Your bank’s C-Suite likely has been tasked with digital transformation. How does your appraisal department fit into this strategic vision?
Successful banks are changing into experience driven organizations. An appraisal and environmental platform needs to be aligned with this goal and a truly personalized experience. The platform needs to provide insight to easily understand your department’s position within the larger organization. The platform needs to create an experience for internal staff, external vendors and the C-Suite. The platform also needs to be personalized for how you work.
Data is the connective tissue that synchronizes all of these experiences.
It’s your data, protect it
Appraisal departments have mountains of data. Confirm that your current appraisal ordering provider is not mining and reselling YOUR data. At Realwired, we believe the data is yours.
What kind of data can you pull from an appraisal? The obvious stuff starts with land, improved and rent comparables. This then flows into indices such as price per square foot/unit/key/acre, capitalization rates and expense ratios. The data can further lead to asset insight including tenant rollover as it relates to collateral risk. Lease rollover dates also may indicate potential TI and leasing commissions not addressed in the appraisal.
The appraisal report may also include physical condition assessment that may lead to a capital expense budget requirement. Taking a step back, the collective in-house reports can also tell your asset allocation with geographical and borrower accuracy.
Educate your C-Suite on why you need a budget to get the data.
Automation to experience
Digital transformation is no longer about the technology but rather the clients’ use of software. Sanjib Sahoo, chief digital officer of Ingram Macro indicates, “… more than 84% of the digital transformation fail to deliver the value that they started with.” The secret ingredient to success is a productive mindset fueled with leadership energy.
What does this mean for appraisal departments? It means that the C-Suite needs to be more involved with your appraisal department as technologies continue to evolve through measuring customer satisfaction, improving the client experience and delivering a tangible business value.
Digital transformation is not just the automation, such as appraisal workflow. Rather, automation to experience can be established department wide. The automation and the back end drives that experience for your RMs/LOs, customers, vendors and staff.
Where’s your appraisal department going
At Realwired, we realize that focusing on improving the experience doesn’t ever really stop because experience equals value. It’s hard to take out complexity of the business model but it’s the Holy Grail of a happy customer experience.
The old playbook was innovation first and then try to get adoption. This model is broken. The goal today is to create a digital roadmap of where your department is going and needs to be positioned. This is especially critical for appraisal departments that feel they’re just a cost center and are not synchronized with overall bank operations.
Does your appraisal ordering provider show you their development roadmap? They should.
Start with the experience
The appraisal process has historically been one of the slowest part of getting a loan. A transformative mindset requires that status quo change. Get a seat at the table with the C-Suite to facilitate discussions of productivity along with transparency.
Start with the experience and then work backwards with the technology. Focus on the value for your staff and external users (C-Suite and appraisal vendors). So, as you meet with your staff, ask which providers care about your experience. This goes for fee appraisers as well.
Elevate your appraisal department.
