The 21st century broker needs an arsenal of high-tech solutions to keep up with the demands of their clients.
The 21st century broker needs an arsenal of high-tech solutions to keep up with the demands of their clients. Following on from last year’s technology round-up, Amy Rosenfeld explores the new and innovative solutions that are shaking up the market in 2013.
There is now little doubt that we are living, and working, in a technology world. In a market where the slightest competitive edge can make all the difference, brokers are looking for the latest drivers of efficiency and differentiation, and clients are insisting on it.
Time-starved brokers are demanding services that eliminate errors, cut costs and save precious minutes; tech-savvy clients are demanding service that is personal, efficient and always available; and industry pressures are demanding that brokers streamline costs without skimping on service.
CRM software and broker apps have been called in to fill the gaps in a rapidly changing broker landscape. While aggregator software has dominated the market for many years, a number of independent software providers are stepping in with their own innovative solutions.
ON THE MOVE
Technology has blurred the lines between work and play in the broking world, and increasingly clients expect their brokers to be available anytime, anywhere, says Stargate CEO Brett Spencer.
Stargate has seen a steadily increasing demand for application-based software, especially with regard to the iPad, says Spencer, and as such the company is in the process of releasing a new version of its fact-finder tool, eFind.
Stargate also has plans to release mortgage calculator and serviceability guide applications in the near future, and has seen strong interest in its two search engine applications, Mobbie and MyProductGuide.
Mobile and tablet-based technology allows brokers to take advantage of work opportunities outside the office, Spencer says. “If you’re on the golf course or at a pub and somebody starts talking about finance, everybody chips in their two cents worth, and that’s the opportunity for a broker to be able to pull up that information on their phone and say, ‘You know what? This right here is available for you’.
“Brokers should always be going through that thought process: where can they get that next transaction from? And mobile technology gives them that opportunity because they have their office in their back pocket.”
In the current market, brokers need to treat every person they meet, and every conversation they have, as a potential deal, Spencer says.
“Software is only as good as the person using it, but what software does is it gives our brokers the ability to always be able to sell something to the customer. A broker doesn’t make any money sitting in their office on their bum waiting for the phone to ring.
“Brokers generally run their own businesses, so if you’re not, as a business owner, ‘on’ 24/7, you may as well go and work for someone else digging ditches.”
On top of 24-hour availability, today’s clients also expect service that is personal, relevant and fast, says Loanworks national sales manager Wayne Macartney.
Due to broker demands, Loanworks recently launched its KNX Marketing System, which integrates with the company’s Loanworks Product Suite but can also be used as a stand-alone system.
“It has the flexibility to define any field/data you want to track for marketing purposes (eg settlement date, lender, product, referrer) and gives you true set-and-forget functionality for birthdays, loan anniversaries, etc.,” Macartney explains.
“Broadly speaking, brokers are asking, ‘How can I target the right product or service to the right prospective client?’ This implies getting smarter by segmenting your client base and marketing to them strategically – this goes beyond a simple blast email campaign.”
TIME TRIALS
The ability to maximise efficiency and productivity can be the difference between a top broker and the rest of the pack, but requests for more information and reworks are often holding brokers back, says Macartney.
Electronic settlement has the potential to reshape parts of the industry, he believes, by introducing the ability to ‘fast-track’ settlements.
“The question is being raised as to why you need a 90-day settlement period if you can efficiently improve, instruct and settle. Initially at least, this may prove to be a point of difference to the borrower.
“The theory is that it will also take some of the risk out of being able to settle a deal, which may mean less headaches for the broker.”
NextGen sales director Tony Carn says time lost through reworks is one of the top challenges brokers are facing today.
NextGen’s ApplyOnline software links brokers’ CRM systems with lender processing systems, says Carn, capturing relevant data and highlighting gaps and discrepancies, reducing reworks and requests for more information.
“At the moment, when lenders and brokers measure quality they do it retrospectively, at the end of the month or quarter or annually. They’ll look at their relationships and ask what their conversion rates were, what their rework rates were, and look at how they can improve those. What we have done very successfully over the last year is bring quality management forward to the point of sale,” Carn explains.
A key advancement that NextGen expects to pilot with broker groups in the coming months is the addition of a supporting documents tab to lender modules. This will allow brokers to upload and file all supporting documents, validate them against lender policy, and then submit them to the lender in one hit.
“Feedback on that from lenders, brokers and broker groups has been really, really powerful to date. It’s a pretty major innovation and it is real leading-edge technology. That’s a real game changer that is going to radically reduce reworks, radically reduce costs, and improve SLAs for brokers,” Carn says.
NextGen has also upgraded its lender lodgement modules to valuate every loan submitted against the Geocoded National Address File, a feature that Carn says has also produced a huge amount of positive feedback.
“Not a lot of people fully recognise that it’s actually quite a substantial driver of reworks; many lenders reported it as one of their top three reasons. It can lead to things like valuations having to be done twice, to issues where addresses don’t match what’s in the contract of sale, to credit bureau checks being done, and documents having to be reissued.”
Using ApplyOnline software allows brokers to ensure that every loan application is aligned to the credit assessment rules and policies of a lender before submitting it, says Carn. “It empowers them to have greater confidence that their requests for more information should be almost eradicated.”
JUGGLING ACT
Diversifying revenue streams and increasing client wallet share has become a popular trend for brokers, but the paperwork involved and difficulties in switching between software systems and re-entering data can often be a nightmare for busy brokers, Carn says.
NextGen has seen growth in electronic lodgements for revenue streams such as commercial lending, equipment finance, and leasing and risk insurance from a number of different providers in recent months, he reports.
NextGen’s software brings all of these different lodgements into one manageable channel, providing a solution to many of the key challenges in lodging a variety of loans.
“It comes back to the manageability of data quality; not having to refeed data more than once. If data has already been submitted in an application, you can then reuse that data to submit a loan for a credit card or risk insurance or general insurance so it makes it low cost and efficient and makes for high-quality applications,” Carn explains.
Stargate has also seen high demand from brokers to improve its interactions with third-party partners, says Spencer, and as such has partnered with software providers in other industries such as financial planning and insurance to allow easy two-way data transfers.
“All of our big customers have talked about it and are saying it’s on their radar or they’re currently doing it, so it is a trend that we will see much more frequently.”
Stargate’s ePass software allows brokers to connect themselves to third-party partners and creates a comprehensive record of referrals and interactions, Spencer says.
“There are no errors and no replication of processes. You’re really collecting a full customer snapshot for all the external partners you’re working with, who you’re referring your customers to and who is interacting with your customers. We call it ‘capturing the financial desktop of the consumer’, and if we can allow brokers to capture that financial desktop, then that consumer is never going anywhere.”
LOOKING AHEAD
The coming years will see the advancement of the “mobile revolution”, says Spencer, as more and more functionality is taken out of CRM systems and put into applications.
“We’re seeing that as a greater trend: the need to give brokers quick access to solutions rather than having to lug around a laptop. It gives the broker the ability to enhance their business and be able to sell more loans when they’re not really trying to be productive.
“I think a lot of broker groups are still looking at CRM systems and getting their back office into gear, but I think there needs to be a degree of aggregation of software. When you look at everything that’s coming out, it’s all about e-lodgement capabilities being improved by each of the lenders, and that’s great, but that’s a very long way down the track.
“The first point of technology for brokers needs to be at the point of sale; the stuff they can do on their phones or tablets.”
Spencer also expects to see a shift away from Apple devices and on to other products as brokers become more accustomed to platforms such as Windows.
“I think iPhone had the advantage of being the first into the market, but I think, if not next year then very soon, Windows tablets will become even more popular than iPads for brokers.”
At NextGen, the company has close to doubled the number of lenders it provides electronic lodgement for in the past 18 months, and Carn is confident it is a sector that will continue to grow in the coming years.
“The technology is there, and the uptake is definitely there. It is something that definitely has the attention of a lot of brokers and a lot of providers in the market, but I think we are now starting to see a more homogenised approach as to how they’re processed,” he says.
Macartney agrees, and adds that brokers who don’t keep up with the rolling tide of software and CRM developments will struggle to keep a foothold in a competitive market.
“To maintain a competitive advantage, you need to be leveraging your data and ensuring you maximise your productivity, while balancing the overhead of compliance,” he says.
“The new generation of brokers will be totally tech-savvy.”
INDIE SHIFT
Frustration at a lack of data ownership has seen the broker industry begin to move away from in-house and aggregator-provided software and towards independent software providers, says Stargate’s Brett Spencer.
The difficulty with aggregator-provided software, says Spencer, is that you lose the ability to control and own your data space as a broker.
“From a broker’s perspective you’re stuck on that platform, and if you leave you’ve got to learn a new platform. Independent software gives brokers the ability to own their data 100%, and it cannot be taken away from them.”
However, Loanworks’ Wayne Macartney takes a more balanced approach and says aggregator provided software may be more appropriate in certain contexts. “There are pros and cons to both – you should look at what makes sense in the context of your business. Either way, software is not a ‘magic bullet’.”
CHANGING DEMANDS
The life of a broker is more complicated now than ever before, and brokers are looking for new products to cope with changing demands, says Infinitive’s Jega Rajan.
Today’s brokers are looking for CRM solutions that will help them in three key areas, he says: productivity, mobility and diversification.
“Previously mortgage brokers were retired bankers. They knew their product well and they generally went to one bank, whereas the younger brokers are doing it by the book, looking at which bank is offering the best. With over 300 mortgage products available in the market, they can’t really remember everything, so they’re looking to automate this kind of stuff with the CRM.”
Infinitive’s latest product, e-Lodge+, gives brokers the ability to lodge electronic applications to over 15 different lenders, says Rajan.
With the complexity of compliance and credit legislation, brokers need an efficient CRM solution and not just a “gimmick”, he adds, stating that his offering improves efficiency by removing the need for data re-entry, reducing lodgement times to between 10 and 15 minutes, and giving 100% accuracy.
Infinitive also recently released its online equipment leasing platform Drive Online, catering for the industry trend towards convergence, and the company eventually hopes to extend the platform to include insurance and financial planning modules, Rajan explains.
