Jacksonville, Fla. -- (November 4, 2008) – Despite being one of the toughest real estate markets in memory, 2008 has been an impressive debut year for DocCentral™, the new document management platform from Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, a division of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), a Fortune 500 provider of products, services, media and technology solutions to the financial and real estate sectors.
Industry analysts, real estate professionals and consumers have embraced the new product for its success in delivering a simple, yet effective, document storage solution, while addressing other critical issues like “going green,” improving customer service and providing an effective disaster recovery solution. Fidelity National has received accolades for DocCentral’s non-proprietary design, which leverages RETS standards to integrate with today’s leading transaction management and MLS platforms.
Since the beginning of 2008, nearly a dozen MLSs have been deployed, including SoCal MLS, Northern Nevada Regional MLS, and Intermountain MLS, providing over 60,000 REALTORS® across the country with access to DocCentral. And that number is expected to rise dramatically in 2009.
“In today’s world of natural and unforeseen disasters, REALTOR® organizations, agents and brokers are looking at ways to protect their businesses while providing a new level of service to their customers. DocCentral has been a natural addition toward that end,” said Walt Clark, senior vice president, Transaction Management Solutions for Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions. “And, with the increased desire to minimize our carbon footprint, DocCentral is a simple way to reduce the costs, time and hassles associated with today’s paper-intensive real estate transactions.”
DocCentral is a simple, intuitive and cost-effective tool that allows real estate professionals to manage, digitize and organize their documents. Documents are stored on secure servers and accessible online 24/7 by agents and the clients and vendors they authorize. By taking transaction documentation off agent laptops and out of filing cabinets, DocCentral eliminates redundancy, safeguards information and provides an audit trail for today’s complex real estate transactions.
A 2008 Award and Words of Praise
This Spring, DocCentral received the 2008 Clareity Award for Technology Excellence.
The recognition, announced by Clareity Consulting CEO Gregg Larson, is meant to “spotlight companies that have really distinguished themselves by creating something fresh and new.”
“Recipients of this award are truly the industry’s most innovative technology breakthroughs,” said Larson, in making the announcement at Clareity’s headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“DocCentral creates the ‘one place’ for all documents in a transaction,” said Greg Manship, CEO of Intermountain Multiple Listing Service in Boise, Idaho. “This tool has not only made it easier to access all the documents in the transaction, it has made everyone in the transaction look a lot more professional to their clients. DocCentral has also helped us create an environmentally friendly tool, since documents do not have to be faxed everywhere or reprinted several times. Bottom line, REALTORS® get an easy-to-use tool that standardizes much of a real estate transaction and the buyers and sellers stay up-to-date on where they are in the process,” Manship concluded.
“DocCentral is a phenomenal service,” says Tom Levitt with First Team Real Estate and member of SoCal MLS. “It is practical, simple to use and the most ‘green’ tool I have in my agent arsenal. My clients are especially delighted with it. DocCentral complements my business in a very professional manner.”
Other REALTORS® have heard from clients that DocCentral is making a real difference in how they perceive their real estate transaction experience.
Eric Jensen with Specialty Group, Inc. of Meridian, Idaho, received a thank you from one client who wrote, “Just a quick note to say I LOVE your DocCentral Web site. It is so great and we have used it several times to get all the information we needed so we didn’t have to track you down every time. Good Work!”
For more information on DocCentral contact Walt Clark at walt.clark@cyberhomes.com.
About Fidelity National Financial
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), is a leading provider of title insurance, specialty insurance, claims management services and information services. FNF is one of the nation’s largest title insurance companies through its title insurance underwriters - Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title - that issue approximately 28 percent of all title insurance policies in the United States. FNF also provides flood insurance, personal lines insurance and home warranty insurance through its specialty insurance business. FNF also is a leading provider of outsourced claims management services to large corporate and public sector entities through its minority-owned subsidiary, Sedgwick CMS. FNF is also a leading information services company in the human resource, retail and transportation markets through another minority-owned subsidiary, Ceridian Corporation. More information about FNF can be found at www.fnf.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future economic performance and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The risks and uncertainties which forward-looking statements are subject to include, but are not limited to: changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; adverse changes in the level of real estate activity, which may be caused by, among other things, high or increasing interest rates, a limited supply of mortgage funding or a weak U. S. economy; our potential inability to find suitable acquisition candidates, acquisitions in lines of business that will not necessarily be limited to our traditional areas of focus, or difficulties in integrating acquisitions; our dependence on operating subsidiaries as a source of cash flow; significant competition that our operating subsidiaries face; compliance with extensive government regulation of our operating subsidiaries; and other risks detailed in the "Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information," "Risk Factors" and other sections of the Company's Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
FNF CONTACT: Darcy Patch, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Real Estate and Mortgage Information Services, 949-477-1173, darcy.patch@fnis.com.