I still remember my maths teacher telling me that I wasn't allowed to use a calculator in class because “you’ll never have one with you in the real world”.
And now we all have one on us all the time thanks to our smartphones. Now I’m not saying that the fall in standards in mental arithmetic can be laid at the feet of the iPhone but it does show that the old ways aren’t necessarily the best, and often they make things far more difficult than they need to be.
The same is true of the platforms brokers used to use to advise their clients. Daily (or weekly) mortgage rates updated by a floppy disk (or CD), making dozens of phonecalls to ensure rates were accurate, manually comparing eligibility criteria and finally filling in applications one at a time. Although things have moved on outside the adviser space, we are only just catching up when it comes to technology modernisation and real time information.
Financial services in general has understandably been circumspect in moving to technologies such as cloud, having deeper security, reliability and privacy concerns than the consumer market. But now that the technology has been adopted by other sectors in the financial services, it’s time the mortgage industry followed suit.
By refusing to embrace the most up to date technology needed to carry out your job, you’ll be less efficient, less effective and less competitive. And your clients will go elsewhere.
There are many legitimate reasons why users don’t adopt more modern technology. Taking the cost of an upgrade out of the equation, there is a perception that an upgrade will be painful - how long will it take? Will my business continue to function? There’s also the familiarity factor - the phrase, ‘if ain’t broke don’t fix it’ springs to mind. Or how about, ‘this is the way I’ve always worked’ or ‘I’m no good with new technology’. There’s also the cost vs benefit equation to balance - how much of a difference will it actually make to me and my clients? All these concerns can be addressed and are - once properly examined - rarely the barriers they first appear to be.
However, this hesitancy only serves to damage the business and client experience in the end. It doesn’t stop the march of progress, and upgrades will eventually be necessary anyway.
Hanging on to old software, a phone that doesn’t host mobile apps or one that does not allow you to work on the go, or - in the case of mortgage brokers, choosing not to move to a more modern sourcing system - are all examples of how you could be placing yourself at a disadvantage to your peers.
By refusing to embrace the most up to date technology needed to carry out your job, you’ll be less efficient, less effective and less competitive. And your clients will go elsewhere.
Not only are you missing out on more stable, more efficient technology, improved by years of development and industry standardisation, but you’re also cutting yourself off from other connected services, the flexibility and mobility that modern software brings and the simplicity of an up to date user interface. You’re effectively hamstringing your business.
There’s no denying it can feel daunting to learn how to use a new piece of software, a new phone, a new laptop. But systems are now designed to be intuitive. Onboarding help is readily available and online tutorials are easy to come by.
But if you’re still hesitant to update your old systems and devices, think on this.
Have you spent a single day missing any of the DVDs you shipped off to the charity shop that took you years to collect? Do you wistfully remember the times you pulled into the services to pour over your road map of Great Britain? Would you prefer to flick through the Yellow Pages than Google a plumber. Given a choice, would you go back to those days?
If the answer is no, then it’s time to say goodbye to the rest of your outdated tech.
We're helping Trigold advisers let go of the past and move ahead with Xplan Mortgage. Find out more here.
