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Technology | 19
conditions that seemed to grind half of the
country to a halt. In this technological age
many people have got mobile phones,
Blackberries, wireless internet connections
and a number of firms have admin and back
office systems fully online so there are limited
excuses, in terms of productivity, for brokers.
Sourcing systems have also come a long way
since the days of brokers having a folder of
typed rates on a sheet of A4 that they would
print off on a regular basis, if they had
remembered to dial in the night before.
However, the days of using a sourcing system
purely for mortgages will soon become a thing
of the past. It is a fact of life that brokers are
coming under intense pressure and the days of
being able to make a healthy living solely from
mortgage advice is rapidly coming to a close.
Evolution
Brokers need to evolve into holistic financial
advisers aided by technology to ensure they
can come quickly up to speed on various
sectors of the market thanks to accurate
and extensive sourcing and application
platforms. If advisers need to spend lots of
time learning mortgage criteria, products
and rates then that is useful time that could
be maximised exploring different areas of
the market. Brokers need to focus on the
advice aspect and the assistance of a system
that guides them in giving clients full end-to-
end financial advice would prove a great
resource provided they could guarantee that
the results were accurate. This is far from
inconceivable in the year 2009 and an era of
online recognition by businesses and con-
sumers alike.
In terms of sourcing solutions, accuracy is
the key to thwarting time consuming low
value activities. Cutting edge online technolo-
gy can play an integral role in helping brokers.
I mean, how many times have we heard about
brokers spending time sourcing a product, Harking back to the FSA figures it is inter- Online solutions
chasing a BDM or service centre to check the esting to see that it reports an increasing There is no doubting that there are an increas-
ever changing criteria and credit scoring sys- number of firms becoming appointed repre- ing numbers of ways to utilise online solutions
tem, advising their client upon the product sentatives. A number of networks have recent- in order for brokers to cast their net upon a
but then finally when the application is made, ly openly committed their propositions to an wider audience. These high levels of interest
the goalposts have been moved and either the aggressive year of acquisition and organic have confirmed our view that brokers are
lender won't accept the business or the prod- growth. This will lead to consolidation and increasingly ready to step out of their comfort
uct is no longer available? This leads both the possibly even the demise of smaller networks zones and abandon old fashioned systems in
client and the broker up the garden path and a but it is good news for the broker as in order favour of new technology. This embracing of
trail of valuable time being wasted, not to to attract the best firms, networks must offer technology will enable businesses to diversify
mention the damage done to the broker's rep- the best service and proposition. The positive cost-effectively and attract the large, growing
utation. Technology helps where 'live' systems feedback we have received from our recent segment of the market that wishes to source
are able to show available 'live' current data 'one-stop shop' online sourcing solution has financial services products online.
and therefore be able to notify users immedi- further convinced us that the majority of the Brokers and distributors need to continually
ately regarding any product withdrawal or market now view online solutions as the only challenge sourcing solutions as they have had
changes in criteria. Ensuring this accuracy way forward in achieving this. Firms' priori- to suffer inaccuracies too long. There should be
currently means strong lender relations and a ties are changing especially with TCF now no more letters in trade magazines complain-
significant amount of man hours behind the firmly embedded and there is a clear appetite ing of mortgages being shown on systems but
scenes to make this happen. Full system inte- for online technology as it becomes increas- lenders not accepting the business. Time needs
gration with lenders has to be the way forward ingly apparent that current systems are not utilising and an online revolution needs to con-
and this is what we for one are working hard the future of such a rapidly developing mar- tinue gathering momentum in order to max-
to achieve. ketplace. imise time and efficiency.
www.mortgageintroducer.com March 2009 Mortgage Introducer
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