreciate is the familiar and intuitive Microsoft Outlook®
-like user interface. This makes it easy for employees to get up and running and to be more productive over the long run. In addition, because the interface is similar across all device types, the IT department doesn’t have to spend time on training.
Once employees start using Good Mobile Messaging, they appreciate the product’s rich set of features. These include allowing employees to synchronize and manage their calendars, access contact information and schedule tasks. Employees also appreciate that changes made on the handheld are immediately made back at the office. This reduces confusion and eliminates having to do the same task twice.
Two features that employees value most are the ability to review attachments and receive and respond to voice-mail messages. Because loan officers use Microsoft Word and Excel® documents to provide clients with information, it saves time and makes it much more convenient for officers to have these available on their handhelds while with clients.
And because George Mason Mortgage uses Internet Protocol (IP) phones from Cisco, voice-mail messages can be routed to employee’s handhelds right along side their e-mail messages. According to one employee, this feature makes him much more productive. “Having both e-mail and voice-mail messages delivered to my handheld keeps my day organized,” he said. “In addition, I don’t have to call in and listen to my messages. They are right there on my device and I can manage them in subfolders just as I do my e-mail. I couldn’t do this with BlackBerry and I am much more productive than before.”
On the IT side, Good Mobile Messaging helps the IT department provide better help desk service to employees. Because the firm’s help desk system is e-mail-based, all trouble tickets are sent to the IT staff via e-mail. The staff also receives e-mail alerts regarding power outages, server performance and other critical information. “Now when an employee has a problem, we can respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Schwarz. “In the past, our response was slower, and problems took more time to resolve.”
Providing the most up-to-date information, on the spot with Good Mobile Intranet
In addition to Good Mobile Messaging, George Mason Mortgage has significantly increased the productivity and responsiveness of its loan officers by providing secure, mobile access to the company’s intranet.
Loan officers are responsible for helping customers find the loans that best meet their needs. To provide the service customers expect in a competitive and rapidly changing market, loan officers must be able to respond to customer inquiries and provide the needed information almost immediately even when they are out of the office at the customer’s location.
George Mason Mortgage tracks industry information related to providing the best loans for customers on its intranet. Giving loan officers secure and fast access to this information on their handhelds is key to providing a high level of customer service and closing business. “With Good Mobile Intranet, I believe we give our loan officers a competitive advantage compared to other mortgage brokers,” said Schwarz.
Dramatically improved effectiveness
“The bottom line is that Good Mobile Messaging combined with Good Mobile Intranet makes our employees more productive and effective from the minute they get started,” concluded Schwarz.
“Most importantly, this productivity translates directly into improved customer service.”
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