Business

Double Dip Day August 11th 2010

Is August 11th 2010 the day of dead cat bounce and double dip  day ?

Is the recession back ?

Is your job safe ?

Is it time to tighten the belt ?

House price slump around the corner ?

Job cuts even harsher than expected ?

Shops boarded up in the High streets ?

Close your bin lids or pay for collection ?

Rioting on the streets ?

Spending your childrens inheritance ?

Wife sleeping with your debt advisor ?

Aldi not so bad afterall ?

Mother in law always said you could never look after her princess ?

Cat  moved in next door ?

History of CRM Software in the Mortgage Industry

Even until a few years ago many mortgage brokerages and even some of the largest mortgage lenders and banks relied on paper forms, filing cabinets and fax machines and even the postal service for transacting and processing mortgage transactions and property deals. Obviously this archaic way of doing business meant many mistakes, slow processing times and poor customer service. Slowly the mortgage industry developed into utilizing contact management systems that where generic or designed for other industries out of a need to process and store the massive amounts of data dealt with on a daily basis.

Better developments and tailored CRM software solutions were first rolled out and used by the largest lenders most likely not only due to need but that they had access to the immense amount of capital needed to develop CRM software that fit their growing needs. This was especially important as the US, UK and global housing markets were booming at historic velocity and size.

Changes in CRM Software Tools
Slowly more and more providers of CRM software added expanded tools and features to their products meaning that these programs where more and more attractive as they not only offered contact management but sales and marketing tools and an easy way to process and transfer data. These CRM software programs designed for the mortgage industry have also evolved to enable loan applications to be now processed and underwritten in seconds instead of weeks. Additionally this enables mortgage companies to operate more efficiently, spend less time educating and training and save on labour as well. Obviously this has meant incredible savings to the bottom line of mortgage lenders, brokers and banks meaning not only more competitive services and pricing to customers but much larger profits as well.

CRM Software & the Mortgage Industry Now
Fortunately now there are a variety of low cost CRM software options for the mortgage industry. This includes online options for CRM without which even more businesses would have failed following the recent housing downturn. CRM software in many instances is keeping the business alive by allowing these companies to survive and relaunch with lower overhead, fewer staffing needs and essential automated marketing tools.

Adeline Grosrenaud
Freelance Blog Writer

Is BT.Pay set to be a rival to PayPal

Looking through the IPO ( Intellectual Property Office ) trademark journal I spotted the mark text BT.Pay

I checked the case details here to see the proprietor is BT

British Telecommunications public limited company
81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ

I was interested to see in the list of goods or services;

Which looks very much to me as though they are planning payment processing services similar to PayPal.

Is BT.Pay going to be a rival to PayPal and Google checkout? We will have to wait and see.

Small Businesses Wanted For Channel 5 Small Business Series

Are you a small business with big goals? Are you frustrated by the speed of your company’s growth? Would you like someone to inject some energy into your trade?

Optomen Television, creators of award winning television, including BBC2’s Mary, Queen of Shops are aiming to address these questions by producing a major new series for Channel 5. We will tackle the issues that small businesses face on a daily basis in today’s recession soaked world with advice from one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. We will help investigate everything from controlling cash flow to increasing your profit margin and with an innovative plan of action to further your business we’ll help you get on the road to success.

New Channel 5 Small Business Series » »

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) – 2009 Results Released

The 2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings has just been issued by Office for National Statistics and show that although womens pay is still well behind mens, it is slowly catching up.

Median gross weekly earnings in April 2009 for full-time employees were £489, which represents a 2.0% rise from April 2008 (£479).

Mens full-time earnings were up 1.8% to £531.
Womens full-time earnings were up 3.4% to £426.

Figures are based on adult employees, whose earnings were not affected by absence.

Median gross weekly earnings for all employees were up 2.2% to £397 – (£389 in 2008).

Summary:

Mens average wage 2009 – £531.00

Womens average wage 2009 – £426.00

Full Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings statistics can be downloaded from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15313

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2009 ASHE

The 2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings are due to be released this month by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and should soon be available for download from Nomis a web-based database of labour market statistics run by the University of Durham on behalf of the Office for National Statistics. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/

Update: 15/11/09
2009 results have just been issued, unfortunately Nomisweb are a little slow showing the results, further information can be found here http://www.podline.co.uk/info/?p=470 including a direct link to this years report.