Dominic Iannitti: Keeping His Eyes on the “e” Goal to #TechAll-Star
(Image courtesy of DocMagic)
Dominic Iannitti, CEO of DocMagic, doesn’t have real magic powers. But, he did have a vision for the future needs of the mortgage industry that feels like it could have come from a crystal ball.
Iannitti, while a senior at Long Beach State, came up with the business plan for DocMagic, Torrance, Calif. He founded the company in 1987, with a clear goal: utilize technology to reduce the sheer volume of paper printed throughout the loan document preparation process.
For his contribution to the industry based on that goal–particularly as it pertains to his work on various “e” products–Iannitti is an MBA NewsLink 2024 Tech All-Star Award recipient.
DocMagic’s products have covered a wide range of mortgage-related services and solutions.
“Advancing the mortgage industry with new technology solutions is what we’re passionate about,” Iannitti said. “At the end of the day, we aim to automate every manual mortgage process and eliminate papering-out loan documents. DocMagic’s goal is to serve as the behind-the-scenes automation engine that helps clients originate loans, fund them, sell them and service them–100% electronically.”
From Early Days to Today
Early on at DocMagic, Iannitti and his company focused on the concept of remote electronic document preparation, gaining swift adoption of the outsourced doc prep model. And, in 1988, Iannitti introduced the industry’s first loan data audit system.
In 2000, the federal E-SIGN Act was passed, allowing the use of electronic signatures, and Iannitti rolled out an eSign platform.
Iannitti was inspired to keep moving forward with the promise and potential of eSignatures over the next few years, and strongly marketed the eSign platform. While movement was slow at first, in 2011, the industry adoption of eSignatures stood at about 50%. In order to demonstrate efficiencies, Iannitti made the eSign platform available for free to sign non-mortgage documents such as NDAs, LOIs, contracts, etc.
“We developed eSign to be used for any document purely as goodwill for the industry, and we did it for free to encourage greater adoption of electronic signatures,” Iannitti said in a release at the time. “I strongly believe that our offering will revolutionize the way documents are signed by creating a domino effect among companies using it. We are laying the foundation for other software vendors to follow suit and our aim is to reduce the need to rely on paper and help organizations go green.”
Two years later, Iannitti launched one of the industry’s first mobile apps that allowed borrowers to eSign loan documents and disclosures—BorrowerMobile. Among other features, it provided real-time status and the ability to electronically satisfy loan conditions via phones or tablets.
2014 marked a big year for Iannitti and DocMagic: the firm rolled out Total eClose–the mortgage industry’s first end-to-end and fully paperless eClosing platform.
“With DocMagic’s longtime goal to digitize mortgage processes and reduce paper, we constantly push the boundaries of innovation into unchartered territories, serving as a springboard for business process transformation. Underscoring this was DocMagic’s early introduction of Total eClose, the industry’s first completely paperless single-source eClosing system,” Iannitti recalled.
In March of that year, DocMagic reached another milestone–the industry’s first-ever Federal Housing Administration eClosed loan, working with the FHA, Stewart Title and Mountain America Credit Union.
Additionally, in October, DocMagic acquired eSignSystems from WAVE Systems Corp., which allowed it to offer a hosted eVault in addition to its native software-as-a-service-based eVault technology.
Recognizing those contributions, Iannitti also received an MBA Tech All-Star Award in 2014.
In 2016, DocMagic and Mid America Mortgage (now Click n’ Close) processed an eMortgage. They conducted a real-time, paperless eClosing with an eSigned promissory note, legally binding and accessible via DocMagic’s eVault.
DocMagic also partnered with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help develop the organization’s eClosing pilot as part of the “Know Before You Owe” effort.
New offerings continued to drive the company forward through the late 2010s, with implementation of eWarehouse lending and eServicing.
In 2019, DocMagic was found in a STRATMOR study of the industry to be the highest rated and most widely used eClosing solution, with 52.4% market share.
In 2020, “e” type products and capabilities took on a whole new meaning and significance with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. DocMagic saw a spike in interest of hybrid eClosings, and in 2021, it reported it surpassed half a billion mortgage eSignatures.
“Lenders faced unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic virtually overnight as they scrambled to transition operations to a work-from-home business environment,” Iannitti said. “At the same time, they had to comply with social distancing requirements whilst managing an influx of originations. Consequently, DocMagic had to pivot very quickly and start implementing our Total eClose platform remotely along with training new users. This remote model worked better than we expected, and we helped numerous clients meet the many demands and uncertainties of the pandemic.”
Since then, Iannitti has continued to work to strengthen the company’s market share and capabilities, including incorporation of Artificial Intelligence.
By the Numbers
DocMagic has seen results from these long-term efforts. Per DocMagic metrics from 2023, Total eClose system adoption by lender clients that began conducting eClosings increased by 57% in 2023 compared with 2022.
Moreover, the number of eClosing transactions among DocMagic’s client base via the Total eClose platform increased 76% year-over-year in 2023.
Remote Online Notarization transitions among DocMagic’s client based increased 19% year-over-year, and eNotes increased by 139% among the client base.
The Work Continues
New technologies and major events–such as the global COVID-19 pandemic–have significantly changed how we imagine the mortgage landscape. But Iannitti says there’s still more work to be done.
“As an industry, we’ve made significant advances with developing a friendly digital mortgage ecosystem. In order to fully connect the players, however, there is still more work needed with system-to-system interoperability via accessible APIs in order to facilitate faster and more efficient integrations,” Iannitti said. “The ultimate goal is to connect, collaborate and complete the lending process with elevated efficiency.”
