Innovations in software within the appraisal industry are beginning to take shape. Anow, the leading software for appraisers nationwide, is offering a sneak peek into Nexus with the free webinar, “Nexus in 30 Minutes: Discover the Future of Appraising” happening Thursday, November 21st at 11 am EST. Nexus is Anow’s innovative, cloud-based forms solution. Learn how you can sync field work while out in the field and offer a two-day turnaround time to your clients by registering here. We sat down with Keith Ellis, COO of Anow, to further discuss this upcoming free webinar.
Buzz: Thank you for answering our questions. Can we have your background in this industry?
Keith: I’m the Chief Operating Officer of perhaps the most innovative software company in the appraisal world, Anow. Most of my day is talking with independent appraisers or large firms about how they can use technology to not only simplify their lives and improve their efficiency, but also about how appraisers want to transform their industry. I spend a lot of my time listening to how appraisers want to use tech because so much of what we’re going to talk about simply could not happen in the absence of rethinking how appraisers could be using technology. I will also present to maybe 1,000 appraisers this month in webinars like this one or others that we do with partners such as Appraisal Institute, ASA, NAA, and BAREA.
Buzz: Can you elaborate on what Nexus is?
Keith: Hundreds of Anow customers approached us over the years requesting that we build a forms software to replace their existing report writer. We listened. Anow Nexus is an alternative to what appraisers are using today for completing their appraisals.
Buzz: How does this tie into modernization efforts in the industry?
Keith: Not much has changed in the appraisal software world – really since before the ipod was introduced almost 20 years ago. Our vision is an appraiser needs to be able to complete their report or revisions from anywhere. We needed to eliminate the inefficiency of not only moving files around, but the whole mobile experience of inspecting and getting content into reports. An appraiser who can turn reports faster, with higher quality, and who can deal with revision requests more efficiently than their peers not only makes more money per order, they get more orders from their customers. The frank reality is the world is not the same today as it was 20 years ago and appraisers need software that is far more efficient to use. Anow Nexus radically simplifies the lives of appraisers.
Buzz: What are some of the benefits to Nexus over another software?
Keith: Hands down, we have the best mobile experience and application for mobile inspection. In Anow, you have administrative and status answers at your fingertips for any customer that calls on any order, but we also blended this with a mobile inspection application that is designed to work the way appraisers work – intuitively and without the paralyzing drop down lists.
Second, our system is designed to have multiple people work on a file simultaneously from anywhere. That means appraisers can make better use of admin staff and trainees without that hassle of moving physical files around. If an appraiser can do the inspection, work the comps and adjustments, then finish the report while sitting at Dunkin Donuts while also dealing with a revision request, that ability to complete work from anywhere adds hours back to their life that would have been unproductive.
Third, we tightly integrated the data and the task/administrative management together so appraisers can have the end-to-end toolkit they need to run their company, store everything, and associated with the work file and deliver the reports all in one place. This approach saves appraisers endless amounts of time.
Fourth, I really like our smart page concept where photos in the field and mobile inspection data are automatically loading and literally building pages in real time for the appraisers. Watching someone complete an inspection in Nexus is almost like walking through the house with them while teasing them on their typing speed as they built the report. It’s so real time – it’s like being right there. The future is smart collaboration – and we want to enable the ability for appraisers to work in teams with your admin and trainees and other appraisers as partners.
Finally – we listen. We delivered 4100 new pieces of functionality into Anow last year: almost all at the request of our users. No other software company in the appraisal world offers the ability to connect to live technical support, suggest features to us, collaborate with us, and be successful with us like Anow. All of this comes from listening to appraisers.
Buzz: Why should appraisers attend this free webinar?
Keith: We see a lot of appraisers looking for an alternative. They also want the reassurance from us that they own their own data – as it states in our license agreement – and they want a system delivers a 20x improvement over what is in use today. Attend the webinar to get a solid look at a wonderful richly featured alternative, but also a glimpse of what is possible for appraisers in the future.
Thank you so much for answering my questions. Make sure to register for the free webinar here. Have any comments or would you like to submit an article of your own? Email comments@appraisalbuzz.com for more information.
