Spotlight: The Black Knight 2019 Informational Exchange—Digital Transformation in the Mortgage Industry

We sat down with Rich Gagliano, President, Origination Technologies for Black Knight, to spotlight the importance of collaboration, the growing need for Automated Intelligence and the new innovative technology they are introducing. 

Docutech’s ConformX dynamic doc generation and Solex eSignature technology is utilized by Black Knight in their LoanSphere Expedite consumer portal as well as their Empower Now! Loan Origination Software platform.

Collaboration is always an important theme at the Information Exchange. Why do you think this is so crucial to the success of the industry?

 Collaboration is at the core of everything we do at Black Knight, both internally and externally. The theme of this year’s Information exchange built upon that collaborative philosophy: Transforming the Industry Together. We continue to be laser-focused on bringing transformative solutions to the mortgage industry, and to develop our solutions with direct input from our clients. This event allows us to gather feedback from a broad group of experts and use it to help prioritize enhancements to our existing solutions and determine new product innovations.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing our industry as we move forward in the digital age is fragmentation. Through collaboration – between technology providers; between those providers and their clients; between those in the industry and regulatory bodies; and more generally across the industry as a whole – is key to meeting that challenge and eliminating friction and stop gaps.

What was unique about this year’s event in comparison to previous years?

 This year’s IE allowed us to showcase the many ways we are transforming the mortgage industry through innovation, including our artificial intelligence capabilities available through AIVA, our suite of digital offerings to support customer retention, and our actionable analytics. Our breadth of new solutions will help our clients significantly automate and streamline the mortgage process from end-to-end, as well as enhance the consumer experience – which is key to the evolution of the industry. Our clients were extremely excited about these innovative new offerings and what we have on our roadmap.

Many of these solutions were highlighted in the Opening Session, where CEO Anthony Jabbour reminded attendees that we had promised many of these innovations at the 2018 conference, and delivered on them over the past year. He also talked about several solutions that are in the queue that will expand greatly on 2018’s innovation momentum.

One of the most popular events was the Artificial Intelligence session with Soofi Safavi. What are the biggest impacts of this technology you’ve seen thus far, and how do you think it will evolve in the next 5 years?

 Without a doubt, one of the things our clients are most excited about is the promise of using AIVA, our artificial intelligence (AI) virtual assistant. We continue to hear that one of our client’s most pressing goals is to expedite the process of getting a loan approved and closed, while also reducing costs.

Using AIVA, lenders can automate many of the manual tasks in the origination process, such as reviewing bank statements, confirming assets and pre-approving borrowers, which currently draw on so many resources that could be more effectively used elsewhere. Using AIVA to manage these labor-intensive tasks, underwriters and loan processors can spend their time addressing processing exceptions and working more closely with the consumer to achieve a better overall customer experience. AIVA reduces the mortgage timeline, which drives down cost-per-loan and enables staff to handle larger volumes.

Advances in machine learning are letting us do things that were inconceivable just a few years ago, and AIVA’s skillset and knowledge base is continually growing. There is so much room for growth, particularly in the servicing and default. We will continue to collaborate with our clients to identify skills that AIVA can take on, seizing opportunities for automation and efficiency throughout the loan life cycle. Our current roadmap is to focus only on skills that increase a mortgage shop’s efficiency by 70% or more.

How did the technology showcased at the Information Exchange encourage you and attendees about the future of digital mortgages?

 In most cases, applying for a new mortgage remains a time-intensive, paper-laden activity for consumers, with little-to-no visibility into the status of an application during the approval process.  Lenders are looking for ways to both enrich the customer experience and simplify the mortgage origination process.

Using technology tools like APIs enables lenders to continue leveraging the power of their legacy infrastructure, while delivering an innovative, digital customer experience aligned with today’s consumer expectations. This year, we showcased our API Gateway, which is enabling us to connect the industry and to deliver solutions more quickly to meet both client and consumer demand. We also continue to expand on our Servicing Digital capabilities, which enables customers to manage their loan and research details about their home and neighborhood, from a mobile app or via responsive web.

In the Opening Session, we took the audience through a journey featuring a consumer engaging with Black Knight’s technology throughout the entirety of the home buying process, from the online property search, to pre-approval for a mortgage, through to closing, servicing and applying for a home equity loan. Digital mortgages are a reality and the technology to support it is here. Now the challenge is applying the technology to best fit within each bank’s process while decreasing points of friction that could arise from the fragmentation I mentioned earlier.

Regarding the attendees, what were a few takeaways you hoped they would leave with?

 The goal of Information Exchange is for all attendees to make connections and share expertise with industry peers. Most of our clients face common challenges and experiences, and our annual event is an opportunity for them to learn from one another on how to leverage Black Knight solutions and industry best practices within their shop.

No other industry conference allows for this “exchange” of information between lenders and servicers. We all tackle the same challenges every day and together we build solutions that benefit the industry as a whole. That kind of interchange is unique to Information Exchange, and our attendees – and everyone at Black Knight – realize how special that is.

And of course, we wanted attendees to walk away with an appreciation for the innovative solutions we’re developing. On that front, I believe, we exceeded our goals.