Binder Director, Simon Horsfall, a qualified mortgage adviser, explains how the Binder Mortgage Adviser CRM portal came about - with one of the key drivers being the need to find an easier way of managing workflows.
“When you work in the financial services industry, one of the many attractions to whatever job you have is the people connection. Whether you’re advising on mortgages, investments, pensions or a whole raft of other products, what you’re doing is helping people achieve their life goals and build and protect their wealth.
But, as we know too well, our industry is (quite rightly) driven by compliance, which, in turn, means lots of paperwork, audit trails and documentation. As a mortgage adviser, you’ll also be fully aware that things have ramped up even further in the last year with 14 successive interest rate changes which, in turn, has led to additional layers of work in keeping track of the constantly changing offering from mortgage lenders. This has made the need for more agile case management even more important.
Managing a constant trail of conversations from a growing list of clients can cause major headaches, and eat into both work time and family time. This is why we believe that Binder is the ultimate mortgage adviser document management system. This may seem a biased claim but we’re confident with our assertion because this is a mortgage CRM tool designed for mortgage advisers, by mortgage advisers.
When we set out to design it, the biggest issue we wanted to tackle was workflow management. We wanted to create a simple, intuitive mortgage document software system that could help all of us keep on top of the massive trail of conversations and documents that are generated by each mortgage application.
With Binder, we’ve created a secure, access anywhere portal that really does help with workflow efficiency by making it easy to see the progress of each mortgage application. It proactively helps you prioritise each case by showing you updates on the submission of the correct documents, the progress of applications, through to the eventual completion of each deal. Every time you access it, the system has reviewed your caseload and made it easy to identify the applications which need your immediate attention."
Binder is already being used by a number of mortgage companies, including Vista Financial Management. Sean, a Mortgage Adviser and Director at the company explains:
“Binder has uniquely allowed my PA and I to focus more on client requirements and, as a result, deliver better client outcomes instead of getting tangled up in the usual administration issues. It has streamlined and simplified the whole processing of applications which, in turn, has produced quicker offers and insurance terms and therefore quicker completions - with a full audit trail which can only make our business more robust.”
This kind of endorsement is music to our ears as it shows that Binder is actively helping people within the industry grapple with that old chestnut of paperwork getting in the way of dealing with people.
One of the unique features of Binder is the secure Live Chat function which enables mortgage advisers to chat with their clients, thereby removing all the complex layers of conversations via email and WApp. Every conversation, along with every piece of supporting documentation, is securely encrypted and easily accessible in an instant.
With our organisation management feature we’ve created different layers of access, which means that mortgage administrators can access the portal and complete essential admin work on behalf of mortgage advisers. Again, this frees up more quality time for advisers to spend with their clients.
On the FCA compliance side of things, being able to provide an audit of your advice is essential. So we’ve created a simple facility that enables you to download all your client conversations and documents into a secure doc file, without having to collate reams of documents from the whole mortgage application journey.
With Binder now being adopted by more and more mortgage adviser and financial services companies we’re now looking at the next generation of features which will include:
These are just some of the additional features that we’ll be developing in the coming months, and we’ll keep you updated on further enhancements as they come online.
In the meantime, we’re really pleased with the feedback that Binder users are coming back to us with.
“Binder has centralised and made the entire mortgage process a lot more streamlined and efficient, as opposed to having to scour through emails from days and weeks ago.”
The best way to discover Binder’s many features is to explore it for yourself. This is why we’re currently offering a free trial. Sign up today to see how it can change your daily workflow.
