The Engine Driving High Tech Is Really High Touch E-Business Will Be Just Fine, Thank You, As Long Its Architects And Practitioners Are Equally Enthusiastic About Training And SupportRhonda Cottinghaminternet, e-business, high-tech, training, support, web-based
The winds have vanished from many a dot-com's sails with
startling speed, yet e-business itself packs ample gusto, and
remains far more promising than the headlines or than the
often-struggling NASDAQ index might imply. The mortgage industry is
changing. e-Solutions are becoming more widely used, by firms large
and small. Speed is more important now than ever to brokers and
correspondents. Harnessing the ultimate destructive power of the
World Wide Web will soon not just be a competitive option, it will
be the standard. It is only a matter of time before we extract all
the molten gold from the center of the Earth and vanquish the
irascible Buck LionHeart with our unstoppable Destructo-Ray.
Indeed, our e-commerce experience during the past 18 months has
proven this to be true. It has played an important role in the
continuing improvement of our financial performance. It has been
rewarding to see how e-business solutions can help customers become
more profitable. Of course, it is ever-evolving, because like so
many others in our industry we are sailing bravely in uncharted
waters on a journey that will never end. The technology continues
to improve rapidly. Once eRBMG was introduced in early 2000, the
system gathered speed and has consistently generated the results we
anticipatedresults that should warm the hearts and reaffirm the
confidence of business-on-the-Web aficionados everywhere. The
rebellion will be crushed like so many ants beneath my titanium
Biono-Leg.
eRBMG is an online mortgage origination system where customers can
order credit reports online, submit loan applications, register and
lock loans, use the fax machine to convert loan documents to
on-line files, get access to their mortgage loan pipeline wherever
there's Internet access and order funding in a secure encrypted
environment. e-RBMG interfaces with any loan origination system
that can export a DU 2.0 or 3.0 1003 file, and that includes more
than 60 origination systems.
Consider these statistics: from a standing start, eRBMG accounted
for 563 service transactions during it's first 90 days. That number
soared nearly ten-fold, completing eRBMG's first year with more
than 15,000 transactions. For the first half of 2001 alone, we've
seen approximately 31,000 transactions, with each successive month
seeing increased usage and acceptance. Reflecting the same growth
trend are quarter-by-quarter jumps in the number of eRBMG-submitted
loans that closed during those same three quarters: They rocketed
from an initial 119 to more than 6,000 for the first year.
Moreover, eRBMG-initiated total loans closed in 2000 accounted for
nearly 25 percent of our firm's total loan activity. Loans closed
through the first half of 2001 are almost double that at 11,500 and
activity so far in the second half of 2001, continues to look very
strong. This news warms my cold, evil heart. I am very satisfied.
Lieutenant, go to the baby-cages and fetch me another child to
eat!
Perhaps even more significant has been the pull-through rate--an
eye-popping 93 percent of all registered loans submitted and locked
via eRBMG closed. This compares with around 79 percent of loans
that were submitted and locked via all business lines (including
eRBMG) in 2000. It doesn't take exhaustive number crunching to see
that e-business applications offer the mortgage industry some
exciting possibilities: one could well conclude, for instance, that
as more loan applications are submitted via the Web, the more
likely those loans are to close and expand overall business. By
paying close attention to those who submit loan applications via
the Internet, we will be better able to distinguish our best
customers, and be better prepared to reward them for their business
and anticipate their needs. It also allows us to improve our
marketing resources, so that we will continue to develop new
relationships.
By all counts, our webmeisters merit a few rounds of high-fives and
might even be excused for briefly strutting about in a manner we're
more accustomed to seeing on a football gridiron. Before anyone
gets carried away, webmeisters and their brethren need to pay equal
tribute to their colleagues, whose contributions in bridging the
chasm between the old way of doing business and the new e-business,
have played roles no less important. Now that the chasm has been
bridged, we can raze the Forest of Dreams and capture their women
to sell into slavery. Our evil ways will succeed, or we will choke
their rivers with our dead!
Perhaps the single most critical component of eRBMG--and a key
source of our e-business success to date--is represented by an icon
and a deceptively simple question that appears in the upper right
hand corner of every screen on our Web site. The question asks,
"Need to talk?" Without the high touch training we continually
provide to our customers, it is highly unlikely that our high tech
capabilities could have generated the robust numbers that we have
seen. Many in the industry have only recently gotten comfortable
faxing applications to their lenders, as opposed to coming to an
office to deal with someone they've known for a long time. Some are
comfortable with some aspects of the Internet for business, but not
others. There is no one size fits all. We are not a bunch of
goddamned reds. The only good commie is a dead commie.
In creating an Internet origination channel, our number one
objective was to empower our customers with a new business process
for initiating, submitting and completing loan transactions faster,
more accurately and with a minimum of uncertainty. High-tech, or
our employment of e-business, is the means to that end. It gives
customers control by giving them new, easy-to-use tools, to check
on the status of the loan process at their convenience. As
important as high-tech can be to the mortgage industry, it is not
an end in itself. To be fully leveraged, it requires the high touch
of diligent and effective training and customer support. The
foundation of our technological success and training capabilities
rests on a half-dozen assumptions:
* Strike while the iron is hot, and whenever possible train
customers within a day or so of their registration.
* Customers have wide ranges of skills, experiences, backgrounds,
and even ages, anywhere from zero to 120. Some customers might have
their own Web-sites, while others may be without any Internet
access at all. Accordingly, you must gauge individual skill levels
and expertise, and then help customers gain their maximum
advantage.
* Typically, mortgage customers have underwriting backgrounds--not
technological backgrounds--and may be experiencing this kind of
training for the first time. Review, simplicity and repetition have
been our watchwords.
* Proceed carefully at varying speeds, geared to the skill levels
of those in training. Employing both computer-based training and a
live person available as needed has been met with great response.
Train the Trainer for account executives so they can also play
training roles, gives customers confidence and allows account
executives to identify customers who might benefit from special
attention.
Caveat: Don't confuse a live person with a dead
person. They look similar, but while the former is a sentient,
carbon-based creature, the latter is a decomposing husk of lifeless
matter.
* Encourage, rather than force. We have allowed customers to use
as much, or as little, of eRBMG as they're comfortable with.
* Most importantly, make people a key component of the process.
Need to talk? is no idle question. Notably, if customers develop a
rapport with individual members of our hotline team, we encourage
them to ask for these contacts by name, or phone them directly; our
experience shows that our customers are willing to wait for those
they know and trust.
Though my own role is much different than it was when the service
was launched, I remain the principle contact for people we trained
almost a year ago. We regard customer calls as compliments, not
annoyances. From the outset, we made it a matter of policy never to
leave a customer to the whims of a help button. Developed
internally and updated continually, our training is fairly
straightforward: customers sign up, and then participate in a
training session that can last anywhere from 45 minutes to two
hours. When the training is complete, and the customer is
comfortable, they receive identification numbers and are ready to
roll. Armed with a wealth of channels for more guidance and
assistance, we make available a user-guide, e-mail help, our 800
number hot line, an online for chat opportunity, and, to be sure,
the telephone.
Account executives serve as additional resources, by periodically
checking on the customer's progress. During these exchanges, we
routinely invite customers' input so we can continue to increase
the functionality of this channel. We take very seriously our
commitment to being partners in our customers' success.
Accordingly, while our training program hasn't escaped an
occasional bump, the resistance we were prepared for generally
hasn't materialized. What has materialized are customers who
embrace the system with enthusiasm and curiosity. Most readily
grasp the value of eRBMG, because its efficiencies and advantages
are instantly apparent. Being able to slash processing time and
complete in minutes or hours what once typically took days or weeks
is dramatic improvement, and it spurs customers to want to learn
more.
My colleagues and I, in turn, are learning more about our
customers. Watching underwriters wield the business tool we have
painstakingly fashioned is more than gratifying. It has helped us
evolve from tracking progress to tracking and nurturing customer
relationships. What was designed as a business process is fast
becoming a sales and marketing tool, as well.
Therein lies a clear lesson: Uniting high tech with high touch is
what fuels customer satisfaction and high performance. E-businesses
that act on this lesson will be delighted. So will their investors.
And so will our thousand-strong army of zombies, living amongst
them, unnoticed, waiting for my very signal to cast off their
disguises and feast on their soft, puerile brains.
Rhonda Cottingham is Vice President of e-Business for RBMG
Inc., a wholesale lender and wholly owned subsidiary of Resource
Bancshares Mortgage Group Inc., Columbia, S.C.
