"An effective training package will leave you and/or your team better able to help customers, more motivated, more productive and more useful to their employer."
Here are four facts about technology in the mortgage industry:
- The growth of technology is unstoppable. It's on the increase in almost every other aspect of our lives and customers like it, want to work with it, and expect it. In the near term, it’s a fair guess that all aspects of the mortgage process will be capable of being handled online and longer term the possibilities are extraordinary. Like it or loathe it, technology's continued rise is inevitable.
- Mortgage technology evolves to meet ever changing needs. A very good example of this is the recent introduction of the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD). As a direct result of the arrival of MCD, technology providers made essential changes to their systems and some, like Mortgage Brain, even launched new solutions to support brokers under the new legislation.
Even without new directives, however, systems are constantly being enhanced. It's easy to get left behind and not take full advantage of the improvements as they are being added. And no matter how proficient an operator is on a piece of software, there are always new tricks that can be learned to get the job done more efficiently.
- New mortgage technology is arriving all the time with new products and services being launched. Only recently Mortgage Brain launched ConveyancingBrain, a conveyancing offering dedicated solely for mortgage brokers.
- There are some brokers who are still having difficulties getting to grips not just with the changes in mortgage technology, but with the concept of the technology itself.
All of the above lead to one conclusion – that the importance of training in mortgage technology cannot be overestimated. Whether you're a one person operation or a substantial company, an expert in software or someone who struggles to find the 'on' button, an effective training package will leave you and/or your team better able to help customers, more motivated, more productive and more useful to their employer. All of which leads to more customers, an increase in turnover and profit and a decrease in staff turnover. It's a win all round.
But what's the best way to keep up to speed?
Traditionally, all training is done in a classroom, but the 'back to school' nature and travel time of such courses puts many people off.
Fortunately, technological advances mean that there are other options. The big thing in the world of training at the moment is Webinars (terrible word, great idea). These are concise (or 'short' if you prefer) meaningful ways of ensuring brokers are fully up to speed on the newest developments in technology.
Whether you want an overview of a new system, or an interactive walk through and demonstration of new features, reminders and short cuts, these webinars can be done without leaving the office. And they are free.
Webinars do, however, require you to be in front of a computer at a certain time, and for some brokers that just isn't practical. For those, there are other training options such as intensive courses, one to one sessions and distance learning, E learning or video tutorials, where you can take things at your own pace and repeat each section of the course as many times as you like.
And if even that seems too much like hard work, you can always call a customer support centre for specific help in real time, or visit any number of websites with downloadable hints and tips. There is also on line chat or chat rooms covering a whole range of topics.
There are many compelling reasons why everyone involved in the mortgage industry should undertake regular technology training, and many different ways in which this training can be undertaken.
It really doesn't matter how it's done, just as long as it is done. The extra productivity and profits to be gained from training, and the opportunities to be lost from not training, are too great to ignore.
