A loan administrator’s job is crucial ‒ and hectic. They deal with customer complaints, delinquent loan payments, and other financial headaches and deadlines on a daily basis. But they also get to work closely with applicants, helping them identify and reach their goals. It’s stressful, no doubt, but rewarding.
As your loan administrators work toward ensuring that your financial institution’s loan department generates maximum revenue and business ‒ as well as greater time management and efficiency ‒ many have the advantage of working with a digital loan origination system.
I recently attended a user conference where bank and credit union clients discussed the crucial role of a full-time advocate dedicated to streamlining and optimizing the digital performance of the LOS throughout the organization. This leadership role manages change and encourages others to take ownership in the solution. They ensure the organization is working together toward a greater goal: providing efficiency, consistency, and visibility into the loan process for both the financial institution and its borrowers.
Managing change of any kind in an organization requires teamwork and buy-in. The LOS administrator becomes the change champion, helping light the way for others to follow.
This role can, at times, be a daunting one. Yet having a full-time representative to oversee the day-to-day acceptance and function of a digital platform is vital to the success of its deployment. Administrators play a pivotal role in the adoption, navigation, and configuration of key features, ensuring the platform functions as intended.
Here are some key responsibilities of an LOS administrator that are required to successfully manage a digital loan origination system:
- Set up employee training: The best systems in the world mean nothing if no one knows how to use them and why they are beneficial to your organization. Training should be comprehensive, demonstrating not only what trainees need to do to be successful, but why their actions have an impact. Developing, delivering, and maintaining an effective training program should convert all team members into champions.
- Establish open lines of communication: Change can often be viewed as a disruptive force. When preparing for change, consider the impact it will have on your employees and your borrowers. Establishing open lines of communication will encourage others to not only adopt the solution, but take ownership in it, as well.
- Facilitate system enhancements: Administrators are charged with customizing, configuring, and testing the LOS platform to ensure it aligns with the organization’s business needs, workflows, and regulatory requirements. Deploying enhancements to a production environment helps keep users abreast of important system improvements. Effectively and consistently updating users of these enhancements and how they impact their day-to-day roles is key.
- Safeguard security controls: Implementing and maintaining security protocols is a key function of the role. It allows for a concise audit trail that helps meet regulatory and organizational requirements.
- Provide ongoing training and establish best practices: Technology in financial services is evolutionary ‒ nothing stays the same for long. Maintaining comprehensive records of system configurations such as workflows, user guides, and troubleshooting procedures is beneficial to help end users stay informed and up-to-date on processes. Attend user sessions to ensure proficiency and remain aware of current best practices.
- Record and analyze process performance: A strong understanding of your pre-implementation processes, workflows, and business models and where bottlenecks are taking place will give you a baseline to measure the effectiveness of the system over time. This can help you determine what’s working and what’s not, so you know where to focus efforts and continue to improve.
Implementation and true adoption of a digital loan origination system can involve a lot of technical and logistical details. By balancing those with a dedicated, focused, and inclusive administration team, you can create efficiencies that improve loan margin and reduce overhead.
Don’t be afraid to lean on your LOS partner. A strong partner is a member of your administration team who can help you identify what success looks like and the actions you need to take to get there.
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