About

Flagship Title is based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Managed by mother-daughter duo, Alberta Party Bland and Kristin Horne, the Flagship Title team has used the full suite of Qualia products since 2018. In 2020, the need for remote online notarizations (RON) increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kristin Horne, Chief Operations Officer, sat down with us to discuss her team’s experience using other RON products, what drove her team’s decision to switch to Qualia RON, and the positive results her team has experienced since making the switch.

Challenge

The Flagship Title team had used other RON products in the past but needed a RON solution that would provide a best-in-class experience for their customers. While using other RON products, the Flagship Title team encountered several challenges for the title company, the signers, and the notaries.

Some of the previous RON products they used would only allow the notary and the signers to join the session. This prevented the title company from being able to walk their clients through the closing process, causing unnecessary confusion for the signers and making it difficult to personalize the closing experience. While some RON products would allow the title company to join the session as a “non-signing party,” it was still a challenge for the title company and the notary to monitor and troubleshoot issues that the signers might encounter. These previous RON products did not include in-app guidance for the notary or the signers.

Additionally, none of the other RON products were integrated into Flagship Title’s title and escrow software. This made the process extremely time intensive. Kristin and her team would have to spend additional time tagging and uploading documents to the RON product they were using, wait until the documents had been signed, download the documents from their RON product, and then add them to their clients’ file.

Solution

After experiencing these challenges with other RON products, Kristin and her team were driven to switch to Qualia RON. Qualia RON makes RON closings simple for signers, title companies, and notaries not only because it is extremely intuitive to use, but also because it is fully integrated into the Qualia platform -- the system Flagship Title is already using for its title & escrow workflow, accounting, and reporting.

Fully Integrated

Qualia RON provides a fully integrated, all-in-one RON experience. With document management and scheduling built-in, Kristen and her team are able to manage the entire transaction without ever leaving their system.

It really saves our team a lot of time by staying on the Qualia platform. With Qualia, you can upload documents, schedule the closing and be ready to go in 5 minutes, as opposed to the 30 minutes it would take if you were using another RON product.

Kristin Horne, Chief Operations Officer of Flagship Title

Ease of Use

Not only does Qualia RON provide a fully integrated experience, it is also extremely easy to use. Kristin and her team are able to guide clients throughout the RON transaction via video. The process is intuitive for both the notary and signers with an auto-fill notary block, an agenda outlining the transaction process, and easy prompts for all participants to follow. Additionally, Qualia RON enables users to troubleshoot connectivity issues with their customers through the ability to check WiFi signals.

Qualia RON is very user friendly and gives everyone peace of mind for security. Details like quickly confirming that everyone has a good WiFi connection, video calling while clients verify their identities, and prompts for both the notary and signer make it easy for our notaries to provide our premium level of customer service.

Kristin Horne, Chief Operations Officer of Flagship Title

Results

Not only has the team been able to streamline their workload, but Alberta has also been able to quickly train her closers and set them up for long-term success. With all of the time saved by limiting the need to rekey data and enter information, her closers have been able to nearly triple their processing power.

My ability to get someone on the ground and running happens faster because Qualia helps me put them on the right path. In past years, the industry-standard has been for closers to handle 23 - 25 transactions a month. My seniored closers can do up to 60 a month with Qualia.

Alberta Party Bland, Partner and Managing Director of Flagship Title

Results

Since making the switch to Qualia RON, Flagship Title’s RON closings are simple for all parties in the transaction. RON closings are now efficient, and easy to set up because Qualia RON is fully integrated into their title and escrow software. Kristin shared that it takes her team 5 minutes to schedule and upload documents, as opposed to 30 minutes with other RON products. Furthermore, closings with Qualia RON are so simple and intuitive that they can be completed quickly and painlessly.

By providing Qualia RON for their clients, the Flagship Title team has been able to differentiate their service while also protecting their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kristin and her team are now able to provide their clients with choices on how they’d like to close, whether it be in-person or through RON. By giving their clients choices, they are able to stand out from the crowd all while delivering a best-in-class closing experience.