This is a guest post from the Clutch.co team
Launching and managing a lending business can be quite an undertaking. But there are plenty of ways to make it easier. A comprehensive and intelligent technology stack should be your first step when it comes to building a successful and productive loan operation. It could prove to be one of your most important decisions.
Back in 2015, a McKinsey study found that 45% of human labor could be automated, which would save about $2 trillion in operational costs each year just in the United States. And the percentage of work that can be delegated to intelligent software keeps on growing.
Banks and other traditional lenders used to ignore innovation, because it was out of their comfort zone. That mindset has changed as alternative lenders and FinTech startups start to conquer the lending market. The customers that had been loyal to brick-and-mortar banks for generations, started switching to online lenders due to their convenience, speed, and personalization. Not to mention cheaper credit products due to lower risk and expenses. And one of the keys to the explosion in online lending is all the benefits gained through digital transformation and innovative technology.
That’s not to say that banks can’t replicate these same technology-driven systems and processes. They are just slower to adjust because of the bureaucracy. But the trend we see is that more and more banks come to TurnKey Lender in search of a ready-made or custom platform that supports superior decisioning, origination, servicing, and collections.
They could, of course, create their own solutions. But it’s not enough to automate old legacy processes as a one-off exercise. To stay competitive, lenders have got to keep their finger on the pulse of the industry, and constantly upgrade their lending software. This leaves one truly viable choice – an all-in-one, intelligent lending automation solution that addresses all of their needs from a single interface. The TurnKey Lender platform is the ideal choice.
Here’s a sneak peek at the top five processes that TurnKey Lender can automate and optimize for your lending operation.
- Loan origination: our system automates every step of origination, from application submission to risk evaluation, and from approval/denial to disbursing the funds.
- Loan servicing: account management is one of the biggest parts of a lending business’ day-to-day activity. Our software addresses everything that happens after the deal is closed until the debt is paid off.
- Collateral management: the platform covers the different collateral types that can be pledged as security for loan repayment, their valuation, and revaluation.
- Loan reporting: the system keeps you up-to-date on the status of each borrower, their loans, risks, and history.
- Regulatory compliance: the platform controls the borrower’s quality, collects all the required documents, and keeps your business compliant from the start.
In addition to lending processes, your business should consider automation for departments like accounting, customer service, marketing, and human resources.
Accounting Automation for a Lending Business
A comprehensive loan management platform can improve the quality of services and productivity, as well as help lenders make their operation more agile and transparent. This leads to operational costs reduction and better customer service. But it works even better if it’s enhanced with software that simplifies the convoluted accounting processes.
QuickBooks Online
One of the most popular cloud-based accounting solutions is QuickBooks Online. It’s easy to use and provides a business with a variety of features. An intuitive, customized dashboard and simple reporting lets you balance the books on the go. QuickBooks has both cash-based and accrual accounting. This software is integrated with over 80 partner apps, and offers a free 30-day trial with no annual contract. It’s an ideal choice for startups and SMEs.
Xero
Another good option for accounting operations is Xero, a cloud-based software with simple interfaces for inventory management, payroll, purchasing, expense and asset management, as well as other basic accounting tasks. The dashboard can be customized to track cash flow all the way from invoices out to payments in.
This software automates bank reconciliation by showing recent transactions, categorizing, and paying invoices automatically.
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Customer Service Automation for a Lending Business
Live human contact normally makes your customers feel special. However, there are times when they appreciate speed even more. And thanks to intelligent automation they can enjoy high quality, fast response times via live chat or other bot functionality. Here are the most popular tools you can use.
Salesforce
With the help of a productivity suite like Salesforce Essentials your lending business can automate lending support and paperwork, and house the documents on a central platform. This way, everyone involved can stay on the same page and use the self-service options throughout the lending process.
Intercom, Zendesk, and Drift
Users expect immediate response these days, so it’s a good idea to leverage intelligent chat tools like Intercom, Zendesk Chat, or Drift. These three platforms offer a variety of features to help automate customer service.
They help process applications quicker, allowing you to evaluate a larger volume faster and more accurately. And if you add that on top of TurnKey Lender’s origination module, you can achieve previously unseen levels of automation. Things like checking applicants’ credit reports used to be a tedious process, but now the software can access that information and verify their employment, as well as pull all the data necessary for risk evaluation from a credit bureau or another relevant data source.
Automated origination can improve the process for both lenders and borrowers. When Shepard Capital Partners was challenged with an overwhelming amount of paperwork, the TurnKey Lender team worked out a solution that streamlined their lending business. We removed the paper from the loan application process completely, and automated a slow approval process using our proprietary, deep neural networks suite.
Essentially, customer service automation helps your lending business eliminate waste. But it’s not the last automation area we’re going to explore.
Marketing Automation for a Lending Business
Another way to increase efficiency of your lending business is to implement marketing automation software to more effectively target your audience across multiple channels. This helps you save both time and money, and increases the return on each penny invested. The marketing areas most commonly automated are email and social media.
Email follow-ups are a notoriously tedious process when done manually. With HubSpot, business owners can save email templates for automated responses in contact-based, company-based, deal-based, ticket-based, or quote-based workflows which saves a ton of time.
Depending on an organization’s needs and budget, HubSpot can be used in a variety of ways. From building a website on a proprietary platform to collecting custom sales analytics and generating reports. The platform capabilities are enormous. If you’re considering HubSpot for your lending business, then it’s best to jump on a call with their staff to get a consult on which features will address your needs in the best possible manner.
Another example would be BuzzStream which helps you automate link building and communication with potential clients. For SEO it’s worth checking out tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs. Your team can also create fully-fledged social media campaigns that send out posts at scheduled times, so you don’t have to be constantly working around the clock. This can be done with tools like Buffer or Hootsuite. And basic automation can be achieved with an auto posting plugin installed into your CMS.
Your in-house marketing team should start by creating an overarching strategy that drives all the individual marketing tactics. Or you may want to hire a digital marketing agency to make sure everything’s done right.
Even though setting up funnels and lead generation may be tricky, don’t pass on marketing automation. It can be a truly great asset that minimizes expenses and helps to differentiate your company brand name in the eyes of your target audience.
Human Resources Automation for a Lending Business
It may come as a surprise, but your human resources department can also improve their productivity with the help of automation. HR deals with tons of data on a daily basis. All or most of it should be processed and formatted automatically, so they don’t need to input it manually.
Recruitment is one of every HR department’s biggest responsibilities. Similar to social media posts, any job listing can be scheduled to go out at a specified time.
Tools like Ideal and Taleo can help lending recruiters filter through resumes and sort them into different categories automatically before a human has ever looked through them. These tools also help to make sure that you are only seeing the resumes of the candidates best suited for each individual job opening. Once the job application process is live, automation will allow you to immediately sort the responses into folders.
Onboarding can be automated by using a cloud-based human resources information system (HRIS) such as Zenefits. With it, your HR department will only need to complete five online fields to begin the onboarding process for each new hire. Zenefits will automatically process employee information after they sign all their agreements online. And when employees leave, HR can remove them from payroll and benefits by initiating COBRA setup with a few clicks.
Streamline Your Lending Business Through Automation
There are many ways for a lending business to be more efficient. Automation is the key to reducing paperwork, mitigating numerous risks connected to human error, reaching your target audience, and simplifying recruiting.
It isn’t always easy, but the measurable results can be immense. Automation used to be a luxury, but today it has become a necessary practice to stay competitive in the lending industry.
If your company is interested in finding out how TurnKey Lender’s market-leading intelligent automation can streamline your business processes, request a free trial.