"It’s all about empowering users, joining the dots and bringing proper workflows and visibility into a part of the process that’s been left behind with the advancements in technology"
- Simon Slater - e4 Strategic
Digital solutions provider e4 Strategic has launched VERSA, a digital workflow management platform designed to improve post-offer processes in the UK mortgage and conveyancing market.
Developed over four years in partnership with several of the UK’s major mortgage lenders and conveyancing professionals, VERSA builds on more than 20 years of experience delivering digital solutions to South Africa’s largest property lenders and legal firms.
The platform has been created to address what e4 Strategic identifies as a persistent issue within the UK property transaction process: the manual and disconnected nature of the conveyancing stage between mortgage offer and completion. VERSA offers a fully digital, real-time solution to connect lenders, conveyancers, and other key participants in the homebuying and remortgaging journey.
While technological advancements have focused largely on streamlining the initial mortgage application process, the post-offer stage has remained mostly unchanged. According to e4, this part of the transaction continues to be slow and inefficient, resulting in frustration across the market.
VERSA includes a range of integrated tools designed to support the full offer-to-completion lifecycle:
Milestone-driven workflows with real-time case tracking
Encrypted communication between stakeholders
Automated query handling
Digital document management, including e-signatures and verification
API-enabled system and data integration
A single interface for managing digital case workflows and panel oversight
The platform is designed to offer direct benefits to lenders in the form of reduced costs, quicker transaction times, and improved panel management. For conveyancers, VERSA provides more efficient communication with lenders, automated processes, and faster turnaround for queries. Homebuyers, in turn, receive a more transparent and streamlined experience, with access to regular updates on their case progress.
“For years, the industry has been talking about end-to-end digitisation of the mortgage process,” explained Simon Slater, CEO of e4 Strategic (pictured). “And whilst great strides have been made up to the offer stage, the experience from offer through to completion is still far too slow, too manual, and too opaque.”
“Many lenders still rely on emails, faxes and outdated systems to communicate with conveyancers, with queries and updates being processed manually and tracked across disconnected systems,” Slater noted. “With VERSA, we’re empowering lenders and conveyancers by providing a digital platform to make their working lives easier; we are giving them the tools they need to improve transaction times, reduce their overheads and mitigate risk, as well as deliver a far better experience to their clients and customers.”
He added: “It’s all about empowering users, joining the dots and bringing proper workflows and visibility into a part of the process that’s been left behind with the advancements in technology.
“What truly sets VERSA apart from other property technology is how innovative it is,” Slater continued. “VERSA has been built with the aim of reimagining how lenders and conveyancers can collaborate in a modern, digital way. VERSA is not tweaking with what’s already there. Instead it takes a clean-slate approach with expert input from leading mortgage lenders, conveyancers and a range of technology partners, to deliver a platform that will address the genuine needs of the profession, clients and customers.”
