McDonald’s taking 9 years to eliminate its self-serve soda pop machines. (Couldn’t they take 5 hours and just move the machines behind the counter?) In other non-mortgage news, arguably more interesting to talk about than the continued decline in mortgage applications and IMBs concerned about CRA requirements (STRATMOR’s current blog is titled, “Knowing CRA Developments is Critical”), remember when it was Ford, GM, and Chrysler? The third largest automaker in the world is VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer that was founded in 2017 and listed on the Nasdaq this month with a market cap of $191 billion! This is behind only Tesla ($760 billion) and Toyota ($270 billion), and well ahead of Chinese car maker BYD ($90 billion) and Volkswagen ($70 billion). VinFast, which entered the electric vehicle market last year, is planning to build a factory in North Carolina. Oh, and Ford is at $49 billion, GM $46 billion. Yes, rankings of all industries change, including mortgage originations. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by SimpleNexus, an nCino Company, and award-winning developer of mortgage technology for modern lenders. Hear an interview with Blend’s Nima Ghamsari on how mortgage companies are taking the customer experience to the next level.) Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services Lenders must adopt an omnichannel communication strategy to stand out in a competitive mortgage marketplace. This can be easily done if you have the right tools on your side! Through the acquisition of Black Knight, ICE now offers Surefire℠, a CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine, that gives its users full control over every marketing and communication channel from day one. Surefire is empowering lenders with the perfect combination of automated marketing features in one affordable, single-price “Power Pack” add-on. The offering bundles Surefire Power Calls, Power Messaging and Power Videos into a plug-and-play value pack for lenders and brokers. For hands-free marketing that packs a punch from day one, look no further than Surefire PowerPack.