Partnership provides Alliant National independent title agents access to advanced, efficient cybersecurity technology solutions
LONGMONT, Colo. – Alliant National Title Insurance Company (Alliant National) and Cloudstar recently announced a strategic partnership that allows Alliant National’s independent title agents access to Cloudstar’s cybersecurity advanced technology platform. This platform also includes project management tools designed to increase productivity.
Cloudstar is a multi-national technology platform that provides secure infrastructure, cloud hosting, data center colocation, email encryption and managed information technology services and support to regulated industries in the United States, Canada and South America.
“In a cloud-first world, title agents need easier ways to work while still utilizing their existing settlement services software,” said Gregory McDonald, CEO of Cloudstar. “Cloudstar makes it easy to run existing software in the cloud while accessing it from anywhere. Together, the Alliant National and Cloudstar partnership will provide Alliant National’s independent agents with both the tools they need to be more productive and the cybersecurity products they need to increase security and help prevent wire fraud.”
“We are all very excited about this new partnership and we’re glad to provide this opportunity for our independent agents to work with Cloudstar,” said Mike Rubin, Alliant National’s vice president of business development. “Alliant National Title Insurance Company agents will benefit from this partnership by enjoying a dedicated Cloudstar account manager, access to new products and services before they are released to the public, as well as special offers and pricing incentives.”
Visit alliantnational.com/newsroom for additional information.
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Cathie Beck
Capital City Public Relations
e : cathie@capitalcitypr.com
p : 303-241-0805
The Independent Underwriter for The Independent Agent®, Alliant National believes in putting other people first. The company protects the dreams of property owners with secure title insurance and partners with 400+ trusted independent title agents as a licensed underwriter in 22 states, with annual revenues exceeding $110 million. Visit joinalliantnational.com for additional information.
Cloudstar is a multi-national provider of virtual desktop hosting, hosted software and applications, custom tailored IT infrastructure design, email encryption, managed services, IT security, and consulting to regulated industries across the United States, Canada, and South America.
Cloudstar started in 2009 as Cloudstar Consulting Corporation and was created to meet the unique needs of the land title industry. As the company grew from a consulting and IT infrastructure design firm, Cloudstar Consulting Corporation re-branded as simply “Cloudstar”, a DBA of the newly formed holdings company, Keystone Management Group, LLC. In 2014, Cloudstar purchased a 50% interest in U.S. Telecommunications firm, Teletonix Communications in addition to adding Diologix, an electronic medical records encryption company and Notary Transfer to its portfolio of brands. As of 2017, Cloudstar has expanded to provide services to the entirety of the United States, Canada and Mexico with offices in three states and privately held infrastructure co-located at five U.S data centers.
Today, Cloudstar services the needs of tens of thousands of end users from small firms to publicly traded companies. For more information, please visit MyCloudstar.com.
Time Saving Tips and Tricks
Running out of time to manage social media? By now, you know the value of social media to your business development. It’s a vital avenue to reach new business, strengthen existing relationships and maintain positive connections with current and future employees. It’s a way for you to share your business culture, events and news in your communities.
But finding the time to create all those posts and review your post performances is the challenge. So, how can you do that when your time is spent out networking and conducting your daily business operations?
Here are time saving tools that allow you to share valuable content with your audiences. Social media scheduling tools allow you to manage multiple profiles and networks from one location. So, you can schedule your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other posts for the week (or the month or longer) via one tool, saving you valuable time. You can also review reports (or customize reports) to view your post performances. For instance, you can track how many people you reached, how many people liked, shared, commented on, etc. each post.
Since there are numerous social media scheduling programs available, each with their own set of advantages, drawbacks and prices (some programs are offered at no charge), be sure to do your research prior to choosing a social media scheduling program for your business. Here are a few of the more popular social media scheduling programs:
This program optimizes your time by allowing users to manage all social profiles from a single dashboard. Users customize their dashboard in the way they want to see their data. The program comes with a default reporting system for social media analytics and you can also customize the reports to meet your particular needs. Hootsuite is a popular and widely-used program for businesses of all sizes.
MavSocial is a platform that allows users to schedule and track social media posts and their performance. Another MavSocial time saver is its large stock image gallery for ease of finding images for your posts.
Built to scale, Sprout Social saves time for teams of varying sizes. This social media management platform provides engagement, publishing, analytics and collaboration tools. Sprout Social includes a robust selection of reporting tools to analyze your social media performance. Sprout Social is a popular program for advertising and PR agencies that manage multiple client social media accounts.
As a title agent, are you obligated to ensure your service providers are in compliance? And if so, how?
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), enacted in 1999 (codified as amended at 15 U.S.C Chapter 94: Privacy), establishes basic privacy standards for “financial institutions,” which includes not only lenders, but also title insurers, title agents and settlement/escrow agents.
The CFPB expects lenders to oversee their service providers to make sure that they are in compliance with the law to protect consumer interests; this was expressed in CFPB Bulletin 2012-03, published April 13, 2012. This duty extends to title agents and settlement service providers.
While title agents and settlement service providers are third-party vendors to lenders, those who provide services to title agents and settlement service providers are fourth-party vendors to lenders. The requirement to evaluate, review, and monitor qualifications and performance extends as far down the service chain as necessary to make sure that everyone is in compliance with the rules protecting customers.
So what can you do as a title agent to make sure that your vendors are in compliance?
This information is not legal, business or financial advice. It is intended only to be helpful to you and to increase awareness. There may be many ways to approach this issue, and it is always best to consult with legal counsel and subject matter experts to develop a plan that is right for you.
Here’s How to Increase Audience Engagement Via Social Media
Social media is everywhere. And it seems like every day another social media network pops up. How do you make the best use of your time, while also keeping up with new networks, new ideas and all that posting work?
Start by understanding which networks are available, and of those networks:
Then, match that data to your target audience to determine which networks you should engage with to get maximize your audience engagement. Alliant National’s marketing team can help you make that determination. The most popular social networks for Alliant National’s independent agents are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Once you know which networks to join, create a strategy that includes: topics you’ll post about, as well as the frequency of your posts (2-3 times per week, consistently, is great). Here are a few tips to get the most audience engagement out of your social media activities:
Include graphics in your posts. Everyone loves graphics in social media posts. They are easy to spot when scrolling though our feeds and the more eye-catching, the better. Make sure you use clear, politically-correct and appropriately sized graphics for your post. Do a quick google search to determine size requirements. Also, be sure to give appropriate credit to each image.
#UseHashtags. Hashtags help keywords stand out in the post, and they’re also handy for tracking discussion around a specific topic and connecting with people who are searching for that particular hashtag.
Create interesting posts. Posts should be insightful, informative, fun and thought-provoking to audiences. People don’t want to be advertised to through your social media channels. Share industry-related articles, fun holidays, pictures and stories of your business supporting local charities, events happening in your community, etc. Invite your audience to share their stories and pictures and to comment on your posts.
Join the social media party. Don’t just post. Read and respond to all comments you receive on your social media networks. Comment on social media posts from business contacts. Think of it as a networking event. You have to get out there and be social in order for it to be a valuable experience.
Alliant National, who recently completed a partnership deal with Presidio Investors, Ranks No. 4811 on the 2018 Inc. 5000
LONGMONT, Colo. – Inc. Magazine recently revealed that Alliant National Title Insurance Company is No. 4811 on its 37th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.
The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy. This is the second time Alliant National has been named to the Inc. 5000.
Alliant National also recently completed its next stage of growth through a partnership with Presidio Investors, a private equity firm specializing in mid-market companies.
“Alliant National is honored to make this prestigious and highly competitive Inc. 5000 list again,” said Robert Grubb, Alliant National CEO and president. “The magnitude of strategic planning and hard work that goes into being named to this list is not lost with us.”
Regarding Alliant National’s recently completed partnership with Presidio Investors, Grubb announced to Alliant National leadership and personnel that they and their positions will remain the same. He added that, “With the help of our trusted agents and our amazing team, we’ve built a thriving company aligned with the finest independent title insurance agents in the country. Our new partner [Presidio Investments] maintains a culture that aligns well with ours, and we believe this partnership can support our plans to strengthen and expand our network of independent agents.”
Not only have the companies on the 2018 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but the list as a whole shows staggering growth compared with prior lists. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $206.1 billion in 2017, accounting for 664,095 jobs over the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.
“If your company is on the Inc. 5000, it’s unparalleled recognition of your years of hard work and sacrifice,” says Inc. editor in chief James Ledbetter. “The lines of business may come and go, or come and stay. What doesn’t change is the way entrepreneurs create and accelerate the forces that shape our lives.”
Cathie Beck
Capital City Public Relations
e : cathie@capitalcitypr.com
p : 303-241-0805
The Independent Underwriter for The Independent Agent®, Alliant National believes in putting other people first. The company protects the dreams of property owners with secure title insurance and partners with 400+ trusted independent title agents as a licensed underwriter in 22 states, with annual revenues exceeding $110 million. Visit joinalliantnational.com for additional information.
The 2018 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2014 and 2017. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2014. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2017. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2014 is $100,000; the minimum for 2017 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 5000 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.
Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures, Inc. is the only major brand dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, with the aim to deliver real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. Inc. took home the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in both 2014 and 2012. The total monthly audience reach for the brand has been growing significantly, from 2,000,000 in 2010 to more than 18,000,000 today. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
Presidio Investors was founded in 2007 with the goal of bringing large buyout expertise to entrepreneurially-led companies. Presidio invests in talented management teams to provide resources, including operational support and capital, for these entrepreneurs to succeed. For more information on Presidio Investors, please see presidioinvestors.com.
We celebrated a major milestone today after issuing our one millionth Closing Protection Letter. We took a moment to celebrate the accomplishment with sheet cake and party poppers. Alliant National agent Texas Lone Star Title made the CPL request at 3:04 Mountain Time.
By now, you’ve probably heard the well-worn cybersecurity platitude, “it’s not if you get hacked, it’s when.” Kind of a downer.
Really, that statement is about getting us to seriously consider the “what if.” For instance, “what if I suffered a data breach;” or, “what if, despite my best efforts, a criminal somehow managed to divert a wire to a fraudulent account?”
Thinking about the “what if” is uncomfortable, particularly when it comes to wire fraud. We spend most of our time and effort figuring out how to avoid the “what if” scenario.
The thing is, when it comes to attempted wire fraud, experience tells us that title agents who’ve spent time planning for “what if” are the ones who tend to get the money back.
BY MARTY SOLOMON
CLE Presented to FLTA Roundtable, April, 2018
The new American Land Title Association (ALTA) Closing Protection Letter (CPL) form recently took effect in Florida.
The new form both streamlines the previous CPL’s language and addresses and corrects many of the problems created by recent bad case law. It brings the CPL into line with longstanding understandings of CPL’s purpose and scope within the title insurance industry.
The clear and laudable aim of this new form is to create a better relationship among the contracting parties with clearer language and more sensible limitations on liability. This article summarizes revisions, with particular focus on those areas that address case law that led us astray.
BY GARY ROSNER & PAULA LEVY,
RITTER CHUSID, LLP
In the title industry, a power of attorney (“POA”) is used when one of the parties to the transaction cannot be physically present at the closing. Transactions involving a power of attorney are ripe for fraud and errors.
The following checklist can be used to determine whether or not to proceed with insuring a real property transaction involving a POA:
