Ellie Mae and a la mode form strategic alliance

DUBLIN, CA — Ellie Mae® Inc., the award-winning provider of innovative software and services for the mortgage industry, announced a strategic alliance with a la mode, the leading provider of desktop and web-based technology for the appraisal industry.

According to the agreement, Ellie Mae will provide direct integration from their three Loan Origination Systems (LOS) – Encompass®, Genesis 2000® and Contour™ – into the actual desktop applications that appraisers use, by building a custom Ellie Mae plugin for a la mode’s XSite Order Manager product (formerly Mercury Desktop), and by building new custom facilities within Ellie Mae’s suite of LOS products.

Through this collaboration, Encompass, Genesis and Contour users will be able to place orders to their appraisers, right through their LOS, into the appraisal form-filling software that resides on their appraisers’ desktops.  The order data will automatically populate the appraiser’s system, regardless of its brand, significantly reducing data entry time, errors and other points of “friction” in the current manual process.

On-going status of the appraisal assignment will also be pushed back to Ellie Mae clients via a la mode’s XSites Network (formerly Mercury Network). As appraisals are completed, the documents will then be automatically transferred back from the appraiser’s XSite Order Manager into Encompass, Genesis and Contour.

Unlike current integrations to appraisers that are primarily underutilized and soon-to-be discontinued, Ellie Mae clients will now enjoy a bi-directional electronic connection with appraisers who use actual desktop software containing an embedded Ellie Mae plugin, and who are located in every county of every state in the U.S., providing superior coverage and reliability.

“Through Ellie Mae’s new custom plugin for the XSite Order Manager, now the largest single pool of electronically enabled appraisers in the U.S.  and Ellie Mae’s industry leading loan originator customer base will be able to seamlessly interact with one another, without having to go to websites and retrieve orders – a process that can cause more problems than it solves,” said Scott Kinnaird, Chief Strategy Officer of a la mode. “While other companies have tried to take an indirect approach to improving communication, a la mode and Ellie Mae have created a direct path, bolting together the desktops of both the loan officer and the appraiser.”

“This partnership marks the first true software integration of two of the most important stakeholders within the mortgage origination process, the originator and the appraiser,” said Joseph P.  Tyrrell, Senior Vice President of Ellie Mae. “While other attempts to improve the communication and efficiencies between these two critical parties have largely been one-sided, including solutions that others have tried to distribute through our network, our partnership with a la mode will result in true value for both the loan originator and the appraiser.

“Not only will this raise the level of compliance for our mutual clients with the new privacy regulations, such as the Safeguards Rule and Gramm-Leach-Bliley, but it will also significantly reduce the amount of work that both the appraiser and loan originator do today,” Tyrrell continued. “Given that a la mode is the market leader, supplying the majority of appraiser desktops today, the marriage of our two technologies is both a natural and logical next step to improving the mortgage origination process.”

Also as part of this agreement, Ellie Mae and a la mode will create a custom and exclusive interface directly from a la mode’s innovative new Mortgage XSite product into Ellie Mae’s leading Loan Origination and Management System, Encompass.  a la mode’s Mortgage XSites are a breakthrough in providing mortgage professionals with the e-commerce tools needed to compete in a highly evolving market.  This inter-connectivity, an exclusive, third-party interface, which Ellie Mae has only made available to a la mode, will join two best of breed products and companies.  Both Ellie Mae and a la mode announced that they plan in 2005 to work toward a fully embedded OEM version of Mortgage XSites to be used by Encompass customers.

About Ellie Mae
Ellie Mae, Inc.  is an award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, which has been recognized in each of the past three years as one of the fastest growing companies in the California Bay Area, and most recently has been named to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies.  Ellie Mae provides a comprehensive line of products and services including the company’s flagship Encompass® mortgage management system, Contour™ and Genesis2000® loan origination software, Executive Websites™ for mortgage brokers, and Ellie Mae Docs™ services for document processing.  Ellie Mae’s ePASS® Network is the mortgage industry’s online transaction platform enabling 40,000+ mortgage companies in the United States to easily do business online with hundreds of leading lenders and nearly 100,000 settlement service providers.  Ellie Mae is based in Dublin, California.  To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.elliemae.com or call (888) 955-9100.

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About a la mode

Founded in 1985, a la mode develops desktop tools, mobile tools, web sites for real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, and appraisers. a la mode’s flagship product, WinTOTAL form-filling software for appraisers leads the residential appraisal industry.  a la mode’s Mercury Network, a vendor management platform for lenders, provides the most experienced local appraisers in an HVCC-compliant, easy-to-use loan ordering and management application. a la mode’s mission-critical products are used by hundreds of thousands of appraisers, agents, inspectors, and lending professionals to complete the nation’s real estate transactions.  The company’s state-of-the-art offices are located in Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, and Washington, DC.  To learn more, visit www.alamode.com.