GMAC Commercial Mortgage Declares War on Paper

The Paper Chase (Continued Again)... My March 7 Dispatch, Hey, Whatever Happened to the "Paperless Office?, generated this great response from Tom Gimpel, Director of Software Architecture at GMAC Commercial Mortgage.  You'll see that GMACCM has declared serious war on paper.  Imagine when large owners, tenants and service providers all have adopted similar initiatives.   Our industry will become a whole lot more efficient! Here's what Gimpel said:

"Last year GMAC Commercial Mortgage went 'paperless' through its entire business process as one of our company's most strategic business initiatives of 2000.  In 12 months, GMACCM implemented worldwide EDM, Electronic Document Imaging and Workflow, and Electronic Signature throughout all its business operations and subsidiaries, including international operations in Europe. The implementation brought GMACCM to the point where all key business areas and functions, as well as operational and support areas like HR and Legal, can now operate completely paperlessly. ... Some highlights:

• Credit memos requiring up to 14 signatures and requiring a turnaround time of weeks now performed in hours.
• Business-to-business property appraisal submission and acceptance via the Internet utilizing electronic signature.
• Worldwide servicing of loans with US servicing organizations able to pick-up and continue servicing work begun that morning in Ireland.
• Company-wide employee benefits enrollment done paperlessly with digital signature.
• Employee paycheck/paystubs delivered electronically

Key components of the implementation included:

• Company-wide document imaging and workflow utilizing 'OnBase' from Hyland Software of Cleveland, OH.
• Document scanning rendering, image cleanup by Kofax.
• Electronic Signature using 'ApproveIt' by Silanis Technologies of Canada.
• Departmental scanning using HP's Digital Senders."

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com