Three members of the MBSi leadership team joined Cherokee Media Group for a discussion on using technology to drive innovation and efficiency across the repossession industry. You can listen to a full replay here.
Heather Ford, SVP Product & Communications, kicked off the discussion by talking about the importance of communication when addressing the many challenges that lenders, forwarders and agents face. From avoiding wrongful repossessions and violence against agents, to compliance challenges and manual processes, there are a number of issues that can be solved with effective use of technology.
But to get there, communication is key between lenders, forwarders, agents and vendors. Technology is a vast landscape that changes rapidly. Effective communication and availability of real-time data are critical in making smart and effective decisions – especially when it comes to innovation.
As a SaaS company, MBSi works to understand our clients’ challenges so we can put our technology to work while also innovating new solutions. It’s important to keep a regular cadence of open communication, whether through meetings, informal conversations and feedback loops. Large industry conferences can also be an effective way to stay up to speed on the issues our partners are facing.
Steve Paulsen, MBSi’s VP of Customer Delivery, also discussed several factors to consider when approaching innovation. First, innovations are often thought of as being disruptors – things that change how people think, work or act. But disruptive level innovations are often few and far between. It’s also important to look internally for incremental innovation that can help improve your performance and quality. Don’t forget to ensure that innovations are actionable, sensible, and consider the end-to-end processes rather than focusing on just one aspect of a process or product. And of course, it’s critical to remember the human factor and reality of how an innovation will affect users.
Steve also discussed bleeding edge vs. cutting edge technologies, and the benefits of giving emerging technologies time (six months to a year) to evolve and adapt before jumping in. Finally, he shared an innovation how-to, which involves a basic workflow automation using standard “if/then” coding with rules and responses that address a challenge or improve speed, efficiency or quality.
One of the most exciting recent innovations spanning many industries is artificial intelligence (AI). With businesses eager to dive into AI, Phatela Mosothoane, MBSi’s Chief Technology Officer, cautions that technology, architecture and resource challenges can slow AI implementation. These can include limitations in data collection, infrastructure and talent, as well as cost and lack of resources. He also shared the importance of data security and privacy and the need to consider end-users’ trust when building AI solutions.
All that said, the potential uses of AI are vast and still being unlocked. Among them:
- Summarizing and translating data and converting data formats (audio to text, etc.)
- Extracting data from documents and images
- Responding to consumer questions using chatbots
- Forecasting based on historical data
- Analyzing consumer sentiment
- Detecting fraud, unusual activity and other risks
The bottom line? Along with the excitement and possibilities that AI and other innovations offer, security and transparency are paramount, and improved processes and user experiences should be the drivers when considering new technologies and how to deploy them.
Want to learn more? Listen to the full webinar here or get in touch with us at info@mbsicorp.com.
