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25 December 2025 December 2025 » C O V E R S T O R Y an upfront investment that will help our clients in the long term. Q: Labor shortages continue to challenge preservation firms nationwide. What are the biggest hurdles you face when recruiting and retaining qualified field contractors today? PASALA: The cost structure is certain- ly prohibitive, as are the restrictions we face when it comes to the level of train- ing we can provide for our independent contractor providers. There is also a lack of instruction from an industry guide- line perspective. They outline the result but not how to get there, and that leaves a lot open to interpretation. Ambiguity can be a challenge. Q: How do generational shifts in the workforce— especially younger workers' expectations for technology, flexibility, and communication— affect the way you structure field operations or training programs? PASALA: We adapt our training programs to meet the needs of each individual we are working with. We are cognizant of the fact that today's young- er generations are very conscious of the environment, work-life balance, person- al safety, and mental health. We have shifted to a more flexible work environ- ment, with work-from-home options and flexible scheduling to accommodate the needs of today's employees. Q: There has been notable consolidation across field services and related sectors in recent years. How is this reshaping the competitive landscape? PASALA: The shift has been needed, in a sense, to right-size the industry, where default volumes have been decreasing for many years. However, it has minimized the number of options our clients have. Q: How is ServiceLink leveraging technology to improve efficiency or compliance in field services today? PASALA: ServiceLink is at the fore- front of leveraging advanced technology to enhance efficiency and compliance in mortgage field services, particularly through its proprietary EXOS Technolo- gies platform, which integrates artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-based systems to automate work- flows, reduce turnaround times, and en- sure regulatory adherence across default management processes. Central to this is EXOS One Marketplace®, a comprehen- sive asset decisioning hub that provides servicers and investors with real-time, portfolio-wide visibility into property statuses via personalized performance dashboards, predictive analytics and geospatial modeling—enabling users to drill down to ZIP-code-level forecasts for repair probabilities, water intrusion risks or other preservation needs based on historical data and environmental factors, thereby optimizing costs, min- imizing losses and justifying claims in audits by embedding HUD guidelines, timelines and claimable expense calcu- lators directly into the interface. This tool collectively addresses fragmented workflows by consolidating data from field services, auctions, loss analysis and asset management into a single ecosystem, fostering proactive de- cision-making amid labor shortages and economic volatility, while built-in com- pliance checks—such as transactional claimability reviews and exception flagging—help navigate diverse investor requirements (e.g., FHA vs. GSE loans) without manual intervention, ultimately driving greater scalability, accuracy and resilience in an industry grappling with rising property complexities. Q: How do you balance the human expertise required for nuanced field decisions with the increasing automation of inspections, reporting, and quality assurance? PASALA: We always work hard to ensure we're providing our clients and field partners with a white glove service, keeping that human touch and having a person involved every step of the way. We have open lines of communication for those nuanced situations, and they can get a hold of a person at all hours of the day, so we can facilitate and partner with them for the unique decisions that are needed for a given asset. We have streamlined our real-time communica- tion to ensure there is always a human to provide support and expertise. "The shift has been needed, in a sense, to right-size the industry, where default volumes have been decreasing for many years. However, it has minimized the number of options our clients have." —Raquel Pasala, VP, ServiceLink