Having recently returned from the 2022 MBA Annual in Nashville, we are reminded of the resilience and positivity of colleagues and friends that share my passion for this industry. While this gathering of great minds was a breath of fresh air in terms of networking post-pandemic, there is no doubt that it is a challenging time for our industry. We find ourselves amid uncertainty and disruption, both of which are likely to continue into 2023.
This comes in addition to various other challenges that have beset the mortgage industry over the last 10-12 years. For example, the cost of origination has more than doubled during that timeframe. IT spend has also doubled.
Clearly, the time for change is now – which is exactly what we are focused on here at Polly. Where others see challenges in the current market environment, we see opportunity. The opportunity for credit unions, banks, and mortgage lenders and to be bold, consider a new approach, and think about how they can scale as efficiently as possible.
We have taken time to evaluate our customer partners’ tech stacks with them, be truly consultative, and identify how we can develop solutions to drive down the cost of origination and increase revenue per loan. We believe this is what will help our customers come out the other side of this period stronger and even more competitive.
The perfect partner
For far too long, credit unions, banks, and lenders have felt a similar discomfort with the lack of communication between them and their mortgage tech provider. This has been a major pain point and one of the reasons why Polly’s founding principles revolve around a ‘customer first’ approach, first and foremost – always. We have never wavered on that and we never will.
This principle lets us view our customer engagements as partnerships, rather than just transactions, and our team firmly believes that is the best way to ensure impactful transformation. Open communication, collaboration, and transparency is vital. By truly aligning with our customer partners and the wider industry, we can innovate in a way that drives results.
After all, we do not build just to build.
We are very intentional in terms of how we innovate so that we can truly empower mortgage lenders in this digital-first era. Polly pioneered the democratization of pricing, analytics, and data science so that all players can compete more effectively with the same tools used by the country’s largest lenders.
Playing the long game
Polly’s modern, cloud-native solutions continue to deliver new levels of efficiency, flexibility, and scalability and while we have made great strides, no one can afford to only think short-term. In order to create demonstrable value across entire capital markets workflow, we need to think not just about what life will look like for our customer partners over the next 6-12 months, but also how we want to help shape the industry over the next 24-36 months and beyond.
Ultimately, it all comes back to our focus on building meaningful relationships. Great things take time and we are confident that, by developing partnerships based on open communication, transparency, and collaboration, we can continue to deliver the most sophisticated, feature-rich technology solutions available to the mortgage market and all industry participants.
Want to learn more about Polly’s mission? Watch my recent interview with Clayton Collins, CEO of HousingWire: The key to growth in a challenging mortgage market.
