Cornerstone’s business was growing fast. The company expanded its workforce by 17 percent in 2013 alone. But employees working from Cornerstone’s 84 branches grappled with severe performance problems when processing loans. Accessing the company’s centralized loan-origination software and uploading customer files was time consuming and frustrating. IT management was costly and inefficient. What’s more, the company would soon have to upgrade from Windows XP, which Microsoft was no longer supporting. Cornerstone needed a way to streamline management of remote user desktops, improve employee productivity and satisfaction, and optimize its well-regarded customer service by getting customers through the loan-approval process more quickly.
Cornerstone’s IT department uses Citrix XenDesktop Director to manage its environment. Before the Citrix solution, if users complained that the company’s core loan-origination software was slow, IT staff had little visibility into possible causes. Today, IT personnel quickly identify any network issues—spending less time on technology problems and more time supporting the workforce. Employees also experience fewer IT problems. Cornerstone reports that help desk tickets, which used to average 125 a day, have been reduced to a small fraction of that number.
Cornerstone needs to get branch offices up and running quickly to support its fast growth. In the past, it took three to four weeks to get laptops imaged and delivered. Now the company gets a new office operational in just a day or two. What’s more, the software enabled the lender to upgrade from Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7. “In the lending industry, people don’t like to change their software,” Caldwell notes. “But Citrix enabled us to move to Windows 7 easily.” Not only that, but the solution supports Cornerstone’s BYOD strategy. “If a loan officer says, ‘I need this device to work in the field,’ we can support it,” Caldwell says.
Cornerstone has converted its West Coast and New Mexico branches to the Citrix solution. Next, it will move 1,250 employees at its Houston headquarters to the platform. “Word travels fast,” Caldwell says. “Our Midwest employees are asking, ‘When can we get the same performance as the West Coast?’” The company is also looking to Citrix solutions to further support its evolving strategy for mobile-device and application management, including providing mobile apps to loan officers in the field. And it expects to rely increasingly on Citrix Online solutions that include GoToMeeting for online meetings, GoToWebinar for large numbers of attendees, GoToAssist for help desk support and GoToTraining for employee education.
Citrix has improved the work lives of our employees. At the same time, it has enabled them to deliver a much higher level of service to our customers.
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In the lending industry, people don’t like to change their software. But Citrix enabled us to move to Windows 7 easily.