Lenders tend to stick with the same systems for longer then they really should. Why? Most fear change and note that changing to a new system hurts sometimes, but so do vaccinations, yet they protect us from very dangerous illnesses. Along those lines, adopting a newer system can prevent the lending institution from coming down with chronic illnesses as well. After all, no lender wants to be hit with inefficient-itis, slow turn-time fever, or worse go out of business entirely because of can't-keep-up disease.
So when is the right time to bite the bullet and sit for your vaccination of technology-change serum? In a conversation with Mark Phlieger, founder and CEO of origination vendor Avista Solutions, he brought up some tell-tale signs that a lending institution may be early in the throws of coming down with the dreaded can't-catch-up disease mentioned prior.
"Lenders should be looking for signs from their production staff," stressed Mr. Phlieger. "When the guy down the street has technology to qualify loans on the fly in 30 seconds or less and you don't, that's a problem. If volume is down or a lender finds they can't compete, they need to re-evaluate their technology.
"Lenders have to decide that they want to be on the cutting edge and bring the right technology in to get there. We have analysts that talk to our clients at least once a month about their overall business strategy. For example, over 50% of the deals we do are because the lender wants imaging out of the gate. This is a precursor to e-docs to come in the future. You have to help your clients get to where they need to be."
And sometimes that means changing systems. For example, it you have a legacy system and you're looking at imaging as a precursor to e-delivery, e-signing and eventually e-mortgages, it might be time to rethink your approach. A crucial thing to think about in this market is how to collaborate with your partners in a more efficient way to better serve the borrower.
We faced a similar decision here At SourceMedia in fact. Before our print publications went out the door and landed in your in-box at work we would go through three data conversions, moving the document from a Word document, to a Text-Only document, to a Quark document. And as those conversions were made the file was physically moved from one folder to another to indicate to the next person in the production cycle that the file is now ready for them to work on.
Sure, the system worked, but e-collaboration was nonexistent and all the data conversions were cumbersome and sometimes impacted the flow of the text. So, we are now switching to a new system whereby the text is imported into the file once, numerous people can access the file to do what they have to do and everyone has visibility into the system to monitor the changes and see the article in various stages without having to continually convert the file or wait until it gets into the right folder.
Does this mean there isn't pain associated with change? Certainly not. The new system has a news set of limitations and is something that we all have to train on and get to know. However, in the end we'll be more efficient, we'll deliver a better product and we'll use the system to tap new revenue sources that were virtually impossible to do prior.
Sometimes with progress comes a bit of pain, wouldn't you say?PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW. JOIN THE CONVERSATION. ALSO, BE SURE TO VISIT TECH NICHES REGULARLY AS IT WILL BE UPDATED EVERY TUESDAY WITH A NEW ENTRY. LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT REALLY MATTERS PERTAINING TO MORTGAGE TECHNOLOGY.
