In the first of this “Full Transparency | On End-to-End” series we talked with the defi Executive Leadership Team about why defi SOLUTIONS is now talking end-to-end, when previously we talked about singular products:
In this next question, the team tackles:
What problems do we think end-to-end allows us to solve?
Starting off the conversation is CEO Tom Allanson, followed by: (in alphabetic order):
- Jason Barrett, Chief Client Success Officer
- Steve Bissett, VP, Client Services, BPO
- David Call, Chief Financial Officer
- Matthew Lehman, CLO/CHRO
- Dave Murray, Chief Product Officer
- Drew Newman, CIO/CTO
- Susie Storey, Chief Sales Officer
Tom (CEO): When a product is new, problem solving and making improvements is simple. But after a product has evolved to a certain point, iterating to make it better is really complex. At some point, you have to say, “Hold on for a minute, let me relook at the problem that we originally created this solution for and see if there’s a better way to solve that problem.” I think we’re at that stage. Our originations and servicing products and services have been around for a long time and everybody’s trying to make small improvements to be better than the other, improve their value proposition, and get a leg up on the competition. I say, let’s rethink the whole thing.
Let’s ask ourselves to imagine a totally different way for consumers to get into a vehicle, to get that vehicle through payoff or other disposition, and to get into the next one. I think we can do that.
Vehicle ownership is never ending. Typically, a person gets into a first vehicle and as soon as they’re done with that one, they’re going to get another. We should be positioning the consumer to move into the next most appropriate thing. Our systems could contain all the information about the entire borrower experience from the time they bought their first vehicle to the time they got their next one, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next.
Years ago when Chrysler and Daimler came together, the biggest difference between those two companies was their perspectives. Chrysler looked at the transaction from a vehicle perspective. They could tell you everything that ever happened to the vehicle — where it was manufactured, where it was serviced, where it was sold, where it is right now. Daimler could tell you about the person that bought the vehicle — about their family members and what vehicles they have had. We have to look at it like Daimler did, from the consumer’s perspective and understand what the borrower is looking for and how we provide the ability to deliver those experiences.
Matt (Legal): Our internal efficiencies, singular code base, platforms that speak well with one another, teams that coordinate and seamlessly handoff from implementation through support will improve the client experience.
Susie (Sales): We’re moving in the right direction by putting our products together in a way that they integrate and speak to each other — look the same, feel the same, and have the same foundation. We’re thinking about what’s next and what our clients need in order to serve the full lifecycle. This always goes back to our client’s customer and having systems that streamline and make things easier for our clients. We need to help them better serve their customers and create the best customer experience, which then creates loyalty and repeat customers. Our clients want us to help them. And our products need to be there.
Dave (Product): There is an efficiency problem that gets solved. Product siloes and team siloes are natural things that happen in our organization and in the clients’ organizations. Lending is complex and both organizations are breaking it into smaller components. We break it down to build it. They break it down to operate it. But it’s our job to recognize the problems and inefficiencies that causes, and to solve for the inefficiencies by building with an end-to-end view. For example, when a client originates a contract, there needs to be a seamless integration to servicing that contract. If our products have the end-to-end holistic viewpoint, that integration is far more efficient. If there’s a change in contract requirements that affects how we service that contract, the change is quickly and efficiently handled, if you’ve got an end-to-end system.
Drew (CIO/CTO): Architecting, developing, and delivering products in an end-to-end fashion let us put our best foot forward, and demonstrate both market-leading capabilities and subject matter expertise. It allows us to build our products in a more componentized, modular form and improves time to market, which is critical for our clients. Document storage and retention is a simple example. For clients using the entire lifecycle, we streamline the process – from originations application – gathering needed documents, keeping them as part of the originations journey, and then also leveraging the documents for servicing purposes. By thinking end-to-end from the start, when clients bring us requests or we are bringing market-leading capabilities to market, we can deliver in a much faster manner.
David (Finance): We solve the hassle of our clients having to piece together an end-to-end solution on their own through multiple vendors. Our clients don’t want to be bothered with something that isn’t their core competency. They want to focus on what they’re good at and let us do what we’re good at. They can sort of check the box, give it all to us, and we’ll take it from there. Then, we’ve solved not a micro problem for our clients, but more of a macro problem. At the end of the day, ultimately, our clients’ satisfaction goes up, their customers’ satisfaction goes up, and their total cost of ownership goes down.
Steve (Client Services, BPO): defi BPO is uniquely positioned. We are both a service of defi and a client – we are one of the largest users of defi’s servicing system. Having an end-to-end service allows us to perform all tasks and enables better handoffs. Seamless operational flow allows us to operate more effectively and compete at a level that a piecemeal solution can’t. It also allows us to get clients to market faster. They don’t have to spend time integrating various solutions, putting all the pieces together. They come to us. We stand them up quickly and get them to market much faster than if they were doing it on their own.
Jason (Client Success): If I had to boil it down to one word, it would be continuity. There’s value in flexibility, configurability, and letting our clients adapt our systems to their lending processes, but our tools need continuity to enable our clients to do what they need to do intuitively and easily. It should be standard and simple. Microsoft Office is a great example. It’s just amazing that you can create content in a Word document and it’s easily transferable to Excel and PowerPoint. Saving a document is exactly the same, regardless of which application it is. Building that kind of standardization into our products and services doesn’t limit the capability of the products, but it makes them easier to implement and configure and use.
New financing moments and new concepts of personal transportation will also bring change. The electric vehicle is another example where there may be subsequent financing or purchase moments that occur after the original vehicle purchase. Moments, such as consumers buying extended life battery, an ability for greater torque, or new entertainment capabilities, may trigger a change to the loan or the lease. Individual financial purchases that happen in servicing but are linked back to originations provide understanding of that borrower and their finances. These will be of huge value to lenders in making those sort of changing variable processes more harmonized throughout the lifecycle.
Read next: Full Transparency | On End-to-End: Similar Successes