The COVID-19 pandemic caused large-scale disruptions across industries, slowing growth and making enterprises revisit their operating models and processes. The mortgage industry has faced shifting customer sentiments and business disruptions. According to reports1, mortgage lending volumes plummeted to record lows globally, and the current outstanding value of mortgages in the US alone stands at $18 trillion. However, the industry is slowly rebounding, and the European and American markets are showing heartening signs of reclaiming pre-pandemic numbers.
With the new age of mortgage lending beckoning enterprises, they must emphasize the need to build a robust lending process that addresses present challenges and is also future-proof. They must aim to radically improve common and customary methodologies by adopting forward-looking technologies which augment human capabilities while enhancing and expediting outcomes.
What is stifling the lenders’ digital surge?
Rising inflation and margin compression have significantly affected lenders. Still, an essential question would be, did they proactively adopt technologies and take a more outcome-oriented approach to revitalize their business? Unfortunately, mortgage lenders have failed to optimize innovations and modernize their products adequately. The following are some of the main obstacles to the operational and digital transformation of mortgage lenders:
- Lack of urgency in developing forward-looking strategies
Mortgage lenders have primarily chosen not to move away from conventional business strategies. With technological evolutions now waiting for industry-wide applications, mortgage lenders must design their business goals and system with a dedicated focus on large-scale digitization and improving their bottom lines.
- Overreliance on manual intervention
The mortgage lenders’ approach to immediate problem-solving has made them susceptible to the “Human Spackle Syndrome.”2 By perennially troubleshooting with reduced productivity and additional human resources, lenders are failing to cater to the changing times and embrace technological innovations. Adding more staff to solve problems is a break-fix approach that can offer short-term relief at best but, in the process, pushes back the digital agenda of the enterprises.
- Reluctance to forge technology partnerships
Mortgage lenders are often puzzled while strategizing their digital future. Driving mortgage digital transformation with in-house capabilities can shift focus from the core business competencies and a misalignment between IT spending and business objectives. Therefore, mortgage companies must develop strategic partnerships with technology experts with domain specialization to steer digital transformation initiatives.
The future belongs to automation, but not at the cost of human capabilities
It is an established truth that emerging technologies will reshape the mortgage space, and to unlock value at scale, lenders must proactively incorporate a digital culture. Enterprises must emphasize business process outsourcing to move into a variable cost model and reduce the cost of loan manufacturing and processing. By adopting the right combination of technologies, lenders can also save the burdens of fixed costs for redundant and non-critical tasks. Applying innovations such as AI/ML, robotic process automation, and cloud computing can make every aspect of loan processing faster, more accurate, standardized, and cost-efficient. With the capabilities of mortgage automation, customers can also enjoy a higher degree of self-servicing.
Our latest whitepaper highlights how lenders can become more outcome-driven and make the mortgage process more value-based.
The HCLTech advantage
As lenders embrace technological innovations in their pursuit of holistic mortgage digital transformation to improve productivity, reduce costs, and improve compliance, the technology partners will play a crucial role in facilitating and managing the change. HCLTech comes with a bevy of outcome-oriented offerings specific to the mortgage industry, making us a partner of choice for future-facing enterprises.
Our lending solutions help clients prepare for the future of the mortgage industry by offering customizable lending solutions that address the changing industry paradigm. Our domain expertise, experience, and proven technological capabilities allow us to address our client’s unique challenges and deliver flexibility, visibility, and speed, as well as security and personalized support.
To experience how you can pivot your mortgage business operations by leveraging our cross-domain experience and in-depth expertise across emerging technologies, schedule a demo today.
