Innovation in the Mortgage Industry: Where Will It Come From?

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion about the future of innovation in the mortgage industry. The general consensus was that innovation is occurring and will continue to occur in our industry at a rapid pace. Here's the catch, though--most of it is likely to come from outside the industry.

Although there are many great organizations in the mortgage industry developing new technologies and methodologies for improving the business, most companies are building their own technologies on those of organizations not in the mortgage industry. Various applications for financial analysis, communication, marketing, and production have already been developed outside of the industry and only later adopted by and refined for mortgage professionals. It's likely that this direction will continue into the future.

What does this mean to you? My thinking is that it's a wake-up call for us not to have our blinders on. It happens in every industry just like it does in the mortgage industry. We think the way our industry does things is the only way to do it, and other industries don't understand our business enough to influence it. This kind of thinking will stifle us. We've got to be willing to pull from other industries tricks, tips, tools, and technologies that we can use in our own.

It's going to take some humility to admit this to ourselves, but we've got to realize that our industry doesn't know everything. We are part of a larger economy developing applications to improve the lives of people in a variety of ways—not just by getting them homes. In order to fulfill our mission in the economy, we've got to be willing to broaden our vision to look outside of the industry. We might just be pleasantly surprised by what we find.

David Lykken is 40-year mortgage industry veteran who has been an owner operator in three mortgage banking companies and a software company. As a former business owner/operator, today David loves helping C-Level executives and business owners achieve extraordinary results via consulting, coaching and communications, with the objective of eliminating corporate dysfunction, establishing and communicating a clear corporate strategy while focusing on process improvement and operational efficiencies resulting in increased profitability. David has been a regular contributor on CNBC and Fox Business News and currently hosts a successful weekly radio program, “Lykken on Lending,” that is heard each Monday at noon (Central Standard Time) by thousands of mortgage professionals. He produces a daily one-minute video called “Today’s Mortgage Minute” that appears on hundreds of television, radio and newspaper Web sites across America. He may be reached by phone at (512) 501-2810 or by e-mail at [email protected].