As any seasoned title insurance professional will tell you, real estate transactions are complex beasts, requiring different stakeholders to share personal information sometimes across great distances. This presents massive challenges, especially at a time when data breaches seem more common than ever. What can an independent agent do to protect personal and proprietary information? Technologies like client-side encryption (CSE) offer a possible way forward. CSE can reduce your attack surface and limit liability by centralizing key management and strengthening access controls. Let’s see how it can help secure your agency from the threats of both today and tomorrow.
What is client-side encryption?
You have likely heard about encryption and perhaps even use such technology at your agency. After all, encryption technologies have been in place across multiple industries for decades. CSE is a more recent innovation. It offers users greater control over when and where their data is encrypted, and over who can decrypt this information.
How does it differ from traditional encryption?
CSE technology differs from traditional methods of encryption in two key aspects: where the actual encryption occurs and who controls the encryption keys. When using CSE, data is usually encrypted on a user’s local device before being sent to a server or shared over a cloud network. Access to this data is similarly held by the user, which means that the data remains completely inaccessible to a service or network provider.
How CSE can benefit your agency
There are clear security implications for your agency when you choose to implement CSE. CSE can help strengthen defenses against data breaches and other criminal activity. When equipped with this technology, agencies are freed from relying on third-party providers to manage security keys. Even if your network or service provider goes down or is compromised in some way, your data will remain safe and secure. Additionally, CSE gives companies greater control over who can decrypt their data, allowing them to align access permissions with organizational policies or user roles.
For highly regulated businesses like title insurance, CSE may be particularly advantageous. Title agencies are required to meet various compliance obligations, which include taking steps to ensure consumer security and privacy. CSE can directly help with these requirements.
Be future-ready with CSE
CSE doesn’t just have immediate benefits; it can also help your agency prepare for future challenges. For example, data protection laws are expanding throughout the world and the United States, imposing ever-more-stringent regulations on how businesses operate online. Data sovereignty laws are similarly growing, mandating that organizational data stay within a specific geographical location. Lastly, the rise of AI and quantum computing is upending many current encryption methodologies.
CSE holds great promise for agencies looking to navigate these seismic changes. It can ensure data is immediately encrypted at the source where it is created, thus satisfying key data protection provisions. It can empower companies to maintain control over encryption keys and not rely on providers who may be hundreds of miles away. And it provides enhanced security that can help agencies use AI safely while preparing for the next wave of cryptography advances.
Consider CSE for your encryption needs For title businesses, protecting sensitive organizational and customer data is non-negotiable. Encryption has long been the go-to method for accomplishing this goal, but traditional technologies may be insufficient for the changing digital environment. Client-side encryption offers potential advantages by encrypting data right at the source and ensuring that access is strictly maintained. Companies that adopt it no longer need to rely on third parties, can more easily comply with regulations, and are better prepared to leverage emerging technologies. In a competitive business environment like ours, those are benefits worth considering.
Build out your SWOT for a complete picture of your business.
As any business leader knows, there is a huge difference between having an idea for your business and bringing it to fruition. One way to increase your chances of success is to utilize what’s known as a SWOT analysis. SWOTs bring increased visibility to your operations, while providing an honest assessment of your company’s capabilities. The exercise’s insights can then be used for more informed decision-making. Let’s explore what’s involved in doing this work and doing it right.
What is SWOT?
The “SWOT” in “SWOT analysis” is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Here’s some additional detail on each point:
Strengths are everything you have going for you with your business. This can include things like a strong balance sheet, top talent or a high net promoter score.
Weaknesses are the opposite. They can include high turnover, significant customer churn or outdated and inefficient technology.
Opportunities involve industry trends that you can capitalize on. Some examples are regulatory changes, strategic partnerships or positive changes in customer behavior.
Threats include anything that might imperil your business in the short and long term. Threats could be negative economic forecasts, supply chain disruptions or new competitors in the market.
Create your dream team
The first thing to realize about doing a SWOT is that it’s pretty difficult to pull off alone. No business leader is going to know everything about their organization. You need a team with you that has first-hand knowledge of each aspect of your business. Include different department heads and stakeholders from both in and outside of your company.
Dig into the data
Next, begin collecting data – and lots of it. Compile information on internal processes, review existing resources and pull up any performance metrics you have on hand. Some specific examples could include:
Financial reports
Brand recognition data
Customer reviews
Employee feedback
Draw conclusions and establish your matrix
Once you’ve gathered these insights, start identifying your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Drill down on what is working well and pay attention to any unique selling propositions. Then, do the reverse and look at what is not working. Be open and transparent here. It is the only way to get an accurate picture of what might prevent you from achieving your goals. Next, catalog opportunities and threats. Write down anything that might enable or prevent you from taking your business where you want it to go in the near and long term.
Now organize your thoughts via a SWOT matrix. It’s often easiest to group elements by: 1.)internal factors, that is, your strengths and weaknesses, followed by 2.) external factors, also known as your opportunities and threats.
Analyze your results and plan for action
You can then start putting together an action plan to achieve your organizational objectives, armed with the knowledge that you have an informed outlook on your business’s prospects. Be sure your plan works in unison with your SWOT. When done right, your plan’s strategies, tactics and decision points will grow organically out of your matrix.
Moving forward
Like any piece of strategic planning collateral, always remember a SWOT is a living document. As your business changes or the market shifts, don’t forget to update your analysis so it remains accurate and helpful. That way, you will always have a powerful tool on hand that will help you see your business clearly and make more strategic decisions.
The economy remains on track as we head into the closing months of 2024, with inflation subsiding under the Federal Reserve’s tight management and employment remaining surprisingly resilient, though softening in recent months.
On the real estate front, high interest rates and low inventory have stymied the industry, with new single-family home sales plunging 11.3% in May and existing sales falling to an annualized rate of 3.89 million in June, a two-month period that normally sees accelerated buying trends.
The hoped-for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve that might have given the market a boost in the coming months have not materialized, with Treasury Secretary Jerome Powell announcing on July 31 that the federal funds rate would stay put at 5.25-5.5% for the near term, while holding out hope that there may be some downward movement before years’ end.
“FOMC participants wrote down their individual assessments of an appropriate path for the federal funds rate, based on what each participant judges to be the most likely scenario going forward,” Powell said in his report. “If the economy evolves as expected, the median participant projects that the appropriate level of the federal funds rate will be 5.1% at the end of this year, 4.1% at the end of 2025, and 3.1% at the end of 2026. But these projections are not a Committee plan or any kind of a decision.”
In his comments, Powell acknowledged that while the Fed is not yet confident enough to pull back from their efforts to control inflation, reducing policy restraint too late or too little could have an undue negative impact on economic activity and employment. That fear seemed to come to fruition when the July jobs report came in weaker than expected, sending Wall Street into a tailspin on August 2nd as fears of recession escalated in the financial community. However, markets have largely recovered since that drop.
In a reaction to the U.S. Commerce Department report on Q2 GDP, MBA SVP and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni acknowledged several components in the report indicating a potential slowdown for the economy but also pointed to positive signs in the recent inflation data that he hoped “would provide enough confidence for the Federal Reserve to cut rates in September.”
While that remains to be seen, consumer confidence, interest rates, home sales, and new home construction remain in limbo, subduing hopes for any substantial real estate boost this year.
Consumer confidence shows signs of improvement
Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board, said that consumer confidence increased in July but remained in a narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years. “Even though consumers remain relatively positive about the labor market, they still appear to be concerned about rising prices and interest rates, and uncertainty about the future; things that may not improve until next year,” she said.
Interest rates staying put
It remains to be seen if a slowing economy will kickstart a movement towards lowering fed funds rates in the near term, but interest rates have remained in the sub-7% range this summer after reaching 8.5% in October 2023. According to the Freddie Mac economists’ July outlook, interest rates are expected to stay above 6.5% through the end of the year. Fannie Mae is also forecasting interest rates to remain at 6.8% through the end of the year, falling back only slightly to 6.4% in 2025, leaving little hope for the recovery that was so optimistically anticipated at the outset of the year.
Home price growth could pull back
According to the July 2024 commentary from the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group, home price growth in the second quarter was stronger than previously anticipated but will likely moderate soon, closing 2024 and 2025 at annual rates of 6.1% and 3.0%, respectively. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast concurs, indicating in its July report that home prices are expected to rise only 3% on a year-over-year basis from May 2024 to May 2025.
New home sales soften, existing home sales improve slightly
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, sales of newly built, single-family homes in June fell 0.6% to a 617,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a slight upwardly revised reading in May. The pace of new home sales is down 7.4% from a year earlier.
Jing Fu, NAHB director of forecasting and analysis, reported in July that new home inventory in June remained elevated at a 9.3 months’ supply.
“At the current building pace, there is still a long-run need for more construction because existing inventory remains relatively low,” he said. “Due to a lack of resale homes for sale, the combined inventory for new and existing single-family homes remains lean at a 4.7 months’ supply, according to NAHB estimates.”
After a lackluster May and June, pending home sales rose 4.8% in June, according to the National Association of Realtors, but the numbers remain low compared to past years.
Broader outlook murky
Across the board, economic and housing forecasts remain tentative and conservative, as economists keep an eye on a host of uncertain elements, including the volatility of the global economy, the Federal Reserve’s tight fiscal policy, a jittery stock market, and an era of consumer pessimism. However, should the Federal Reserve begin interest rate cuts in September as hoped for, many of these issues could ease considerably, opening the door for a more promising final quarter.
After experiencing sustained growth, many businesses will begin to think about expansion. But while moving into new markets can be an exciting prospect, success often hinges on rigorous planning. Here, we will examine how market research is an important part of this process and how you can develop your own. Let’s jump in.
Market research is key to successful expansion
Navigating business expansion can sometimes resemble trying to pick your way through a thick forest. The trail can feel uncertain and unpredictable where one wrong step could trip you up. Think of market research as a light that illuminates the best path forward. It deepens understanding of potential customers and leads to more informed decision-making. Moreover, it reduces risk, enables the creation of better products and services, and shores up the long-term health of your brand.
The challenge of getting started
Despite its benefits, conducting marketing research can seem like a tall order, especially if you’ve never done it before. All too often, this leads to companies commissioning a report by a third party, which can be quite costly. Depending on the research, the cost can range at least $15,000 – $25,000 a pop.[i] This can be an unnecessary expense, especially as it’s possible to gather a lot of this information on your own.
A deeper dive
So, how do you start a market research report? Begin by sketching out your goals and objectives. Then outline the contours of your target market using these categories:
Market demand for title insurance
Qualitative and quantitative nature of the customer base
Competitor analysis
Regulatory environment (only if different from your current environment)
Competitive advantages you bring to the table
Any barriers that will prevent you from entering the market
Secondary research
After you have this framework, add additional detail by consulting secondary research sources. Fill out the market demand and customer base sections of your report by consulting:
Title industry reports
Government databases
Housing, population and employment trends
Next, learn more about your competitors by following these steps:
Search online for competitors who serve the target market.
Look at business directories and your local land title associations for additional information.
Then, see what your competitors are doing to market their products and services by looking at:
Their website
Social media channels
Review sites
SEO rankings
Any available advertising
Pair this with information on your competitors’ pricing, services and customer base.
In working through this exercise, a better picture of competing organizations will come into focus. The last step is then to populate the sections on your competitive advantages and barriers to entry. Perhaps one of the best tools to use here is what’s known as a “SWOT analysis.” Here’s what that requires you to look at and flesh out:
Strengths: What are you doing right and/or well.
Weaknesses: The potential weak points within your organization.
Opportunities: The opportunities or openings in the market of which you can take advantage.
Threats: What could threaten your ability to enter a new market.
Next steps
Armed with a better understanding of the market, your competitors and how they stack up against your organization’s strengths, weaknesses and capabilities, you can build better offers for your products and market them in a way that connects and converts. Don’t stop with just market research, though. Use this document as the basis for creating a strategic plan, a marketing and sales strategy and even guidance for how your organization can align resources with short- and long-term goals. Combined, these various assets will position you to not only enter your target market but hit the ground running.
Public, private, or hybrid—what suits your agency best?
Once a novelty, cloud networks now personify the modern workspace. Businesses leveraging cloud deployments typically enjoy enhanced flexibility and productivity. Moreover, with the rise of remote work, the cloud has become crucial in attracting and retaining valuable talent. However, maximizing the benefits of your cloud network depends on selecting a deployment model that aligns with your organization’s goals. If you’re considering the cloud for your agency, you’ll need to choose between public, private, and hybrid options. Let’s explore the differences to help you determine the best route for your business.
Public Cloud Deployments
Public cloud networks rely on the infrastructure provided by third-party cloud service providers. In this setup, companies utilize shared resources and are often charged based on a pay-as-you-go model. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of this deployment model.
Pros:
Greater accessibility: Public cloud providers often have a large service area, meaning agents can access vital tools and data from any location.
Easier scalability: Public cloud providers typically offer flexible pricing models, which can be ideal for agencies seeking to scale their infrastructure up and down depending on business demand.
Better focus on core business goals: Migrating to the public cloud offloads IT management to a third party, which empowers agencies to focus more on their transactions and customer relations.
Cons:
Security concerns: Despite their robust features, the fact that resources are shared on a public cloud may trigger potential security and privacy concerns.
Third-party dependence: Using the public cloud means your IT setup becomes largely dependent on a third-party provider.
Cost overruns: Public cloud is rightly celebrated for its flexible pricing, but without careful due diligence, it can also lead to cost-overruns.
Private Cloud Deployments
Private cloud networks are designed for the exclusive use of a single organization and are managed either by the network’s owner or third-party. Here are a few of the benefits and potential drawbacks.
Pros:
Customized security: Private networks enable administrators to create customized security controls and exercise greater data sovereignty, which greatly assists with compliance in regulated industries like title insurance.
Performance gains: Plus, with private networks being designed for exclusive use, companies can potentially gain more consistent network performance.
Effective resource allocation: Private clouds permit more effective control over digital resources, which optimizes an organization’s productivity and cost-effectiveness.
Cons:
Up-front investment: Private clouds can involve sizable up-front costs, as businesses will need to invest in infrastructure like servers and networking equipment.
Rigid structure: Relying on private clouds can pose problems for agencies if they want to make changes to their deployment setup. Investing in additional infrastructure may be required to support higher-intensity workloads.
Higher maintenance costs: Maintaining a private cloud necessitates that agencies continually invest in sufficient resources like specialized IT knowledge, which can potentially strain budgets that could go toward other revenue-producing activities.
Hybrid Cloud Deployments
Aside from these two options, there is also the hybrid cloud deployment model, which combines elements of both public and private clouds. Hybrid-cloud organizations will typically host some resources, data and workloads within a private cloud while also utilizing third-party providers like AWS or Microsoft Azure. Check out the pros and cons of this approach.
Pros:
A fluid model: Hybrid deployments can easily scale to meet fluctuating demand within the real estate industry and ensure optimal resource allocation.
Cost-effective: Hybrid clouds afford agencies flexibility in how they use their cloud infrastructure. Agencies can leverage the public cloud during peak worktimes and avoid overprovisioning their private network.
Customizable security: Hybrid cloud businesses can create customizable security measures regarding where they house critical data or workloads. Agencies deal with highly sensitive information. With hybrid cloud, this data can be kept out of a public network and managed on-premises for greater peace of mind.
Cons:
Complex management: Managing a hybrid cloud can be complex. Agencies must be adept at navigating diverse environments and integrating various systems into a cohesive whole.
Cost control: Using multiple cloud networks can cause billing headaches, as users sometimes find it difficult to track resource allocation, transfer data and reduce waste.
Regulatory compliance roadblocks: Finally, hybrid clouds can create security and compliance risks with data that is moving between environments. Agencies will need to implement stringent controls to secure data that is “in-transit” between networks as well as data “at rest” within a single network.
Final Thoughts
As with any critical IT decision, all cloud deployments have their pros and cons. Before pulling the trigger, spend time talking critically about your business and what will work well for your team. Some considerations to mull over include your security requirements, budgets, current IT capabilities and future business projections. After having these important conversations, you can reference our list of pros and cons to select a network that will take your business to the next level.
