Adapting To Change And Distruptors In The Industry – Finance Q&A with Laura Sillano

Nadine: What do you see is the biggest change or disruptor within the mortgage broking industry within the next two years and how do you think brokers can adapt?

Laura: I think there’s probably a few. One is around technology and innovation. There’s a lot of capability that’s coming out within our technology space. Within information technology, within being able to use apps for particular things. Being able to convert voice to text. All of that kind of technology that hasn’t been embraced on a mainstream level as well as the ability to remote. So to be able to work collaboratively with people online and not necessarily in the same office.

So I think that’s a disruptor as well as then potentially, obviously, whatever happens within legislation. There’s a few things there that have the capacity to disrupt our industry, I think.

Nadine: Okay. So, with those disruptions, what would you recommend brokers do to be able to adapt to that scenario?

Laura: With the IT stuff, embrace it. Just embrace it. It’s here. As long as we learn to use it and we adapt, we can use it to our advantage. It’s actually really powerful. So definitely embrace the ability to collaborate and to be able to work remotely and do those kind of things. Because it’s a means to be able to communicate better and collaborate better.

Nadine: You have a couple of Virtual Assistants. How would you say that that is a disruptor in the industry? Do you think it’s a positive or a negative?

Laura: Definitely positive. Mortgage brokers in general I feel are predominantly under-supported. We do a lot, we wear a lot of hats, the majority of us are small business owners so it’s more family-owned businesses and without necessarily the resources of larger operations. So it’s a really viable way to move forward and accessible as well.

Nadine: That technology that you’re talking about with the remote accessibility really does help to make it a lot easier.

Laura: Yeah. Whether the team is in Australia or outside of Australia, that remote ability is great.

Nadine: Okay, awesome.