This is the fourth installment of a six-part series on the most common mistakes that occur when evaluating, implementing, or using mortgage business intelligence (MBI). Today’s article discusses system evaluation and allocating administrative resources.
7. Hot Button Purchasing
This tends to happen when people are moving too quickly. Those that are in too much of a hurry to implement MBI often zero in on a single feature without taking the time to thoroughly evaluate a platform before purchasing.
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I was talking to a lender at a conference recently who had just undergone an audit. Some of the more pointed feedback had to do with the fact that the lender had no scorecards in place. Guidelines around best practices for quality assurance outline the use of scorecards for each origination channel and branch, as well as scorecards for each and every individual participating in the origination process including loan officers, processors, underwriters, appraisers, closers, and funders. He was doing laps around the exhibit hall asking anyone and everyone occupying a booth if they could do scorecards.
As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, mortgage business intelligence has become a prominent movement in our industry. In my view, the present market is comprised of two types of mortgage companies: those who have implemented MBI, and those who will. If the industry’s adoption of this technology continues at its current pace, the vast majority of spreadsheets and traditional reports could disappear within the next ten years.
With this long term outlook, it makes sense to avoid jumping the gun and to take a more thoughtful approach to evaluating MBI platforms. While virtually any platform might succeed in a setting where a single feature or function is the sole focus, it’s a sure bet that this focus will eventually shift, or expand to other areas of the enterprise. A thorough evaluation up front will provide the foresight necessary to take full advantage of this expanded focus when it happens.
8. Limiting Administrative Resources
Experienced industry professionals understand the pervasive reluctance to dedicate resources toward managing mortgage technology initiatives. Whether it’s a loan origination system or any other system that requires some level of on-site administration, resource constraints are ever-present as employees are constantly multitasking, focusing their efforts where they’re most needed on any given day. Spending time on non-revenue-generating activities seems impossible when an organization is set up to consistently perform at, or just above maximum capacity.
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It’s therefore useful to remember that implementing mortgage business intelligence is all about saving time, not spending it. Without exception, every experienced MBI user with whom I’ve had the opportunity to speak has gone through the same transformation in terms of their philosophy on resource allocation. They’re all trying to find ways to spend more time fine tuning their platform, because they have come to understand that the broader the MBI footprint within their organization, the more efficient and profitable they become.
While extending the reach of an MBI system to cover every corner of an enterprise takes time, it is time well spent. For every non-recurring man hour spent rolling out MBI to more users, an organization will realize several hours of recurring time savings with each and every business transaction.