Expertise & Tools: Enabling Better Outcomes

There is an adage, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” Pretty simple concept to grasp and can be applied to just about any part of life. Surgery, high-rise construction, or buying a house, what it all boils down to getting sound advice and service from trusted advisors who have specialised experience. I have recently been through this journey as a first home buyer and the experience definitely had room for improvement.

While it is challenging for an ill-informed consumer to select a competent advisor, it can be an equally daunting task for professionals to demonstrate their value to those seeking their advice.

In the digital age, solutions never seem to be further than a few keystrokes away. Information is constantly available and connections between businesses and customers can be established quickly and easily. However, once an adviser and potential customer have established contact, it is vital to employ the best tools to make the relationship a simple and effective for the consumer, while efficient and profitable for the provider.

In the New Zealand property market, economic volatility has led to much uncertainty for both the residential and investor markets. Inflation and the Reserve Bank’s effort to combat its negative effects have, as expected changed the entire dynamic. Rising interest rates, changing rules from RBNZ and changes in the CCCFA (Consumer Credit Contracts and Finance Act) affordability metrics have left buyers, particularly first-home buyers, unsure about their potential to participate in the real estate market.

For home loan brokers and lenders, typically the borrower requires heavy guidance and lots of documentation is required. Filtering from the top, the major banks of NZ, non-bank lenders and an ever-growing list of brokers, potential borrowers have no shortage of access to professional assistance. However, the driving forces behind buyers selecting providers may come down to two decisions. First who markets themselves well on their service to guide them through the process of buying a first home, and then second, who can make the seemingly complex process as simple as possible.

Being knowledgeable may not be enough of an endorsement for consumers to choose to work with a particular expert. In the digital world the “Old School” operations may not stack up against the modern customer’s journey expectation. These days, the consumer has come to expect that every part of the experience must be as close to seamless as possible and is required to guarantee a high rate of successful applications. Forbes has identified 4 key rationales for unsuccessful applications in the digital age:

• Consumer hyper-vigilance and unwillingness to supply information,
• Lack of information in the unbanked population,
• Complex applications, and
• Unclear and arduous processes

Several of these can be addressed by publishing simple and easy to understand terms and conditions, along with appropriate accreditations, however the key to successful applications lies within a well-designed customer journey that simplifies applicant tasks to keep them motivated and comfortable enough to complete all tasks required the application.

According to Software Testing Help, it is crucial that loan origination platforms are employed to in almost every form of finance applications including mortgages. The key is to offer a cloud based, option that can fill any gaps within the application process to allow for better, faster decisions to be made in real time to keep the any potential customers engaged throughout the process.

Applying this thinking to the mortgage market, broker and lender investment in digital tools is imperative to improve efficiencies and provide a better experience to customers and keep ahead of the customer needs and competition.

Multi-faceted digital experiences, electronic data capture, automated workflows, calculations and decisioning processes are historically difficult and expensive to stitch the multiple providers together. Credisense changes this. We have implemented innovative systems for credit providers ranging from large telcos and consumer lenders to trade credit providers of every size. Utilising proprietary no-code technology, with all components of credit underwriting and onboarding in a single, proprietary no-code platform, Credisense customers have the power to design, build and administer beautiful customer journeys and efficient end-to-end underwriting processes.

If you’re a broker, lender or credit provider looking to build the next generation of customer experience with process efficiency, visit our website and book a demo to begin the discussion.