Navin Benoy

Professional case study · 01

How to cut decision time when the technology you need is late

A major Australian bank · Broker home lending · 6 months

2 min read

5 → 2 days

To a lending decision, in six months, before any front-end change.

One application, two customers

BorrowerWaiting to buy a home
BrokerSubmits the application
Credit assessorMakes the decision

The person who submits and the person who decides both own the delay.

Before5 days
After2 days

The situation

Mortgage brokers sit between the borrower and the bank, so the bank has two customers: the broker and the borrower. Broker applications took five days to reach a lending decision. That is a long wait for someone trying to buy a home.

The real problem

The obvious fix was technology: give brokers a better way to submit and track applications. We designed it and it was approved at executive level. But the build depended on another programme finishing first, and that programme slipped. Waiting meant five-day decisions would continue.

The decision

There were three options.

Option 1 · Wait

Wait for the other programme, and keep five-day decisions until it landed.

Option 2 · Hold

Hold the team and budget for the build, which the bank could not do while the date was unknown.

Option 3 · Chosen

Change policy and process now, and let the technology follow.

We chose the third, because it was the only one that moved decision time without waiting.

How to work it

  1. Talk to every side of the channel.

    I interviewed brokers, aggregators and the credit assessors who make the decision. Each group saw a different cause of the delay.

    TIP

    In a two-sided channel, the person who submits and the person who decides both own the delay.

  2. Design the long-term fix, then look for what can move now.

    Policy and process can change before technology does.

  3. Find your quick wins through your network.

    I ran workshops with the home lending product team and the policy team to learn what they were already changing to make decisions faster for direct customers. We made similar changes for brokers: fewer documents for simple loans, and a faster route for simple applications. Credit, policy and product made the call together.

    TIP

    The fastest change is often one another team has already made. Your network inside the company is how you find it.

  4. Make the faster way easy for brokers.

    We gave brokers checklists and training packs, and worked with the broker team to triage brokers and show them the faster way to submit. Aggregator training and newsletters reached the rest.

  5. Pilot small and watch one number.

    Premium brokers went first. The measure was the assessor queue for broker deals, checked every week.

  6. Hand it over.

    The new process went to the team that runs it.

What changed

Decision time fell from 5 days to 2 in six months, before any front-end change. Broker feedback improved.

Use this when

  • The long-term fix is technology, but part of the cause is policy and process.
  • You sell through an intermediary, and their experience is your customer's experience.
  • A plan depends on another team's delivery: keep a fallback ready from the start.