Why Cornerstone Network chose Acre
About Cornerstone
Cornerstone Network is a well-established mortgage and protection network that helps advisors deliver outstanding client outcomes through Business Intelligence and Management Information, as well as providing best-in-class technology to the network.
For this case study we spoke to Chris Caulfield-Jones, Head of Risk and Compliance at Cornerstone Network, to find out how Acre is helping Cornerstone Network advisors save time, reduce risk, and unlock new revenue opportunities.
Cornerstone decided to make the switch to Acre because they were looking for a technology partner that could deliver on three main areas:
Better integrated services
“A developing shortfall of our previous system was advisors not really being able to access integrations to other revenue streams, or as easily jump into a protection sale off the back of a mortgage.”
Acre has always been on a mission to provide an all-in-one platform that integrates as much of the advisor ecosystem as possible. Jumping between systems and re-keying information repeatedly introduces a lot of friction for advisors, friction which gets in the way of holistic advice for clients, and leads to many missed opportunities and less value captured for firms.
“The conveyancing integration in itself is a time-saver, you’ve got your portal and case manager for updates. That is a huge time saver, particularly for the smaller firms, rather than having their admin teams constantly having to chase solicitors… With Acre integrations like conveyancing, insurance, and now wills, we’re giving advisors as much opportunity to make more revenue with minimal input as possible.”
More intuitive software
Good User Experience is a huge guiding principle for all the software we build at Acre. An intuitive mortgage platform can make a world of difference all the way from a first time user getting to grips with a new platform, to a seasoned pro using it regularly throughout the day. The cost of poorly designed software can be huge to firms, let alone entire networks, where training times are longer, and overall quality of life is impacted.
“A lot of advisors who have been advising for more than five years are particularly surprised by how easy it is compared to what they've known from other systems… It’s just a very easy system to get. It’s very powerful, but it’s done in a very simple, easy to interact with way… When I was testing it, I purposely didn’t watch any training videos, I managed to get through a case in less than 30 minutes and that was before doing any Acre training. Conservatively, you’re saving a minimum of an hour per case.”
A platform that supports better accuracy
As with all networks, compliance and a reduction in human error are a must, and spread across a large number of advisors, any reduction in avoidable human errors is hugely valuable.
"Acre ensures advisers aren’t having to re-input case information and what’s more, it will question the validity of that information to minimise errors in sourcing.’’
Acre is designed to reduce avoidable errors by checking data and providing guidance on any potential errors or missing information.
“The benefit of Acre is it creates tasks that the advisers follow throughout the journey so you’ll see things, especially the little human errors that potentially become big problems later on down the line when it comes to a submission or completion”