My Local Broker CEO Jaci Smith talks through the challenges of developing new sales and application software for the third-party channel
My Local Broker CEO Jaci Smith talks through the challenges of developing new sales and application software for the third-party channel
I write this from San Francisco, where every year I take a group of my staff to the annual Forecast conference run by our business partners Base CRM. The theme of this conference is around technology sale science – how sales and post-sales are now driven by new-age technology.
One of the earliest decisions I made in the scoping of the Chief software, My Local Broker’s new CRM system, was to create a foundation that was nimble enough to grow and support the business through API integrations [tools that allow the building of software and apps] which would continue to give our business the flexibility to support updates and enhancements.
Our development team, headed by Rodney Greenfield, has 17 developers, including iOS and Android developers. We are expanding continually to ensure we have the hands to work on our future enhancements and innovations. We have an Innovations team, led by Tyler Smith, which consists of developers who work with our integration partners, such as DocuSign, NextGen and CoreLogic, to name a few.
From my point of view, it is vital to demonstrate to brokers our commitment to innovation and future enhancements. The industry has been promised a lot over the years, and for us we won’t be placed in that company. We are committed to building better software for the future, not just for today.
Our industry is full of older broker CRM systems. These systems were built pre-API evolvement and before mobile and tablet devices, and this is simply where the first sets of issues arise. But, in fairness, 10 years ago no one could predict the impact of evolving API and the mobile/tablet scene.
What comes with the merging mobile/ tablet environment is legacy CRM systems that were built before the mobile. CRMs assist us in managing the customer during and after the settlement process. Google has been the biggest hitter when it comes to CRM integrations – smart technologies like email exchanges replacing the old Microsoft exchange; algorithms that can sense the tone in your clients’ emails; automatic sifting of emails and attaching them to client profiles, Google Hangouts and Maps. The Google API in its many forms is a mecca for innovation and application in new-age mortgage broking.
Data dropout is one of the major pain points the industry feels. A broker friend of mine who is currently on a competitor system made a comment about having to restart an application from scratch because there needed to be a change of lender. Due to the data cloning tool not being efficient, he had to start the input all over again. So, for this deal, the work on just resubmitting the data was in excess of six hours. Chief’s cloning tool is 100% efficient, so that all the data fields from the original application, including supporting documentation, will be engineered to the new lender’s format, without needing to do anything else, let alone submit the data all over again.
Furthermore, the NCCP documentation will be populated with the new lender’s details, including the preliminary assessment that has all the cost fields automatically populated, but, more importantly, the customer is informed in real time and can view all the updates as they happen. The enablement of back-channel messaging is another key aspect – brokers can turn this on, which allows their clients to be updated on the progress of their applications in real time.
Our team has just hit 62 staff and is growing. The future is bright. The journey for us is just starting; our foundations and expertise will stand us in good stead.
Jaci Smith is founder and CEO of sub-aggregator My Local Broker, which aims to use technology to improve and enhance the customer and broker experience. My Local Broker is presently showcasing Chief, its new broker CRM system https://www.mylocalbroker.com.au/
I write this from San Francisco, where every year I take a group of my staff to the annual Forecast conference run by our business partners Base CRM. The theme of this conference is around technology sale science – how sales and post-sales are now driven by new-age technology.
One of the earliest decisions I made in the scoping of the Chief software, My Local Broker’s new CRM system, was to create a foundation that was nimble enough to grow and support the business through API integrations [tools that allow the building of software and apps] which would continue to give our business the flexibility to support updates and enhancements.
Our development team, headed by Rodney Greenfield, has 17 developers, including iOS and Android developers. We are expanding continually to ensure we have the hands to work on our future enhancements and innovations. We have an Innovations team, led by Tyler Smith, which consists of developers who work with our integration partners, such as DocuSign, NextGen and CoreLogic, to name a few.
From my point of view, it is vital to demonstrate to brokers our commitment to innovation and future enhancements. The industry has been promised a lot over the years, and for us we won’t be placed in that company. We are committed to building better software for the future, not just for today.
"Our industry is full of older broker CRM systems… 10 years ago no one could predict the impact of evolving API and the mobile/tablet scene"
Our industry is full of older broker CRM systems. These systems were built pre-API evolvement and before mobile and tablet devices, and this is simply where the first sets of issues arise. But, in fairness, 10 years ago no one could predict the impact of evolving API and the mobile/tablet scene.
What comes with the merging mobile/ tablet environment is legacy CRM systems that were built before the mobile. CRMs assist us in managing the customer during and after the settlement process. Google has been the biggest hitter when it comes to CRM integrations – smart technologies like email exchanges replacing the old Microsoft exchange; algorithms that can sense the tone in your clients’ emails; automatic sifting of emails and attaching them to client profiles, Google Hangouts and Maps. The Google API in its many forms is a mecca for innovation and application in new-age mortgage broking.
Data dropout is one of the major pain points the industry feels. A broker friend of mine who is currently on a competitor system made a comment about having to restart an application from scratch because there needed to be a change of lender. Due to the data cloning tool not being efficient, he had to start the input all over again. So, for this deal, the work on just resubmitting the data was in excess of six hours. Chief’s cloning tool is 100% efficient, so that all the data fields from the original application, including supporting documentation, will be engineered to the new lender’s format, without needing to do anything else, let alone submit the data all over again.
Furthermore, the NCCP documentation will be populated with the new lender’s details, including the preliminary assessment that has all the cost fields automatically populated, but, more importantly, the customer is informed in real time and can view all the updates as they happen. The enablement of back-channel messaging is another key aspect – brokers can turn this on, which allows their clients to be updated on the progress of their applications in real time.
Our team has just hit 62 staff and is growing. The future is bright. The journey for us is just starting; our foundations and expertise will stand us in good stead.
Jaci Smith is founder and CEO of sub-aggregator My Local Broker, which aims to use technology to improve and enhance the customer and broker experience. My Local Broker is presently showcasing Chief, its new broker CRM system https://www.mylocalbroker.com.au/
