TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
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FEATURE ORIGINATION The Download on Today's Going Viral: Digital Trends fingertips thanks to technology strategies that can help enhance production, processing, and profitability. By Adam Weinstein From consumer-centric programs to sector-specific solutions, mortgage professionals are finding that success is at their T desired results—enhanced production, processing, and profitability—has to start with selecting the appropriate program, provider, or partner. "While lenders and servicers have core competencies in providing mortgage origination and servicing, developing technology products isn't necessarily a strength," says Tim Anderson, director of technology strategy at ISGN, a Melbourne, Florida-based mortgage tech service provider. ations for many mortgage profes- sionals. Having long recognized a need for a massive information technology infrastructure, some of the largest banks in the U.S. have built in-house systems so ponderous they were spun into 44 | THE M REPORT That's a sea change in IT oper- here's one key statute when it comes to choosing an optimal technology strategy, and it's the anti-Nike rule: "Don't just do it; do it right." And getting the because while they do, no doubt, understand the process, they most likely don't have the technology expertise to build a successful or scalable IT product." The Partnership Track S separate (and mostly unsuccess- ful) companies. "A popular catchphrase of these software companies is that they offered 'mortgage systems designed by mortgage bankers,'" Anderson wrote in Origination News in June. "That concept makes me chuckle, Anderson's strategic approach. "To truly maximize technology, make your technology vendor a partner," he says. And not just any partner, but one who's will- ing to be pushed. "Rather than using a technology to solve just one problem, lenders should be working with service providers that offer a solution that can work with others to provide a wider range of benefits," he says. The market's trends, of course, anjeev Malaney, CEO of Capsilon, agrees with are important—you need technol- ogy solutions now that are im- mediately responsive to changes in regulation, mortgage costs, and consumer interest. But that can't be your only focus in developing a tech strategy, because it's purely reactive. A proactive approach means looking at what's trending in information technology, not just in the mortgage industry: It means looking beyond current needs to future possibilities. "The future of the industry is opti- mistic," says Malaney—and that, he says, is what more mortgage companies and their tech provid- ers should be focusing on. The Next Generation "T creasing interest among lenders for new solutions, ways to maximize current systems and implement in- novative processes, he industry itself is on an upturn, and there is an in- "We see more and more need for electronic document management tech solutions and see an increased " notes Malaney. SECONDARY MARKET ANALYTICS SERVICING ORIGINATION