In today’s day and age every time a new product gets rolled out it comes with promises that this specific product will revolutionize an industry or the entire marketplace. Often times we take this hype with a certain grain of salt and wait to see if these promises will actually deliver. Every once in a while a product lives up to the hype, but far too many times we are left with little results that match the extraordinary expectations of the product launch or new technology offering. What technologies has the mortgage industry promised but have yet to meet expectations?
I started pondering this question after reading a blog from Shaun Nichols and Iain Thomson of PC Authority Business Technology Centre where they provided a list of the most disappointing technologies. The list included the likes of Biometrics, Virtual Reality, Alternative Search Engines, Voice recognition, FireWire, Zune and Windows Vista to name a few.
Here is some of what they had to say regarding a couple of these technologies:
Biometrics
“Biometrics was supposed to be the magic bullet that solved all of our security needs. However, the reality has proved less than we were promised. Fingerprint readers are in wide circulation but they are easily fooled these days with cheap materials, or by more direct means. Taiwanese robbers reportedly cut the finger of man whose car had a fingerprint ignition, something that let the scanner manufacturers to install a temperature sensor in future models to prevent a repeat.”
Alternative Search Engines
“We’re closing in on nearly a decade now of Google’s reign atop the search world, and at this point, we’ve come to accept that the site is more or less the de facto way to search for information on the web. Yahoo these days is circling the drain, and though Microsoft continues to prop it up, MSN search has fallen far behind.”
Windows Vista
“There is not much debate here. Even though Microsoft has been able to take a bit of the sting off with a thus-far smooth development of Windows 7, Vista is still fresh in everyone’s mind as an epic failure. In the near future, management students will be taught about the Vista launch as a textbook example for how not to release a piece of software.”
These examples of well know technology disappointments prompted me to consider the mortgage industry and what technologies would be included on a list specific to the mortgage industry? What mortgage technologies would you include? Would you include the likes of X-12? While there are some that strongly believe in X-12 it never really became the standard that people were predicting. How about Imaging? Yes, I know that a number of companies image, especially when it comes to archiving but is it living up to all of the promises?
How about identity management, smart docs, e-vaulting and yes the Holy Grail of them all e-mortgages? Do you believe that any or all of these should be classified as disappointing technologies? While a number of these show great promise how much longer will it take for these technologies to gain traction and mass market appeal? Will they ever live up to their promise and hype? Will these potential game changing technologies finally deliver on their disruptive technology promises or will they fizzle out like the technologies listed above?
Share with us your thoughts. Which one of these technologies shows the most promise? Which one if any would you classify as disappointing? I look forward to receiving your feedback and insight.
