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MortgagePoint ยป Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 28 September 2024 S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T CUSTOMER SUCCESS: SERVICING'S SECRET SUPERPOWER B y J E S S E D E C K E R T he real-time pace of change in markets, regulations, and cus- tomer expectations has shoved mortgage servicers into the same shifts that originators faced after the 2008 housing crisis. This once rigid, transac- tion-focused industry has evolved into a dynamic, customer-centric environment where innovation and execution are tightly intertwined. A driving force powering this evolution is technology, and the growing recognition that customer success is not just a department in technology com- panies delivering for mortgage servicers but a cornerstone of sustainable business growth for both servicers and their tech- nology partners, as well as a reliable asset to a long-lasting partnership. At Sagent, our vision is only realized when servicers deliver positive homeowner outcomes, which puts our customers' success at the foundation of our own. As an innovator and technology provider, this means our entire process for delivering technology solutions, from ideation to implementation, must parallel our own customers' efforts to improve their operations and equip homeowners for success. Sagent and our customers will both succeed by fostering long-term relationships, anticipating and preparing for future market cycles, and exceeding homeowner expectations. For all of us, it's the key difference between a thriving business and one that lives in survival mode (at best). It's from this perspective that I'd like to share what we're learning alongside our customers as they work to deliver positive homeowner outcomes and how that has made customer success at Sagent one of our superpowers as we build a brighter future of servicing. The Shift From Reactive to Proactive Servicing O ld-school servicing was reactive. Servicers responded to customer inquiries, managed payments, and dealt with delinquencies, moving from process to process with "customer experience." across the lifecycle of a loan barely appearing as a blip on the radar. This approach obviously doesn't work for to- day's homeowners, who have on-demand requests and expect seamless, personal- ized experiences. It also doesn't work for servicers, as it's made the cost to service a loan extremely high. Servicers have pivoted remarkably well. Just a few years ago, simple escrow changes would have involved mail-in forms, a physical check, and multiple phone calls or bank trips. And, most dreadful, it would have taken several weeks from start to finish. I handled paying my most recent escrow change in a few seconds on my phone. So yes, most servicers are doing much better, and Sagent delivers the technology that enables this experience. But we're not stopping there, because successful servicers are increasingly shifting their approach from reactive to proactive. For servicers, this could mean using predictive analytics to identify homeown- ers who are at risk of default and don't even know it, or to identify insurance-cost trends to alert customers to potential cost increases before eventual escrow adjustments. The point is that a proactive approach enables the servicer to deliver a tailored solution for the issue before the customer even knows it exists. For Sagent, this means building technology that's scalable for the volumes our customers will manage in a few years, extensible to leverage the latest in emerging AI and other solutions of tomorrow, and easy for homeowners and servicing operators to understand, navigate, and use. It means un- derstanding what's on the regulatory horizon and collaborating with servicers to deliver what they'll need when new compliance requirements impact their workflow. In all cases, we're cultivating a deep understanding of customer needs, J E S S E D E C K E R , EVP of Customer Success, brings over 20 years of experience in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors leading IT strategy and system design, development and implementa- tion, program and project management, and strategic planning and organizational improvement efforts. Most recently, Jesse led and developed customer-facing teams at top mortgage origination fintechs Roostify and Cloudvirga, which serve America's largest banks and lenders. She also spent 15 years in tech strategy for America's largest consulting firms, as well as many years in a boutique firm founded by ex-Deloitte partners. Her passion is customer satisfaction.