Mobility apps and smart phones drive business evolution

By: Brett Spencer, CEO Stargate

In today’s day and age, more and more users are turning to smart phones and tablet devices in their day to day lives.

Mobile consumption of video, web and “apps” are becoming more and more the norm as we sit down to watch TV on our tablets and laptops in between checking our emails, chatting on Skype, multi-posting on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, often simply posting “Watching TV, nothing on at the moment” in as succinct a method as possible.

While our private lives are crossing into more public lives and we consume information on our mobile devices, what about actually working on our mobile devices?

Everyone is pretty familiar with the usual scene of seeing someone checking their phones while waiting for public transport; friends hanging out ‘online’ together while sitting next to each other; let’s be honest, we’ve all been caught out checking our emails when we should be lavishing more attention on our loved ones.

But who is familiar with the business person reaching for their mobile device in order to process your home loan?

This is not the most common practice seen today and a strong correlation needs to be drawn to what is considered the social norm for both our personal and professional lives.

While it’s ok to be seen writing a full length novel in an email, who hasn’t said the line, ‘just give me two seconds to write this email honey’, is it ok to be seen completing an entire application form on your mobile?

With the advent of larger screen devices, such as iPad’s, various Android and Windows based tablets and Playbooks, it’s now becoming more and more common to sit in a meeting and reach for your tablet rather than get the laptop out, find a power source and hope your slow dongle gets you online.

The younger generation are the next home owners, the next home BUYERS and they are the ones that need to be impressed with the services that we offer today.

With the average teenager now consuming more information in one day than our parents did in a year, it’s no wonder that these next home owners want things done yesterday.

Don’t be afraid to embrace the new technologies on offer, adapt to the ever changing technology landscape and provide state of the art service to all prospective borrowers, regardless of the generation gap.

Brett has been actively involved in the Australian Mortgage industry for almost 20 years. Having started his career at Interstar Securities whilst completing a triple degree in Business, Finance & Accounting, he has worked in all facets of the mortgage process from broking, arrears and credit management, customer service, underwriting, loan processing, sales and marketing through to technology.

After being part of the non-bank mortgage landscape in his 10 years at Interstar, he co-founded the current Stargate business in the late 1990’s. Has been instrumental in introducing the first Automated Underwriting Platform, Mortgage Broker CRM System, BPO Loan Processing Solution and Automated Valuations platform into the Australian Mortgage Landscape.

Under Brett’s leadership, the Stargate Group has won the MFAA Excellence Award for Best Support Services Provider in 2007, 2010 and 2011 along with being a 5 time finalist for the AMA Best Industry Service Award.