2022 had unparalleled challenges for the mortgage industry. As we look ahead, technology is going to be at the forefront for successful brokers and lenders. CMPTV recently spoke with Joe Fakhri and Andrew Schultz from Scarlett Network by Axiom Innovations on where they think technology can improve effectiveness and efficiencies moving forward.
Chris: Hello, my name is Chris Anderson, publisher of CMP, and thank you for joining CMP TV. Today we're doing a company Spotlight of Axiom Innovations. And joining us today is Joe Fakhri, president and CEO and Andrew Schultz, vice president of sales. Thank you for joining us.
Joe: Hey, good morning.
Chris: To get right into it, for brokers and lenders that are not familiar with Axiom Innovations, can you give us a quick overview of the company?
Joe: Absolutely. I'm happy to start that part of the conversation today. So Axiom Innovations is obviously a Canadian based organization based out of Toronto. We're primarily a technology company that's focused on the mortgage space. We have commenced to work in the mortgage space in 2009, and one of the products that Axiom Innovations owns is called Scarlett Network. And you can think of a Scarlett Network as a one stop shop for mortgage brokers to do everything that they need to do on a regular basis. Things like ability to connect to lenders, the ability to do their CRMs, their compliance, to manage the entire transaction from start to finish, including payroll as well. On the flip side of that, Scarlett Network also is offers a series of modules and products for the lender or the lending community as well. So as you can see, you know, the tagline for Scarlett Network is technology for mortgage brokers and lenders. So that's kind of like the high level of Scarlett Network specifically and what Axiom does. But there's so much more to what action does on a regular basis. But I think for the sake of our conversation today, I think we'll just remain focused on on Scarlett Network.
Chris: Andrew, I'll throw this next question over to you. Obviously, brokers and professionals in the space are having a challenging time with today's market rate increases, cost of living increases. What advice do you have for folks in today's challenging market, whether they be new to the industry or established?
Andrew: So I think one of the most important things is that as you're going through a bit of a shift in the market, that it's really important that you have a good understanding of your database as a technology company. Understanding the data that is within your technology platform is something that we think is very, very important. And so being able to leverage the information to identify opportunities to service clients that might be in need. We hear consistently about clients calling their their brokers and agents worried about what's happening with increasing rates. Technology gives you a great opportunity if you're using it properly, to get ahead of those calls. Right. Making that call before the client calls you is something that really can can go a long way in terms of providing a good quality service. So I think that what a lot of people should be focusing on, or at least while the market's shifting, if you're not already focusing on how you can dive into your database, using it to to mine for information opportunities that might present themselves in the form of leads or identifying those clients that need a little bit of extra attention as the market is shifting and as people are concerned about what's going on.
Chris: Joe, anything you want to chime in on?
Joe: Absolutely. I mean, this is a great time also for any organization, any firm, any brokerage to really take a few steps back and optimize their operation as well. In addition to what Andrew had mentioned, the ability to mine your database, because it's you know, like you mentioned, the landscape is shifting from a brand new business to a whole lot of renewal business, right? You've got to lend your customers your ear and advice. You're going to have to listen to a whole lot of complaints and people that are not happy and so on and so forth, which I believe Andrew has, has chimed on quite well. But on the flip side of that, this is a great time for organizations to really take a few steps back and understand potentially to optimize their operation a little bit better than than what they've been doing in the past. Most companies have been focused on on sales, focused on closing transactions. The one comment we're getting for the past few years is, you know, maybe now it's too early to implement this system or that process and so on, so forth. And now timing is absolutely perfect to really implement the systems and the technologies and the processes and the optimizations that you've been wanting to to put in place for the past couple of years, a few years or whatever the total time frame they've been challenged with. So, you know, that's kind of my advice right now. We also touch on another point, Chris, which is what's your advice for newcomers? My advice for newcomers is to certainly not adapt or inherit some of the I'm not going to call them bad about, I'll call them unoptimized business practices. Start off with a clean slate, start off right, invest in technology, invest in best practices, invest in a whole lot of patience for somebody who's just starting in the industry. Obviously, you know, business is not knocking on your door. You've got to be a whole lot more patient. And I would say you got to implement and adopt a technology and have a right process right from day one. This is your opportunity to build your business. Right.
Chris: Brokers and lenders obviously have a lot of options. Andrew, I'm going to be putting this one back over to you. What are some of the things that Axiom Innovations does differently that sets you apart from your competition?
Andrew: Yeah. So we have a particularly unique offering within the Scarlett Network in that it is more than just origination, it is more than just a CRM or automation module. It is more than just a payroll and compliance system. It is all of those things. And so we give choice to each and every one of our clients, whether that be an individual agent all the way up to an entire network. It is a fully scalable platform. And the beauty of a suite of tools that all operate within one ecosystem is that it allows for a lot more efficiency. So our origination system, for example, speaks to our payroll and compliance system. It is integrated directly with our CRM and automation module and we give you full control over that data I mentioned earlier. Being able to mine your data is so important right now. We have given a user within our platform the full access to all of the different data points around a file. So if I have a particularly unique way of operating my business, every mortgage broker operates a little bit differently. Every brokerage or network operates a little bit differently. We give you full control over the information and the value add that goes into your database every time you add a new applicant or a new transaction to your database, We give you full control over all of that information and allow you to fully customize the way that you handle your business within the platform. You know, there's a lot of great technology out there, and I think ultimately, end of the day, the technology that best suits the way you want to operate is the best technology for somebody, right? And so I think that we've really captured that essence by allowing a user to customize the way that they operate within our platform.
Chris: And lastly, Joe, I'll end with you. We're getting close to the end of the new year, right in December. Q1 is right around the corner. What are some of the things that your group is looking forward to and you might want to spotlight for 2023?
Joe: I mean, there's no doubt that our product, Scarlett, is constantly it's constantly evolving, right? It's moving with the market need. It's moving with a customer demand. So 2023 is going to be a big year for us as an organization, also as a product. I mean, there's lots of buzzwords out there and I can throw a couple of them out yet, but we're certainly putting a whole lot of artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and modules within the platform to assist brokers with their day to day business. Like our entire business model is extremely focused on assisting and helping mortgage brokers and lenders on a regular basis where are not a company that is focused on direct to consumer business. Everything we do is for assisting and helping mortgage brokers move the needle forward. So obviously the market is shifting. It's going through a slow time. The slow times will not last. I mean, are we going to go back to where we were a year ago? You know that that's questionable. Maybe with time it will come back. But coming next year, around this time, I certainly cannot tell you that the market is going to be back where it used to be. So with that being said, you know, everything we've been building and everything we plan on building within the Scarlett platform is going to be around efficiencies and time efficiencies and optimizations and help identify new opportunities for mortgage brokers and lenders to actually potentially close more sales or get to the numbers they used to have before or get as close as possible to the numbers they used to have before.
Joe: There's no doubt that we're building some really nifty technology stuff that is expected to launch in Q1 of 2023 and then Q2 of 2023. We're really pushing the envelope. We believe that we are as a Scarlett product, we are probably at least a couple of years ahead of the competition from that perspective. Am I going to divulge and reveal all the bells and whistles that were that were launching? I would say not necessarily, but it's very much along the lines of some of the new cutting edge technology and things that I just mentioned, AI, which is artificial intelligence, machine learning, some things that the system is able to predict, the system is able to help place deals in a much more appropriate manner versus having a set of eyes looking at a deal and having to appropriately send it to this lender versus that lender and so on, so forth.
Chris: Wonderful. All right. Well, thank you again, Joe, Andrew from Axiom Innovations. To the listeners out there. We appreciate you joining CMP TV and be on the lookout for future episodes. Have a great day.
Joe: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Chris. Thanks for your time.
