Bail Bond Software Solutions

• June 16, 2010
• by Collateral Staff
• Business Tools

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Featured Software - Bail Bond Software Solutions"][/caption]

Company: Bail Bond Software Solutions
Website: www.bailbondsoftwaresolutions.com
Phone: 615-591-5191
Product: Bail Bond Tracker 2010
Pricing: $500.00 initial license fee $35.00 monthly maintenance fee (optional)

About The Company
Bail Bond Software Solutions was started in 2005 by Daniel Brittain Dugger. Daniel was driving down the road and saw a billboard for a bail bondsman. For months, Daniel worked with the bondsman to develop a software program that addressed the needs of their business. The software program was sent to Microsoft for testing and two years ago, Bail Bond Software Solutions earned the designation of Microsoft Certified Partner. Bail Bond Software Solutions is actually the only provider of bail bond software to earn this designation.

About The Software
Our flagship product allows a bonding company to manage their entire bail bond business. After five years of being exposed to the bail bonding business, we have developed a software program that comes complete with the functionality that bail bondsman require on a daily basis. Our software aims to allow for more flowing into the bail bondsman's business than out. A study found that 95% of a bondsman's defendants must come to court in order for them to break even. That is where we have spent a great deal of time. You can use our court appearance letter generator to send letters. For those who like to call, we have a module for that as well. Our software comes complete with a completely customizable dashboard. It is from within the dashboard that you can monitor your check-ins, accounts receivables, forfeitures, and powers to be returned to the surety.

Our software comes complete with a Do Not Bond list that can be accessed from within the software our on your cell phone when you are away from the office. For bonding companies that work in areas that are tourist destinations or have a great deal of transients, our software program has a High Profile Bond module that allows you to track their bond from execution to exoneration.

Is Your Software Web Based?
As a Microsoft Certified Partner, our company is charged with staying on the forefront of technology. In the five years since our company started, we have talked to many bondsmen who wanted to access their software remotely but wanted to maintain custody of their data. Our latest version of our software allows you to load your software on your office computer and access it anywhere.

Key Product Features

• Modules to Manage Agents, Attorneys, Bonding Companies (Split Bonds), Sureties

• Completely Customizable Dashboard

• Surety Module That Comes Complete With Return Powers To Surety Wizard

• Ability To Access Software From Anywhere, Anytime.

• Do Not Bond List

• High Profile Bond List

• Robust Commission Structure (Flat Fees, Flat Percentage, Graduated Percentages)

Installation and Configuration Process
The software requires Microsoft SQL Express and a professional edition of Windows (Windows Vista Business or Windows 7 Professional or Windows XP Professional).
The installation process is very straightforward. Bail Bond Software Solutions assists in the installation and configuration of the software.

What Are The Benefits Of This Product Over Other Industry Offerings?
Our software program was built by a developer with an intimate understanding of the bail bond industry. It comes complete with the tools that you need in order to monitor the health of your business on a daily basis.

Anyone who has been in the industry understands that there are three ways a bail bond company can lose money: ineffective collections, excessive forfeiture payments, and employee theft (actual cash theft or posting of bonds that should not have been). Our software assists you in all of these areas.

Future Plans For The Product

Our software is constantly evolving just as the bail industry is. In the near future, more business intelligence tools will be incorporated into the software program to allow today's bondsman to make more informed decisions.

What should a bail agent look for when choosing a product?
If I were a bail agent looking for software, I would be concerned about price, custody of my data, viability of vendor, and "health" of the software. It has been my experience that many bondsmen are very hesitant to commit to a monthly maintenance fee due to the uncertainty of their business. There isn't another industry where if you suffer a loss, you have to generate ten times your loss and collect 100% of what's owed in order to be indemnified. I would aim to find something that served my company's needs in the most economical way.

As a business owner, I am very concerned about who has custody of my data. You don't have to look far on the Internet to learn of another security breach. Bondsmen come into contact with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) which could easily be used to assume the identity of a cosigner or relative. If a bondsman uses a hosted solution, I would insure that there was an indemnification clause that addresses identity theft.

If a bondsman has been in the business for any length whatsoever, they can surely tell you that there have been many software companies that have closed their doors almost as quick as they opened them. Finding a vendor who has been in business for several years is vitally important. As to the "health" of the software, what I refer to is whether or not the software is living and breathing. Users of QuickBooks, Microsoft Office and other commercially available software programs can rest assured that there will be a new version for them to purchase just about every year. Bail laws change. Programming languages change. Make sure that your software vendor is committed to adding additional functionality to their software program.

What are the key technology issues facing the bail industry?
If I had to put my finger on what is most needed by today's bondsman it would have to be an underwriting system whereby a bondsman could provide information about a particular defendant and their case and a statistical analysis would be performed that would give guidance as to the collateralization of the bond and the overall propensity of that defendant to fail to appear.

Does your product address these issues? If so, how?
In a future release of our software, bondsman will be able to input information related to their defendant and bond. Using information from previous bonds, statistical analyses will be performed and a decision will be provided as far as money down, collateralization, number of check-ins, etc.