Since most mortgage companies didn't have time to plan for the influx of questions through one-on-one interactions, they set up contact portals that could accommodate them. These portals were able to effectively engage users thanks to their high-quality multimedia content and chatbots.
Fremont, CA: The mortgage industry hasn't always been at the forefront of digital adoption, particularly when it comes to data intelligence and applied machine learning. In the past, "digital apprehension" was fueled by investments in proper technology, an inherent fear of losing process control, and the conversion of the workforce to a technologically savvy "knowledge force."
The COVID-19 pandemic was a force majeure event that compelled distribution systems to adopt and recognize a global, distributed working model, possibly irreversibly. As a resiliency response to the crisis, it has implemented interactive technologies and cognitive business process tools.
The mortgage industry has been forced to react to the sudden and large mandates to work from home. It has adopted virtual workforce models that were once regarded as "risky" or limited to trendy Millennial-dominated fintech cultures. Process "digitization" and operations virtualization seems to have been recognized by conventional business stalwarts as providing immense untapped efficiency potential.
The mortgage industry's response to COVID-19 revealed and illustrated the following seven realities. These realities may have been understood before the pandemic, but the pandemic was responsible for the long-term changes.
Consumers can Succeed as Self-Directed Digital Learners
In the past, the mortgage industry assumed that consumers wanted to talk with someone in person to help them understand the complicated issues around lending. When COVID-19 hit, many consumers found themselves in an ambiguous position and sought information on topics such as unemployment insurance, the effect on mortgage payments, and the best course of action.
Since most mortgage companies didn't have time to plan for the influx of questions through one-on-one interactions, they set up contact portals that could accommodate them. These portals were able to effectively engage users thanks to their high-quality multimedia content and chatbots.
Customers were competent and eager to conduct business process operations independently without much hand-holding, which was the greatest revelation for mortgage firms. Customers were empowered to support themselves with a newsfeed and push notification with bite-sized content similar to tweets.
Paper is now old-fashioned
Paper was considered "dirty" with COVID-19 because it could spread the deadly virus to anyone who treated it. As a result, all paper-intensive mortgage procedures, such as contract signing and analysis, were transferred online overnight. People suddenly noticed how much easier the process had been in the process. The use of a notary in person, a signing space, and other similar provisions as part of the mortgage process is being phased out in favor of E-sign and notary standards.
