"I think we haven't even really scratched the surface of what's going to be possible"
For Eric Larocque, chief mortgage operations officer at Community Trust, the pandemic significantly accelerated the adoption of various tech solutions among clients and mortgage professionals alike.
“I think from a lender’s perspective, we have to stay agile in our approach to technology as well, because we’re really just driving innovation,” Larocque told CMP TV. “We’re forcing innovation in terms of old, old stocks and old technology players – and we’re forcing new technology to sort of make its way into our ecosystem.”
However, Larocque stressed that while innovation is almost always a good thing, it’s also crucial to “not force ourselves into a situation where it’s very difficult to rewire or to plug in.”
A circumspect approach that takes into account what would lead to the best solutions, for as many transactions as possible, seems to be the most sensible strategy.
“I think we haven’t even really scratched the surface of what’s going to be [possible] in terms of building out a true ecosystem around the mortgage industry,” Larocque said. “There’s only so much we can do here to automate the mortgage transaction. It still needs to be augmented by human touch.”
Larocque believes that the human element will not be going away any time soon.
“So we’re looking at what else can be brought in to this process or to this ecosystem,” he said. “That service provides value to our brokers and their customers to seek beyond just the transaction itself and looking forward to more home ownership in the ways of where the future is going with technology.”
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