Mercury Network 2020 Year In Review

2020 has been a fantastic year at Mercury Network. Just like everyone else, we've been impacted by unprecedented (take a drink) events like COVID, elections, social disruptions and wild weather. However, we've been serving this industry for a long time, so this certainly isn't the first crisis we've faced. It has been a genuine pleasure to help you work through the challenges and surprises of this year, and we're honored to continue earning your trust as a reliable partner as we move into the next one. 

We understand how busy you've been, with little time to read release notes and blog posts. So, with the year almost done, we want to provide an at-a-glance view of some of the enhancements and improvements we've made to your platform during 2020 to help your business and the people who make your business possible. Click on the links below to learn more about each of these updates!

Your Business 

Performance and Security 

• Infrastructure upgrades improved platform performance. Some examples of the results include:

  • An average of 41% faster load times for all pages

  • Order Management loads an average of 47% faster

  • The Completed folder loads an average of 64% faster

• Archiving orders: We’ve paved the way for this feature to be released early in 2021. Expected performance improvements include:

  • Faster navigation from one screen to the next

  • Faster calculations of statistics and data

  • Faster order searches

• Strong password requirements

• Simplified login recovery

• Enhanced platform status monitoring and notifications

  • Real-time notifications about events that could impact your workflow

Branding Improvements 

• Promote your brand while increasing borrower confidence

  • SureReceipts

  • Compliance certificates

  • Engagement letters

  • Make-a-Payment page and emails to borrower

    • Now with an ADA-compliant color scheme

New Products 

• New commercial products

  • Environmental Government Database Report

  • Environmental Transaction Screen Assessment

• Homestyle Renovation

• Combined 1004D

Financial Management 

• Updates to credit card transaction reporting

  • Predictable and consistent

• Automatic invoice improvements

  • Internal tracking on our side

  • Accuracy and speed on your side

GSE and Regulatory Changes 

• COVID: Map Reference field to ID appraisals delivered under special guidelines

• FHA SSR sync improvements

• Began work on FHA Catalyst for early 2021 availability

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Your People 

VMP Client Management 

• Login controls

• Security - Info validation

• Ease-of-use

  • Password recovery

  • Admin controls

• Improved visibility into Client actions (revision needed/canceled)

• Delete client with fewer clicks

• Delete client group with fewer clicks

Workflow Efficiencies 

• Edit client due date and fees so you don't have to go to the VMP Client order

• Improved order duplication functionality

• Automated Engagement Letters

• Added and clarified User Permissions

• VA Orders folder

• Notification control for additional recipients

Vendor Management 

• Priority rank improvements

• Quality/Professionalism rating improvements

• Removed three-state restriction

• Fee Panel stats reporting

• Fee Panel Review – Get notified when critical vendor info has changed

• Prevent vendors from reassigning orders

Bidding 

• Increased max bid thresholds

• Improved view into bid submissions and awards

• Enhanced automatic vendor selection for bid orders

• Requiring vendor agreements on bid orders

Vendor Efficiency 

• We’re onboarding vendors to begin receiving direct payments early in 2021, which will simplify your entire appraisal-accounting workflow.

• Streamlined workflow between Mercury Network and TOTAL from a la mode, and on Mercury Mobile for appraisers.

• More notifications for your appraisers about expiring license or insurance

• COVID: Property Assist from a la mode - helping your appraisers safely complete orders

It has been a productive year at Mercury Network, and we’re excited that so many of these improvements are paving the way for ground-breaking enhancements in 2021 and beyond. Be sure to subscribe to our blog (at the top-right corner) so you can stay up to date on everything we’re doing to keep your business growing, no matter the circumstance.