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Hi Outsourcins, and welcome to the Inside Outsource Podcast.
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Proudly brought to you by Outsource Financial.
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I'm your host, Janille Gibson, and I'm excited to be bringing you these conversations designed to support, inspire, and elevate you in your brokering journey.
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Welcome to another episode of Inside Outsource.
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I'm really excited about today's conversation because we're talking about some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing brokers right now.
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And that's technology.
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We've got AI, cybersecurity, and what does all of that mean for the future of our industry?
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So joining me is Heather Gallagher, the head of customer success at SalesTricker.
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Heather has worked alongside brokers for so many years, helping them improve their businesses, help them embrace change, and make better use of technology.
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Heather, welcome to Insight Outsource.
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Tell us about your journey into financial services and what led you through to SalesTricker.
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Oh, geez, we've got to go back a long way.
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I actually was in recruitment and one of the major banks was my client.
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I was actually recruiting for a lending role in a branch.
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And the state manager for the bank at the time said, the problem is I don't want any of these candidates.
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I want you.
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I said, I don't know anything about lending.
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He said, You have all the other skills.
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I can insert swear word here, teach you that.
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And that's how I got into banking and financial services and found my home.
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And for the past 15 years, probably now, I've been in that third party space working for banks, spent a long time working for outsource, so still feels like home a lot of the time.
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And then just about two years ago, an opportunity came up for a new challenge.
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And that was joining Sales Tracker as the head of customer success.
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I always say that I'm the non-techie at a tech company and I don't speak technology, I speak broker.
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And I think that was a really exciting opportunity.
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And I welcome the chance that Dalimore gave me to do this.
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Wow.
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So much influence and experience from so many different facets of the financial industry.
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So thinking about that, what do you feel has been the biggest challenge that you've seen within the industry over the past decade?
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Gee, there's been so many.
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When I think about all the things that we've gone through, if I think back about the challenges, there's two.
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And one of the biggest challenges is what we're going through right now.
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And I'll come to that one in a minute.
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But one of the biggest challenges and also the biggest opportunity is actually when COVID hit.
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Pre-COVID, you were still getting documents wet signed by a client and you were going to their house or they were coming to your office.
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And that happened, that shift to we're going to interact on screen happened literally within a matter of two or three weeks.
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And I think that was a big change and a big shift for brokers.
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Not just from a how I'm going to learn to use technology point of view, but also just from a human interaction point of view.
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We went from seeing five or 10 people today for those soul man operators to maybe only see themselves and their families every day.
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And I was really lucky because I was working at Outsource at the time and we use Sales Tracker.
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And Dallabor was a visionary and was able to see and implement a lot of tools like our interview mode and the digital signing and all of these things that we brought in to assist brokers.
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And I think that was the part of the first real steps in this journey to thinking about how can a CRM platform like Sales Tracker assist brokers in more than just writing alone, right?
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But the other really big challenge over the last 10 years is what's happening right now, and it which is what we're going to be talking about today.
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It is AI, it is cyber, it is not just that technology is changing because technology has always changed.
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But the speed at which things are changing right now is really challenging for everybody.
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And I think that this may be one of the biggest challenges.
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I can remember those days myself, absolutely.
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I think that it did propel our use of technology forward decades within such a short amount of time.
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Heather, you've always been super passionate about helping brokers become business owners.
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What do the most successful brokers do that little bit differently?
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So I think when I look at successful businesses, one thing they have in common is they spend time, and it's cliche, working on their business, not in their business.
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And it's a challenge.
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The successful ones make that transition from I'm a mortgage broker to I'm a business owner.
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And they use technology where it's warranted to save them time, speed things up, and allow them more time with their clients.
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And I think that's the real difference.
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So we've just been talking about the evolution of technology and how it's changed and evolved dramatically, especially since 2020 when we all locked down.
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So how would you describe the current state of the technology adoption within the specifics of our industry?
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So one of the things I think that people think about a lot is oh, how is AI going to change the way a broker works?
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The first thing I want to be really clear about is AI is not something that's coming to brokering.
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It's already here.
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So to give you an idea and some stats around this, we did an AI webinar with a panel of experts a couple of months ago, and I ran some polls.
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And when I talked to brokers about do they believe AI is essential to the future of their business, 45% said they're already using it, and 53% are actively exploring how they can use it in their business.
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So brokers are absolutely embracing the idea of AI and that kind of technology piece in there.
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But the thing that I want to, and you'll hear this as a common theme in everything that I say is that AI is really exciting for brokers.
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But what is exciting for me is it doesn't replace what a broker does and their core value to the consumer.
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AI is taking away the busy work, the low value tasks, the things that they don't need to be doing so that they can focus on the things that generate activity that raises the value of their business.
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When I look at how brokers are using it, it's things like that old-fashioned way of emailing 10 BDMs or ringing up hotlines and waiting on hold to do product and lender research and understanding the gray areas of policy.
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It's that help with compliance.
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It's summarizing your information into clear notes that are easy to read.
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It's doing things that it's like scanning documents, which is not AI, but which is like OCR optical scanning of documents to populate fields.
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It's things that are repetitive and low value.
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And that's where I think the real play for brokers is when it comes to this kind of technology.
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And look, that's really how we've approached AI at Sales Tracker as well.
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We've introduced tools like the compliance AI and policy AI.
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These are designed for those things that brokers said we would like tools to make this faster and frictionless as much as possible for us.
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But all of these things are designed to not take the broker out of the process.
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It's to get them the information faster.
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AI should always be the assistant.
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AI should never be the decision maker, as we say.
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And let's be honest, using AI still needs that human intervention because if we start thinking about the risks that are involved, often I talk about hallucinations and the output of AI can sometimes be wrong.
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Organizations like SalesTricker.
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What are you doing to ensure that there is the balance of innovation?
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What is your viewpoint around that responsible use of AI to ensure that you maintain that compliance and especially the data security?
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Because let's be honest, our brokers have so much access to very sensitive information.
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And often I think brokers may become complacent in what they are actually using AI for and potentially inadvertently, without even thinking, create data risks, create privacy breaches.
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What are those practical things that brokers can do whilst using AI but still keeping things safe?
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So important.
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And I guess this is one of those things that keeps me up thinking about data security and consumer data protection.
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We made a very deliberate decision at Sales Tracker that we will not share personally identifiable information with our AI tools.
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We've got a lot more technology behind how and what we do that.
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But we think AI is very useful, but we are skeptical and not trusting of it.
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So what do we mean by that?
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If you deep dive into the privacy policies of all of the large AI companies that own all of the engines that everybody uses, you will see in there things like we won't sell your data, et cetera.
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But they do say they share it with their partners and may share it with their partners.
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And who are the largest partners of any of these people?
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It's people like Google and Amazon and Meta and Microsoft.
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I don't know where the future of AI is going to go with these big companies who have invested billions of dollars.
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I don't know how they're going to make the money back on$30 subscriptions, right?
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So we're very skeptical about it.
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If you've been following the news over the last few weeks, there have been a couple of instances where AI tools, particularly these new generation AI tools, have escaped the sandboxes, as they said, and gone rogue and done things they weren't supposed to.
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So we have been very deliberate and we've done that in ways that we direct our AI engines, say, to look at one particular field, like the first name of a client.
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It will look at what the occupation is.
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It will look at what the street name is.
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So if you said it was Heather, head of customer success, Smith Street, which is not my real street name, that's not personally identifiable information.
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We're not giving the full name.
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We're not giving the date of birth.
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We're not giving the employer name.
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We're not giving their full street address.
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We might give a credit score, but we're not giving it access to their credit report.
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That is the hill that we will die on as we will not share personal identifiable information with AI tools.
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I think that that is a really good starting point for brokers when they think about using AI.
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I'm on a lot of broker Facebook groups, for example.
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And there's lots of people with questions about what's the best way to do this or how I'm spending so much time on these financials or I'm doing this.
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And every single time somebody pops a comment in, oh, I chucked it in my chat GPT, I chucked it in my cloud, I chucked it in my co-pilot.
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And chucking client financials into these things, you've just given your AI tool all of your clients' most trusted information.
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So I think that's one thing to think about.
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And then the other piece about this is that there are so many shiny new toys out there.
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Every single day there's somebody going, oh, we can sell you this AI tool that will do this and this one that does this and this one that does this.
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And brokers are jumping at everything.
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First of all, there's cost involved in all of it, but they're not thinking through who is that company, what is their security?
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And so I think if brokers can use AI tools without putting personally identifiable information into it, and it makes sense, I think it's worth exploring, but be cautious.
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I'm a big fan of Mr.
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and Mrs.
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X.
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There's no personal identical data in there, and being able to then transfer and transpose that information to what and where is appropriate.
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So great tangible tips that you provide us.
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And thank you so much, Heather.
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Brilliant.
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So let's think about for listeners who may not have seen the latest developments within SalesTricker, what are you most excited about now?
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There's so many things that we've just recently done from an AI point of view, but also just from a system improvement point of view.
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Compliance AI, which is the tool that provides you with very good comprehensive compliance notes designed to meet Essex requirements.
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That is one of the best things I've ever seen.
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We have also launched the translate AI.
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And I think a lot of people are not paying attention to this and not thinking about it in the right way.
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When you are trying to communicate with maybe a client who English is not their first language, and you need to get an important point across.
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Like let's say you're doing a fixed rate loan and you need to talk about fixed rate lock-in and make sure they really understand what happens if they don't accept it.
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You can put that message in English and you never know for sure if they really get it.
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But with translate AI, you can actually put it in their native language to ensure they get it.
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You can see the note in both English and in their native language so that from a compliance point of view, everybody can see what was said.
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It allows people in both those circumstances to write more, to be more specific, and have really good files in ways that maybe they couldn't before.
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I think it's a real sleeper that doesn't get enough attention.
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The other one, of course, is policy AI, which is our partnership with Scenario that gives you really good policy advice.
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In our next deployment in September, Scenario has made some changes to the way their screens work, which makes it a little bit easier for brokers to even follow a bouncing ball and follow a process.
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So I'm very excited about that.
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And then the other one, which we'll be launching with a lot of our partners soon, is the audit AI.
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So this is the one I'm really excited about for brokers.
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As we know, the kind of audit process now really is historical data.
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You're auditing things that happened two, three, four, five, six months ago.
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Files that are done, files are complete.
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And if there is a problem, you're finding out about it months later.
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There's no corrective action time.
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And so with audit AI, this will in real time, before you push the deal through to apply online, did you compare enough products?
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Did you offer the lowest cost solution?
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Do you have file notes that explain why what the client said were their priorities is met by this loan?
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If you combine compliance AI to do your notes, which you have to read and check because AI hallucinates, and then you run audit AI on your file to see any gaps you missed.
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And that one of the things I always say is a client might do an online fact-find.
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And when they get to the priorities thing, they say, I don't want a fixed rate loan.
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And so then the broker meets with them and has a conversation with them and talks about rates and their concerns about the market.
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And the client says, you know what, actually, I do want a fixed rate.
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So the broker on the product compare screen does a fixed rate loan, hits all the way through to the end, but never goes back and changes that requirement because they forgot to.
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This is going to pick up that kind of stuff.
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This is, and this is the kind of stuff that the regulators are interested in.
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The client said they didn't want this and you gave them this product.
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Why did you do it?
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Without commentary, without changing it.
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And so it really is a tool for the broker to fix things in the moment.
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And it also allows the aggregators to get real-time data on who maybe is struggling, who maybe is missing something in their process and provide coaching that's meaningful and relevant, and then also be able to focus on people who maybe need more help.
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The other place this is really helpful is not just to the aggregator and the individual broker.
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But if you are a brokerage who say has eight or 10 brokers working under you, as the head broker in that group, you can get access to that data on how everybody's performing.
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Because as we know, the way it works in the industry now, if one person in a business gets in trouble for something, the whole business can get into trouble.
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So it is a risk mitigant for those larger brokerages to ensure as well.
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And so we're really excited about that.
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And we are looking at bringing in some changes to how that can be set up at the aggregator level to give a little bit more flexibility.
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One of the other things we're looking at doing, and this is not AI, but this is using technology and it is that OCR functionality.
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It's the ability to scan a driver's license, a passport, a Medicare card, a pay slip, whatever, and pre-fill in the data from the document into the deal.
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That's not AI.
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We're not giving AI tools.
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That's a specific piece of technology.
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We're looking at setting that up.
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So less keying in boxes, less data to fill in.
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And then ultimately where we're going is with open banking technology.
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And I'm not willing to talk about who the providers are that we're talking to.
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Imagine this, Tanil.
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You are my client.
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I send you a client portal.
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You accept the credit guide and privacy.
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As soon as you do that, it can run within the portal, run an Equifax inquiry, and we'll pre-populate information from Equifax into the deal.
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You can run an Equifax verification exchange, validate and pre-populate income.
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And you can have an open banking solution that takes care of filling in some assets and liabilities and living expenses and all of that.
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And so that when you as the client get to the portal, you're checking information.
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And maybe you have less than half, probably less than half of what you'd have to fill in now.
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Broker doesn't have to collect as many documents up front.
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People aren't having to validate the information.
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It's a completely different world.
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And that's where we're headed.
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Probably sooner than you think.
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It'd be much more difficult to fraudulently provide all of that information and that details.
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It's really going to help weed out some of those, you know, if they just use their powers for good instead of evil.
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And of those mass fraudulent applications that, you know, let's not be naive.
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It is a real shift to brokers working with validated data, not give me your pay slips and your bank statements, and I need to assess it and I need to analyze it and I need to ring your employer and I need to do this and I need to check this and I need to do that.
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But getting factual verified data.
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Now imagine you're a business with six brokers and maybe eight or 10 support staff, and both support staff are doing all that validation work and checking it and verifying it and doing all of that.
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Imagine if one or two of those resources didn't need to be doing that.
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They could be spending time on client retention phone calls and loan follow-ups and client nurturing post-settlement to generate more opportunities, more referrals.
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We're not ever saying that brokers are going to need less people.
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I just think they'll be doing different jobs and maybe slightly more fulfilling jobs.
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That's where I was going to lead.
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It's so much more fulfilling, actually, doing that connection piece than rather than effectively just being a data processor and just doing the math and checking the boxes and it provide that so much greater satisfaction in what they're doing.
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And is it getting that next investment or helping my business to grow in a way that maybe I've never had the opportunity to do that before?
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Not only your brokerage business, but also the client's business as well.
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Success breeds success.
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It's about finding that opportunity to help your client that little bit further.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:17.359
I'm always a very big fan of diversification and really being able to provide solutions to clients' problems and solutions to bridge that gap to where they are now, to where they want to be.
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.319
And how exciting is it to be part of that journey?
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:21.039
Absolutely.
00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:24.240
I want to share a stat with you because I think you'll find this very interesting.
00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:34.160
And this is why I think it's really important for brokers to be cautious with AI, to be mindful of who they're partnering with.
00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:38.880
So we've done a couple of really big sessions over the last few months with external providers.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.880
We did one on AI and recently did one on cyber and data security.
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.640
And let me share this fact with you.
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:51.680
Eight percent of the overall respondents said they were either already using AI or exploring it in our AI webinar.
00:18:51.920 --> 00:19:01.519
But when we did our cybersecurity webinar, one of the questions we asked was, Do you feel like you are completely on top of your cybersecurity process and policy in your business?
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.240
Only 13% of them said they feel like they're on top of their cybersecurity.
00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:15.759
Now, the disconnect for me there is if lots of people are using AI and almost everybody's using it to some degree, are they mindful about how they're using it?
00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.359
Are they using it responsibly?
00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:22.079
If they're feeling like they're not really completely aware and on top of cybersecurity.
00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.359
And cybersecurity is not, I'm not even talking about sales tracker.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:32.880
I'm talking about their emails, their drives, what's in their text messages, what's on their phone, do they lock their computer, a million other things.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:41.200
We spend a lot of time at Sales Tracker thinking about cybersecurity and data security because we know what's in the system.
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:46.640
It's one of the reasons that we moved to mandatory MFA in 2.0.
00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.279
It was always recommended in one, but we didn't enforce it.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:54.960
Shout out to Outsource, who had the highest percentage of brokers who had their MFA on in V1.
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.240
We really appreciate that.
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.920
But that is mandatory in V2.
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.680
And that to me is not a yay feature.
00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.480
That's a hygiene come to work feature when you think about that.
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.799
And my question for all of those people who are resisting that do you have MFA on your email?
00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.000
Do you have it on your drive?
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:16.400
Do like all your other systems that you use, are you using some kind of protection?
00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:17.680
There's so many things.
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.880
If you want me to at some point, I can send you the link to that webinar.
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.519
I'm welcome for you to share that with your listeners as well.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.480
It's aggregator agnostic, and it's it's really important for brokers to be thinking about all of that.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.599
Like that's a whole nother kind of two-hour conversation.
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:39.200
But I just think the technology adoption is happening so fast that people aren't putting the guardrails up when they're thinking about they're just excited.
00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:46.720
What would be your number one tip in relation to protecting themselves in relation to that cybersecurity?
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.000
What's one adoption that they can start from today?
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.200
Get them moving forward with their cybersecurity.
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:54.960
I will give a disclaimer.
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.079
I am not a qualified cyber data security expert.
00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.279
There are people out there who are.
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:04.400
But there are a couple of things that I would suggest that brokers are doing.
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:10.960
Using password managers, not just the some things come to your email and all that.
00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:20.240
And the other one I would suggest is do not save anything in your browser password saving system.
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.920
And let me explain why.
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:26.079
So I use Chrome, and whenever you log into anything, Chrome says, Do you want to save your password?
00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:26.559
Great.
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:27.759
No, don't do it.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:28.480
And here's why.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:36.000
Let's say I log on to my Gmail, work Gmail on my computer.
00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:37.440
I save the password in there.
00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.920
And for some reason, I then decide to log into my personal Gmail on the same computer.
00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:46.640
When you do that, it syncs passwords across multiple devices.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.559
So password managers for everything.
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.519
My password manager on my work computer has everything saved.
00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.440
The other one I would say is slow down.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759
It's the email thing.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.160
That comes to you, do they make sense?
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.920
Is it coming from a right person?
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:05.279
Does it look like it makes sense?
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.920
And I'll give an example of one that I got a few weeks ago.
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.440
I got this email from a broker.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:10.960
I get emails from brokers all the time.
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:17.759
It's not anybody whose name I recognize, but it was here's a link to the data you requested, and it was a drive link, right?
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.359
I didn't click on it.
00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:22.079
I'm like, why is this person I don't know sending me something?
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.279
So question, right?
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.799
I took a screenshot, I deleted it, rang the broker, he didn't answer.
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:28.799
I rang his aggregator as well.
00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:37.759
I looked up the broker's actual email address, didn't respond to the email, sent him an email, and I got this auto reply that said, the link I sent you is correct, please click on it.
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.119
I'm like, I'm not clicking on that.
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:43.440
The broker rang me a number of hours later and just said, yes, his email had been compromised.
00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:44.559
People click on stuff.
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.599
People don't think about it.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:55.200
If you're getting an email from somebody that is a person you expect, especially on your phones, where you don't necessarily see the full email address, always look at where it comes from.
00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:01.680
I think that's one of the things because it's a really good way to get malware on your computer and for people to get access to your inbox.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:06.480
Send emails to people saying, change my payment here, here's my new bank account for that payment that you owe me.
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.160
It can just mess your business up.
00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:10.160
I think those are a couple of the solutions.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:17.039
What, Heather, would you say would be that one technology tool that you couldn't live without?
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:18.400
Besides sales tracker?
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.000
Of course.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.799
There's so many things that I do use.
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:28.400
Time saving wise, whichever, and I will be agnostic as to which one.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.279
I do have an AI tool that I use.
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.799
I don't put any identifiable information into it.
00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:40.319
But what I really like to do with it is say to it, this is what I need to do.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:42.079
Can you tell me how I need to do this?
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.960
Or I use it a lot for communications with you guys.
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:51.519
I'll put my dot points in and say, These are the things I want to say to my aggregator partners.
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:52.799
Can you please put it together?
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.079
I use it a lot for that.
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.559
I don't put person identifiable information for it.
00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.559
That's one tool that I really like.
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:06.000
And then the other thing that actually, when it comes to technology, is having good knowledge of how your CRM actually works.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:12.799
They've all got this tool, but I would say only 30 to 40% of our users, if I'm being generous, are maximizing it.
00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:16.160
What excites you most about the future of broking?
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:28.720
I think the thing that excites me the most when we think about where technology is taking our industry is that brokers are going to have more time to have meaningful conversations and build stronger relationships with their clients.
00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.640
They're going to really be able to be trusted advisors.
00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.240
And as I always say, people choose people every day.
00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.400
And your client has chosen you.
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:40.559
So one last question, Heather.
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:50.400
If every broker listening today walked away remembering just one thing about technology, AI, and the future of our industry, what would you want that message to be?
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:59.519
I think if they had to walk away with one message, this is going to loop back to just who I am intrinsically.
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.559
Educate yourself.
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:06.079
Educate yourself about the tools you already have available to you.
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:10.160
Educate yourself about the efficiencies you have available to you.
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.759
And educate yourself about the other things you're looking to use.
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:24.480
I had some broker come to us the other day wanting to get an API key to integrate something into the system, which essentially does exactly what compliance AI does, but it's going to require him to put all his data somewhere else.
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.240
And I just said, you know, we already have this, right?
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.079
It's like, oh, I didn't know that's what it did.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.759
So I know outsource's mantra is education is empowerment.
00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:33.680
And I live and breathe that, and I always have.
00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:36.880
And as Tanya says, once an outsourcing, always an outsourcing.
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:44.559
You can't take education as empowerment out of, but I think that's going to be the key for brokers is to educate yourself, educate yourself about your technology.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:51.599
And as you know, Tanil, one of the big shifts that's happened at Sales Chakra over the last six, eight months is that we do a lot of public education now.
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:56.160
We recognize that you, as our partners, have so many competing priorities.
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.680
You've got lenders and you've got compliance and you've got commission systems and all these things that you have to teach and train a broker on.
00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:05.519
So we have really taken on board offering lots of public education.
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.240
And outsource members are actually really good about attending.
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:13.599
I would encourage more of them to do that because there are so many things within their technology that can really help them.
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:15.359
Again, it's back to education.
00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:16.880
And talking my language there.
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:18.400
And just a big shout out.
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:23.200
I think you had a sold-out webinar experience and series within hours.
00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:26.480
It was almost like John Farnum went on to Ticket Tech and no one could get in.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:27.519
I thought I was so wrong.
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.359
That was our Sales Tracker Academy.
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:30.559
We will be offering that again.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.400
It's like an hour a week for eight weeks.
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:42.160
And that's the kind of thing I think brokers should be investing their time in because you learn how to use whatever technology you're using to the maximum.
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.640
You will have quantitative benefits in your business.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.319
Heather, I want to thank you so much for your time today.
00:26:50.480 --> 00:27:00.400
So much for sharing, not only about you, but about where you're seeing technology driving our industry and really helping and supporting the broker.
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:01.200
Thank you so much.
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:02.720
It's been an absolute blast.
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.279
And that's a wrap on today's episode of the Inside Outsource Podcast.
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:14.640
We hope today's conversation has given you valuable insight, fresh perspectives, and ideas that you can take straight back into your business.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:19.519
If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you follow the podcast and share it with your network.
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:24.319
Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you with us again next time.
00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:09.119
Hi Outsourcins, and welcome to the Inside Outsource Podcast.
00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.240
Proudly brought to you by Outsource Financial.
00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:20.480
I'm your host, Janille Gibson, and I'm excited to be bringing you these conversations designed to support, inspire, and elevate you in your brokering journey.
00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:22.879
Welcome to another episode of Inside Outsource.
00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:30.239
I'm really excited about today's conversation because we're talking about some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing brokers right now.
00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:31.280
And that's technology.
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We've got AI, cybersecurity, and what does all of that mean for the future of our industry?
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:40.479
So joining me is Heather Gallagher, the head of customer success at SalesTricker.
00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:48.399
Heather has worked alongside brokers for so many years, helping them improve their businesses, help them embrace change, and make better use of technology.
00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:50.640
Heather, welcome to Insight Outsource.
00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:55.280
Tell us about your journey into financial services and what led you through to SalesTricker.
00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:57.600
Oh, geez, we've got to go back a long way.
00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.320
I actually was in recruitment and one of the major banks was my client.
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.439
I was actually recruiting for a lending role in a branch.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:10.400
And the state manager for the bank at the time said, the problem is I don't want any of these candidates.
00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:11.120
I want you.
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I said, I don't know anything about lending.
00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:14.959
He said, You have all the other skills.
00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.359
I can insert swear word here, teach you that.
00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.599
And that's how I got into banking and financial services and found my home.
00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:32.879
And for the past 15 years, probably now, I've been in that third party space working for banks, spent a long time working for outsource, so still feels like home a lot of the time.
00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:37.519
And then just about two years ago, an opportunity came up for a new challenge.
00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:41.040
And that was joining Sales Tracker as the head of customer success.
00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:46.879
I always say that I'm the non-techie at a tech company and I don't speak technology, I speak broker.
00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.680
And I think that was a really exciting opportunity.
00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:52.159
And I welcome the chance that Dalimore gave me to do this.
00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:52.719
Wow.
00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:57.920
So much influence and experience from so many different facets of the financial industry.
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:05.519
So thinking about that, what do you feel has been the biggest challenge that you've seen within the industry over the past decade?
00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:07.519
Gee, there's been so many.
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.960
When I think about all the things that we've gone through, if I think back about the challenges, there's two.
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.439
And one of the biggest challenges is what we're going through right now.
00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.039
And I'll come to that one in a minute.
00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.759
But one of the biggest challenges and also the biggest opportunity is actually when COVID hit.
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:28.479
Pre-COVID, you were still getting documents wet signed by a client and you were going to their house or they were coming to your office.
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:36.000
And that happened, that shift to we're going to interact on screen happened literally within a matter of two or three weeks.
00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.280
And I think that was a big change and a big shift for brokers.
00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:45.439
Not just from a how I'm going to learn to use technology point of view, but also just from a human interaction point of view.
00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:51.360
We went from seeing five or 10 people today for those soul man operators to maybe only see themselves and their families every day.
00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:56.080
And I was really lucky because I was working at Outsource at the time and we use Sales Tracker.
00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:05.680
And Dallabor was a visionary and was able to see and implement a lot of tools like our interview mode and the digital signing and all of these things that we brought in to assist brokers.
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:15.840
And I think that was the part of the first real steps in this journey to thinking about how can a CRM platform like Sales Tracker assist brokers in more than just writing alone, right?
00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:23.439
But the other really big challenge over the last 10 years is what's happening right now, and it which is what we're going to be talking about today.
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:31.120
It is AI, it is cyber, it is not just that technology is changing because technology has always changed.
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.639
But the speed at which things are changing right now is really challenging for everybody.
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.120
And I think that this may be one of the biggest challenges.
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:41.520
I can remember those days myself, absolutely.
00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:48.319
I think that it did propel our use of technology forward decades within such a short amount of time.
00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:53.680
Heather, you've always been super passionate about helping brokers become business owners.
00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:58.159
What do the most successful brokers do that little bit differently?
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:09.280
So I think when I look at successful businesses, one thing they have in common is they spend time, and it's cliche, working on their business, not in their business.
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:10.159
And it's a challenge.
00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:15.840
The successful ones make that transition from I'm a mortgage broker to I'm a business owner.
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:24.000
And they use technology where it's warranted to save them time, speed things up, and allow them more time with their clients.
00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:25.920
And I think that's the real difference.
00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:35.680
So we've just been talking about the evolution of technology and how it's changed and evolved dramatically, especially since 2020 when we all locked down.
00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:43.120
So how would you describe the current state of the technology adoption within the specifics of our industry?
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:49.040
So one of the things I think that people think about a lot is oh, how is AI going to change the way a broker works?
00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:54.240
The first thing I want to be really clear about is AI is not something that's coming to brokering.
00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.199
It's already here.
00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:04.000
So to give you an idea and some stats around this, we did an AI webinar with a panel of experts a couple of months ago, and I ran some polls.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:16.560
And when I talked to brokers about do they believe AI is essential to the future of their business, 45% said they're already using it, and 53% are actively exploring how they can use it in their business.
00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:22.800
So brokers are absolutely embracing the idea of AI and that kind of technology piece in there.
00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:29.519
But the thing that I want to, and you'll hear this as a common theme in everything that I say is that AI is really exciting for brokers.
00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:35.600
But what is exciting for me is it doesn't replace what a broker does and their core value to the consumer.
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:47.279
AI is taking away the busy work, the low value tasks, the things that they don't need to be doing so that they can focus on the things that generate activity that raises the value of their business.
00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:59.759
When I look at how brokers are using it, it's things like that old-fashioned way of emailing 10 BDMs or ringing up hotlines and waiting on hold to do product and lender research and understanding the gray areas of policy.
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:01.600
It's that help with compliance.
00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:05.680
It's summarizing your information into clear notes that are easy to read.
00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:14.879
It's doing things that it's like scanning documents, which is not AI, but which is like OCR optical scanning of documents to populate fields.
00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:18.160
It's things that are repetitive and low value.
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:23.199
And that's where I think the real play for brokers is when it comes to this kind of technology.
00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:27.439
And look, that's really how we've approached AI at Sales Tracker as well.
00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:32.480
We've introduced tools like the compliance AI and policy AI.
00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:42.160
These are designed for those things that brokers said we would like tools to make this faster and frictionless as much as possible for us.
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:45.839
But all of these things are designed to not take the broker out of the process.
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.920
It's to get them the information faster.
00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:49.920
AI should always be the assistant.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.959
AI should never be the decision maker, as we say.
00:06:53.279 --> 00:07:07.680
And let's be honest, using AI still needs that human intervention because if we start thinking about the risks that are involved, often I talk about hallucinations and the output of AI can sometimes be wrong.
00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.680
Organizations like SalesTricker.
00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:13.920
What are you doing to ensure that there is the balance of innovation?
00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:23.519
What is your viewpoint around that responsible use of AI to ensure that you maintain that compliance and especially the data security?
00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:29.839
Because let's be honest, our brokers have so much access to very sensitive information.
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:43.519
And often I think brokers may become complacent in what they are actually using AI for and potentially inadvertently, without even thinking, create data risks, create privacy breaches.
00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:50.959
What are those practical things that brokers can do whilst using AI but still keeping things safe?
00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:52.000
So important.
00:07:52.160 --> 00:08:00.000
And I guess this is one of those things that keeps me up thinking about data security and consumer data protection.
00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:11.680
We made a very deliberate decision at Sales Tracker that we will not share personally identifiable information with our AI tools.
00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:15.040
We've got a lot more technology behind how and what we do that.
00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:21.519
But we think AI is very useful, but we are skeptical and not trusting of it.
00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.040
So what do we mean by that?
00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:36.080
If you deep dive into the privacy policies of all of the large AI companies that own all of the engines that everybody uses, you will see in there things like we won't sell your data, et cetera.
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:40.720
But they do say they share it with their partners and may share it with their partners.
00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.879
And who are the largest partners of any of these people?
00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:47.120
It's people like Google and Amazon and Meta and Microsoft.
00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:52.320
I don't know where the future of AI is going to go with these big companies who have invested billions of dollars.
00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.679
I don't know how they're going to make the money back on$30 subscriptions, right?
00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:56.879
So we're very skeptical about it.
00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:09.120
If you've been following the news over the last few weeks, there have been a couple of instances where AI tools, particularly these new generation AI tools, have escaped the sandboxes, as they said, and gone rogue and done things they weren't supposed to.
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:17.679
So we have been very deliberate and we've done that in ways that we direct our AI engines, say, to look at one particular field, like the first name of a client.
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:19.759
It will look at what the occupation is.
00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.080
It will look at what the street name is.
00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:30.639
So if you said it was Heather, head of customer success, Smith Street, which is not my real street name, that's not personally identifiable information.
00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:31.759
We're not giving the full name.
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.200
We're not giving the date of birth.
00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:34.720
We're not giving the employer name.
00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:36.799
We're not giving their full street address.
00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.279
We might give a credit score, but we're not giving it access to their credit report.
00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:46.159
That is the hill that we will die on as we will not share personal identifiable information with AI tools.
00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:52.159
I think that that is a really good starting point for brokers when they think about using AI.
00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.840
I'm on a lot of broker Facebook groups, for example.
00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:01.840
And there's lots of people with questions about what's the best way to do this or how I'm spending so much time on these financials or I'm doing this.
00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:09.759
And every single time somebody pops a comment in, oh, I chucked it in my chat GPT, I chucked it in my cloud, I chucked it in my co-pilot.
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:17.440
And chucking client financials into these things, you've just given your AI tool all of your clients' most trusted information.
00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.000
So I think that's one thing to think about.
00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:25.120
And then the other piece about this is that there are so many shiny new toys out there.
00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:31.759
Every single day there's somebody going, oh, we can sell you this AI tool that will do this and this one that does this and this one that does this.
00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:33.919
And brokers are jumping at everything.
00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:41.200
First of all, there's cost involved in all of it, but they're not thinking through who is that company, what is their security?
00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:53.759
And so I think if brokers can use AI tools without putting personally identifiable information into it, and it makes sense, I think it's worth exploring, but be cautious.
00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.039
I'm a big fan of Mr.
00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:55.519
and Mrs.
00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:56.000
X.
00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:04.559
There's no personal identical data in there, and being able to then transfer and transpose that information to what and where is appropriate.
00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.600
So great tangible tips that you provide us.
00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:09.120
And thank you so much, Heather.
00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:09.759
Brilliant.
00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:18.320
So let's think about for listeners who may not have seen the latest developments within SalesTricker, what are you most excited about now?
00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:26.720
There's so many things that we've just recently done from an AI point of view, but also just from a system improvement point of view.
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:34.639
Compliance AI, which is the tool that provides you with very good comprehensive compliance notes designed to meet Essex requirements.
00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.799
That is one of the best things I've ever seen.
00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:40.240
We have also launched the translate AI.
00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:45.039
And I think a lot of people are not paying attention to this and not thinking about it in the right way.
00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:53.360
When you are trying to communicate with maybe a client who English is not their first language, and you need to get an important point across.
00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:00.720
Like let's say you're doing a fixed rate loan and you need to talk about fixed rate lock-in and make sure they really understand what happens if they don't accept it.
00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.440
You can put that message in English and you never know for sure if they really get it.
00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.919
But with translate AI, you can actually put it in their native language to ensure they get it.
00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:16.080
You can see the note in both English and in their native language so that from a compliance point of view, everybody can see what was said.
00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:26.000
It allows people in both those circumstances to write more, to be more specific, and have really good files in ways that maybe they couldn't before.
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.039
I think it's a real sleeper that doesn't get enough attention.
00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:35.279
The other one, of course, is policy AI, which is our partnership with Scenario that gives you really good policy advice.
00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:43.679
In our next deployment in September, Scenario has made some changes to the way their screens work, which makes it a little bit easier for brokers to even follow a bouncing ball and follow a process.
00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.200
So I'm very excited about that.
00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:50.000
And then the other one, which we'll be launching with a lot of our partners soon, is the audit AI.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.240
So this is the one I'm really excited about for brokers.
00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.480
As we know, the kind of audit process now really is historical data.
00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.519
You're auditing things that happened two, three, four, five, six months ago.
00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.360
Files that are done, files are complete.
00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.559
And if there is a problem, you're finding out about it months later.
00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.399
There's no corrective action time.
00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:17.200
And so with audit AI, this will in real time, before you push the deal through to apply online, did you compare enough products?
00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:19.360
Did you offer the lowest cost solution?
00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:25.440
Do you have file notes that explain why what the client said were their priorities is met by this loan?
00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:34.399
If you combine compliance AI to do your notes, which you have to read and check because AI hallucinates, and then you run audit AI on your file to see any gaps you missed.
00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:39.039
And that one of the things I always say is a client might do an online fact-find.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.159
And when they get to the priorities thing, they say, I don't want a fixed rate loan.
00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:47.440
And so then the broker meets with them and has a conversation with them and talks about rates and their concerns about the market.
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.600
And the client says, you know what, actually, I do want a fixed rate.
00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:57.600
So the broker on the product compare screen does a fixed rate loan, hits all the way through to the end, but never goes back and changes that requirement because they forgot to.
00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:59.279
This is going to pick up that kind of stuff.
00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:02.240
This is, and this is the kind of stuff that the regulators are interested in.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.120
The client said they didn't want this and you gave them this product.
00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:06.080
Why did you do it?
00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.080
Without commentary, without changing it.
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:12.399
And so it really is a tool for the broker to fix things in the moment.
00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:28.399
And it also allows the aggregators to get real-time data on who maybe is struggling, who maybe is missing something in their process and provide coaching that's meaningful and relevant, and then also be able to focus on people who maybe need more help.
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:32.480
The other place this is really helpful is not just to the aggregator and the individual broker.
00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:42.480
But if you are a brokerage who say has eight or 10 brokers working under you, as the head broker in that group, you can get access to that data on how everybody's performing.
00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:48.879
Because as we know, the way it works in the industry now, if one person in a business gets in trouble for something, the whole business can get into trouble.
00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:53.120
So it is a risk mitigant for those larger brokerages to ensure as well.
00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:54.799
And so we're really excited about that.
00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:03.039
And we are looking at bringing in some changes to how that can be set up at the aggregator level to give a little bit more flexibility.
00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:10.080
One of the other things we're looking at doing, and this is not AI, but this is using technology and it is that OCR functionality.
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:20.559
It's the ability to scan a driver's license, a passport, a Medicare card, a pay slip, whatever, and pre-fill in the data from the document into the deal.
00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:21.600
That's not AI.
00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:22.960
We're not giving AI tools.
00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.039
That's a specific piece of technology.
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:26.240
We're looking at setting that up.
00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.120
So less keying in boxes, less data to fill in.
00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:34.240
And then ultimately where we're going is with open banking technology.
00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:37.600
And I'm not willing to talk about who the providers are that we're talking to.
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.440
Imagine this, Tanil.
00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.480
You are my client.
00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:42.000
I send you a client portal.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.159
You accept the credit guide and privacy.
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:52.159
As soon as you do that, it can run within the portal, run an Equifax inquiry, and we'll pre-populate information from Equifax into the deal.
00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:58.639
You can run an Equifax verification exchange, validate and pre-populate income.
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:04.399
And you can have an open banking solution that takes care of filling in some assets and liabilities and living expenses and all of that.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.320
And so that when you as the client get to the portal, you're checking information.
00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:12.960
And maybe you have less than half, probably less than half of what you'd have to fill in now.
00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.679
Broker doesn't have to collect as many documents up front.
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.080
People aren't having to validate the information.
00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:19.440
It's a completely different world.
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:20.559
And that's where we're headed.
00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:21.600
Probably sooner than you think.
00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:29.440
It'd be much more difficult to fraudulently provide all of that information and that details.
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:36.240
It's really going to help weed out some of those, you know, if they just use their powers for good instead of evil.
00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:41.519
And of those mass fraudulent applications that, you know, let's not be naive.
00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:55.600
It is a real shift to brokers working with validated data, not give me your pay slips and your bank statements, and I need to assess it and I need to analyze it and I need to ring your employer and I need to do this and I need to check this and I need to do that.
00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.240
But getting factual verified data.
00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:07.920
Now imagine you're a business with six brokers and maybe eight or 10 support staff, and both support staff are doing all that validation work and checking it and verifying it and doing all of that.
00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.519
Imagine if one or two of those resources didn't need to be doing that.
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:22.799
They could be spending time on client retention phone calls and loan follow-ups and client nurturing post-settlement to generate more opportunities, more referrals.
00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:26.720
We're not ever saying that brokers are going to need less people.
00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.480
I just think they'll be doing different jobs and maybe slightly more fulfilling jobs.
00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:31.839
That's where I was going to lead.
00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:44.880
It's so much more fulfilling, actually, doing that connection piece than rather than effectively just being a data processor and just doing the math and checking the boxes and it provide that so much greater satisfaction in what they're doing.
00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:54.319
And is it getting that next investment or helping my business to grow in a way that maybe I've never had the opportunity to do that before?
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:59.039
Not only your brokerage business, but also the client's business as well.
00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:00.720
Success breeds success.
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:05.519
It's about finding that opportunity to help your client that little bit further.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:17.359
I'm always a very big fan of diversification and really being able to provide solutions to clients' problems and solutions to bridge that gap to where they are now, to where they want to be.
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.319
And how exciting is it to be part of that journey?
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:21.039
Absolutely.
00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:24.240
I want to share a stat with you because I think you'll find this very interesting.
00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:34.160
And this is why I think it's really important for brokers to be cautious with AI, to be mindful of who they're partnering with.
00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:38.880
So we've done a couple of really big sessions over the last few months with external providers.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.880
We did one on AI and recently did one on cyber and data security.
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.640
And let me share this fact with you.
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:51.680
Eight percent of the overall respondents said they were either already using AI or exploring it in our AI webinar.
00:18:51.920 --> 00:19:01.519
But when we did our cybersecurity webinar, one of the questions we asked was, Do you feel like you are completely on top of your cybersecurity process and policy in your business?
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.240
Only 13% of them said they feel like they're on top of their cybersecurity.
00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:15.759
Now, the disconnect for me there is if lots of people are using AI and almost everybody's using it to some degree, are they mindful about how they're using it?
00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.359
Are they using it responsibly?
00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:22.079
If they're feeling like they're not really completely aware and on top of cybersecurity.
00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.359
And cybersecurity is not, I'm not even talking about sales tracker.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:32.880
I'm talking about their emails, their drives, what's in their text messages, what's on their phone, do they lock their computer, a million other things.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:41.200
We spend a lot of time at Sales Tracker thinking about cybersecurity and data security because we know what's in the system.
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:46.640
It's one of the reasons that we moved to mandatory MFA in 2.0.
00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.279
It was always recommended in one, but we didn't enforce it.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:54.960
Shout out to Outsource, who had the highest percentage of brokers who had their MFA on in V1.
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.240
We really appreciate that.
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.920
But that is mandatory in V2.
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.680
And that to me is not a yay feature.
00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.480
That's a hygiene come to work feature when you think about that.
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.799
And my question for all of those people who are resisting that do you have MFA on your email?
00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.000
Do you have it on your drive?
00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:16.400
Do like all your other systems that you use, are you using some kind of protection?
00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:17.680
There's so many things.
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.880
If you want me to at some point, I can send you the link to that webinar.
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.519
I'm welcome for you to share that with your listeners as well.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.480
It's aggregator agnostic, and it's it's really important for brokers to be thinking about all of that.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.599
Like that's a whole nother kind of two-hour conversation.
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:39.200
But I just think the technology adoption is happening so fast that people aren't putting the guardrails up when they're thinking about they're just excited.
00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:46.720
What would be your number one tip in relation to protecting themselves in relation to that cybersecurity?
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.000
What's one adoption that they can start from today?
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.200
Get them moving forward with their cybersecurity.
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:54.960
I will give a disclaimer.
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.079
I am not a qualified cyber data security expert.
00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.279
There are people out there who are.
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:04.400
But there are a couple of things that I would suggest that brokers are doing.
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:10.960
Using password managers, not just the some things come to your email and all that.
00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:20.240
And the other one I would suggest is do not save anything in your browser password saving system.
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.920
And let me explain why.
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:26.079
So I use Chrome, and whenever you log into anything, Chrome says, Do you want to save your password?
00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:26.559
Great.
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:27.759
No, don't do it.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:28.480
And here's why.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:36.000
Let's say I log on to my Gmail, work Gmail on my computer.
00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:37.440
I save the password in there.
00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.920
And for some reason, I then decide to log into my personal Gmail on the same computer.
00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:46.640
When you do that, it syncs passwords across multiple devices.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.559
So password managers for everything.
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.519
My password manager on my work computer has everything saved.
00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.440
The other one I would say is slow down.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759
It's the email thing.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.160
That comes to you, do they make sense?
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.920
Is it coming from a right person?
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:05.279
Does it look like it makes sense?
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.920
And I'll give an example of one that I got a few weeks ago.
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.440
I got this email from a broker.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:10.960
I get emails from brokers all the time.
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:17.759
It's not anybody whose name I recognize, but it was here's a link to the data you requested, and it was a drive link, right?
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.359
I didn't click on it.
00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:22.079
I'm like, why is this person I don't know sending me something?
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.279
So question, right?
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.799
I took a screenshot, I deleted it, rang the broker, he didn't answer.
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:28.799
I rang his aggregator as well.
00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:37.759
I looked up the broker's actual email address, didn't respond to the email, sent him an email, and I got this auto reply that said, the link I sent you is correct, please click on it.
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.119
I'm like, I'm not clicking on that.
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:43.440
The broker rang me a number of hours later and just said, yes, his email had been compromised.
00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:44.559
People click on stuff.
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.599
People don't think about it.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:55.200
If you're getting an email from somebody that is a person you expect, especially on your phones, where you don't necessarily see the full email address, always look at where it comes from.
00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:01.680
I think that's one of the things because it's a really good way to get malware on your computer and for people to get access to your inbox.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:06.480
Send emails to people saying, change my payment here, here's my new bank account for that payment that you owe me.
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.160
It can just mess your business up.
00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:10.160
I think those are a couple of the solutions.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:17.039
What, Heather, would you say would be that one technology tool that you couldn't live without?
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:18.400
Besides sales tracker?
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.000
Of course.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.799
There's so many things that I do use.
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:28.400
Time saving wise, whichever, and I will be agnostic as to which one.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.279
I do have an AI tool that I use.
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.799
I don't put any identifiable information into it.
00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:40.319
But what I really like to do with it is say to it, this is what I need to do.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:42.079
Can you tell me how I need to do this?
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.960
Or I use it a lot for communications with you guys.
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:51.519
I'll put my dot points in and say, These are the things I want to say to my aggregator partners.
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:52.799
Can you please put it together?
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.079
I use it a lot for that.
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.559
I don't put person identifiable information for it.
00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.559
That's one tool that I really like.
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:06.000
And then the other thing that actually, when it comes to technology, is having good knowledge of how your CRM actually works.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:12.799
They've all got this tool, but I would say only 30 to 40% of our users, if I'm being generous, are maximizing it.
00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:16.160
What excites you most about the future of broking?
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:28.720
I think the thing that excites me the most when we think about where technology is taking our industry is that brokers are going to have more time to have meaningful conversations and build stronger relationships with their clients.
00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.640
They're going to really be able to be trusted advisors.
00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.240
And as I always say, people choose people every day.
00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.400
And your client has chosen you.
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:40.559
So one last question, Heather.
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If every broker listening today walked away remembering just one thing about technology, AI, and the future of our industry, what would you want that message to be?
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:59.519
I think if they had to walk away with one message, this is going to loop back to just who I am intrinsically.
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.559
Educate yourself.
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:06.079
Educate yourself about the tools you already have available to you.
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:10.160
Educate yourself about the efficiencies you have available to you.
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.759
And educate yourself about the other things you're looking to use.
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:24.480
I had some broker come to us the other day wanting to get an API key to integrate something into the system, which essentially does exactly what compliance AI does, but it's going to require him to put all his data somewhere else.
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.240
And I just said, you know, we already have this, right?
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.079
It's like, oh, I didn't know that's what it did.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.759
So I know outsource's mantra is education is empowerment.
00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:33.680
And I live and breathe that, and I always have.
00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:36.880
And as Tanya says, once an outsourcing, always an outsourcing.
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:44.559
You can't take education as empowerment out of, but I think that's going to be the key for brokers is to educate yourself, educate yourself about your technology.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:51.599
And as you know, Tanil, one of the big shifts that's happened at Sales Chakra over the last six, eight months is that we do a lot of public education now.
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:56.160
We recognize that you, as our partners, have so many competing priorities.
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.680
You've got lenders and you've got compliance and you've got commission systems and all these things that you have to teach and train a broker on.
00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:05.519
So we have really taken on board offering lots of public education.
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.240
And outsource members are actually really good about attending.
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:13.599
I would encourage more of them to do that because there are so many things within their technology that can really help them.
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:15.359
Again, it's back to education.
00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:16.880
And talking my language there.
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:18.400
And just a big shout out.
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:23.200
I think you had a sold-out webinar experience and series within hours.
00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:26.480
It was almost like John Farnum went on to Ticket Tech and no one could get in.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:27.519
I thought I was so wrong.
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.359
That was our Sales Tracker Academy.
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:30.559
We will be offering that again.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.400
It's like an hour a week for eight weeks.
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:42.160
And that's the kind of thing I think brokers should be investing their time in because you learn how to use whatever technology you're using to the maximum.
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.640
You will have quantitative benefits in your business.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.319
Heather, I want to thank you so much for your time today.
00:26:50.480 --> 00:27:00.400
So much for sharing, not only about you, but about where you're seeing technology driving our industry and really helping and supporting the broker.
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:01.200
Thank you so much.
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It's been an absolute blast.
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.279
And that's a wrap on today's episode of the Inside Outsource Podcast.
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We hope today's conversation has given you valuable insight, fresh perspectives, and ideas that you can take straight back into your business.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:19.519
If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you follow the podcast and share it with your network.
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:24.319
Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you with us again next time.
