The 2014 SoftPro Users Conference has come and gone. It was an exciting event with SoftPro Select and the combination of 360 with SoftPro Live taking the main stage. The Select feature set is growing with superb elements, global rules, unheard of automations, and a soon to be a 100% coverage API allowing developers to fully integrate with Select. It is faster, cleaner and more secure. The current API is robust covering over 90% of the system
The conference had 3 tracks covering SoftPro Classic operations (Standard and Enterprise), SoftPro Select operations, and SoftPro Select Advanced topics. I focused on the latter with friends in the other classes. The first time attendees were chattering about the new things they've learned and thought up while enjoying the Florida sunshine. Those of us who attend a lot were impressed with the new Select and SoftPro 360 features.
There was a hit parade of Keynote speakers with RUDY Ruettiger and Michelle Korsmo leading the way. Michelle, the CEO of ALTA, talked about risks, new and old. RUDY, well he got into goofy thoughts, and how they can be limiting. He offered advice to stop those goofy thoughts and work over them toward your goals. The information presented by Leslie Wyatt in the CFPB sessions was excellent. A take away is don't move too fast with any new certifications, it's a different better world now than it was 18 months ago when the view was critical and harsh sounding. Continue adjusting to Best Practices while letting the rest continue to chill.
360 and SoftPro Live are becoming a required element for SoftPro clients. Soon they will be usable for secure 2 way communications eliminating the need for a 3rd party email security. SoftPro has been hitting its release estimates as of late, I'd expect that to continue. SoftPro Live currently will send documents and messages securely to individuals related to a file. So it right now does Secure Mail just fine. Web Order entry is coming to SoftPro Live, this time its design looks quite nice. I was not a fan of the old Web Order entry product, this one is done well. We also saw an API for SoftPro Live which allows full customization of the user experience.
The BootCamp sessions were well received, new document tricks both Word and ProDesign were covered, as well as the basics of the system. Creating and manipulating files in ProForm brought good questions from the attendees, there were great explanations or a note to the feature list made.
It is clear that SoftPro is highly committed to making the transitions to a CFPB world a quick and simple process. There will be changes in both the screens and documents. Files will be opened under either CFPB or RESPA rules. Conversions were not talked about, I am hopeful there will be a method. I'm not sure they are still necessary, but it wasn’t mentioned if the old style HUD files could be created. What do you think about the old style HUDs. I have clients who demand them, I don't see the reason, maybe you can enlighten me, are they necessary.
This is probably the 11th SoftPro Users Conference that I've attended. Other than my first one, this was probably the most useful to me. Select has matured into a sort of adult hood absorbing information and providing new and interesting solutions to previously unknown problems. Sometimes a problem isn't a problem until it has a solution. The R&D teams at SoftPro seem quite good at finding those solutions.
Next year the conference is in Orlando, watch for the date, Orlando, cheap to get to, things to do. Watch your calendar right around Easter 2015, after looks nice. The Conference has run Wednesday through Friday for a while plan a family weekend in Orlando. Hope to see you there.
