HIGHLANDS RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE
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T he downturn in the mortgage lending market around a decade ago resulted in financial regulators imposing strict requirements on borrowing . New technology has been crucial to ensuring operations run smoothly , however as Joshua Hebert , Senior VP and CIO of Highlands Residential Mortgage explains , rather than being a hindrance , this has turned out to be a win-win for the industry .
Highlands Residential Mortgage , founded in 2010 , has seen explosive growth in the last five years . To help manage this the organization reached out to Joshua Hebert , who has over 15 years ’ experience in mortgage banking .
The financial crisis of the late noughties brought with it increased regulation , but Herbert explains that this has in fact lent itself well to technology . “ Now we ’ ve got to put all these requirements in place , what better solution is there than technology to do that ?” he explains . “ It created a level playing field amongst all the companies in this industry , because now everyone has to operate in the same way .”
It has also transformed the experience for customers . “ For many years it was like buying a car ,” he says . “ You sit in front of someone and fill out reams of paper , but now a consumer completes an online application , and provides all of the necessary information to us .”
On a broader scale , it enables the organization to operate with more flexibility in a fluctuating market . “ There is a constant disruption where volume goes up and down ” Hebert explains . “ It ’ s cyclical to some degree due to the timing throughout the year when people buy their homes , but you have to utilize technology to make it very flexible , especially in cost . The old days of buying a solution outright and trying to use it over the next three to five years is not as prevalent anymore . Now it ’ s like leasing technology , you ’ re paying either per unit or per seat and a lot of times those contracts are written in a way that ’ s very flexible , so if your company grows the technology and the cost grow with it , if the company downsizes , the cost comes down .”
As a result , Highlands has switched from CAPEX ( the capital expenditure model ) to OPEX ( the operating expense model ), where they pay-per-site and employee
SEPTEMBER 2018