POSO. AVM. BPM. The mortgage market is awash with acronyms right now. A number of specialist lenders have launched new technology recently and most are encouraging intermediaries to do more business online.
It is good to see innovation and the pressure should always be on lenders to improve their systems, and indeed, service. But, we must also never stop listening to what our customers want.
In terms of e-mail communication, less is usually more. And, do brokers really want to be bombarded with SMS text messages?
There are a lot of mortgage brokers who will not have invested in a Blackberry, for example. They are not interested in accessing e-mails on the move and would find doing this out of work intrusive.
Online applications have speeded up processing, but there is still room for improvement.
Smoke and mirrors
This is not a business that lends itself to working remotely. In most cases, face-to-face meetings with an experienced business development manager and a promptly answered telephone by an experienced member of the lending team will be most effective in building relationships. Technology has to be about robust, user-friendly developments that allow business to be processed quickly. It is not about creating frustration and leaving intermediaries feeling abandoned.
Most brokers can see through smoke and mirrors – and if a launch is all about cost savings for the lender. There may be nothing wrong with this, but if we look at automated valuation models (AVMs), for example, there are going to be times when the borrower would benefit from a traditional valuation.
If lenders remove choice, we will alienate our customers. The dot com gold-rush showed how a host of outwardly sexy ideas can fall flat, leaving bad memories and large debts. In the mortgage sector, you need a multi-faceted approach. The broking community is certainly not one which you can force technology on.
Platform regularly asks its brokers for their attitudes towards IT through its clickthinking survey.
We know there are plenty of IT savvy intermediaries out there. But, there are also a good proportion who while not being technophobes, are not interested in changing their fundamental ways of doing business.
Complaints and rumblings
Most brokers find sourcing systems enormously helpful. But they want to see better streamlining and there are complaints about having to visit lenders’ sites to obtain compliant Key Facts Illustrations. There are rumblings about websites that ‘time-out’ too quickly and that the more lenders launch, the more intermediaries have to remember in terms of passwords and site navigation.
Indeed, there are still a number of existing systems that need improvement, and any new IT initiative must be launched on the back of thoroughly assessing needs. If trust is not built up, it is unlikely to succeed. Brokers welcome the fact that lenders now have far more information available on their websites, but this in turn is likely to generate more questions. Sending an e-mail which receives a reply days later – if at all – is not acceptable. Any lender must develop with a judicious eye.
Beyond the technology
The cost goes beyond just the technology but also in the support. In fact with any new launch, a lender should expect to see other costs rise if they want to provide satisfactory support.
When Platform launched its Click Decision system we ran a tandem education programme alongside. This included a helpdesk to deal with telephone queries while business development managers visited intermediaries in their offices and provided coaching. We think this was well received, but we cannot be complacent. We are looking at further enhancements, but I do not see any point in rushing these without ensuring the end result is intuitive and can be synchronised with other processes.
This all takes time and money. There are still many smaller mortgage intermediaries who do not have experienced people in-house that can assist with setting up new IT or providing training.
A larger firm of brokers may well have its own in-house training capability and so can get its employees up to speed without problems. This may not be the case with a smaller business or where the individual does not have a natural affinity with technology. They want some handholding and to know they can pick up the phone and speak to someone who can troubleshoot in easy to understand language.
With some brokers, their main focus may be on the reliability of hardware having secure anti-virus systems in place rather than on what each lender is launching.
There is a danger in overselling automated processes and brokers who become dissatisfied with this will simply go elsewhere.
It is said that the mortgage industry is behind other financial services sectors. But we are making progress, even if there is no magic bullet out there. The developments happening right now in the market are not passing us by, but we should not launch anything without intensive research in terms of focus groups and investment in support and training.
