2021 – Spring Update – Future is here
It’s the end of Spring 2021 and life looks quite different today than it did same time around last year.
COVID is not over and I can’t wait to see our province open up soon. It’s been over a year since businesses large or small had to re-design themselves in the face of this new challenge & this pandemic had certainly propelled some aspects of our lives into the future.
Electronic Signatures:
Although i’ve had Pocket Mortgage setup to work fully digital since 2018, it was still rather challenging to implement a fully digital workflow when only a handful of lenders were accepting electronic signatures. All financial institutions were aware of electronic signatures being the future, but no-one had time to re-write policies and procedures to include them in our daily business activities. As soon as COVID made physical meetings impossible, electronic signatures became acceptable overnight. I remember talking to a lender on a Monday complaining how i wish they took e-Sign, only to get a callback on Tuesday (next day) confirming that they now did.
Traffic:
The daily commute to work is not exactly a thing of the past, but it certainly isn’t the daily routine for a lot of the office workers. Some industries (especially Financial and Insurance) have literally gone from 100% work in the office to 50% working from home. This doesn’t mean that traffic is no longer a problem, but it should certainly allow for easier commute in general. Working form home is just better for our environment, our schedules and our mental health (let’s face it.. no one likes to stand in traffic). So, i’m really optimistic about this trend becoming more and more common with other employers in the upcoming years.
Virtual Conferences:
Our network (CENTUM Financial Group) recently hosted a pretty kick-ass virtual conference. The event/experience was branded as ‘CPG Island’ & it was quite ahead of its time. Earlier in the year of 2020, We’ve all had many chances to attend ‘Zoom Conferences’. However, they weren’t anything to write home about. The CPG Island experience certainly felt like a conference. Not only were you able to browse between the different vendor booths and interact with your vendor reps, but you were also to shoot some hoops with them at the basketball courts down the hill.
I expect that we are going to see a lot more things follow the digital direction in the months to come.
It’s the end of Spring 2021 and life looks quite different today than it did same time around last year.
COVID is not over and I can’t wait to see our province open up soon. It’s been over a year since businesses large or small had to re-design themselves in the face of this new challenge & this pandemic had certainly propelled some aspects of our lives into the future.
Electronic Signatures:
Although i’ve had Pocket Mortgage setup to work fully digital since 2018, it was still rather challenging to implement a fully digital workflow when only a handful of lenders were accepting electronic signatures. All financial institutions were aware of electronic signatures being the future, but no-one had time to re-write policies and procedures to include them in our daily business activities. As soon as COVID made physical meetings impossible, electronic signatures became acceptable overnight. I remember talking to a lender on a Monday complaining how i wish they took e-Sign, only to get a callback on Tuesday (next day) confirming that they now did.
Traffic:
The daily commute to work is not exactly a thing of the past, but it certainly isn’t the daily routine for a lot of the office workers. Some industries (especially Financial and Insurance) have literally gone from 100% work in the office to 50% working from home. This doesn’t mean that traffic is no longer a problem, but it should certainly allow for easier commute in general. Working form home is just better for our environment, our schedules and our mental health (let’s face it.. no one likes to stand in traffic). So, i’m really optimistic about this trend becoming more and more common with other employers in the upcoming years.
Virtual Conferences:
Our network (CENTUM Financial Group) recently hosted a pretty kick-ass virtual conference. The event/experience was branded as ‘CPG Island’ & it was quite ahead of its time. Earlier in the year of 2020, We’ve all had many chances to attend ‘Zoom Conferences’. However, they weren’t anything to write home about. The CPG Island experience certainly felt like a conference. Not only were you able to browse between the different vendor booths and interact with your vendor reps, but you were also to shoot some hoops with them at the basketball courts down the hill.
I expect that we are going to see a lot more things follow the digital direction in the months to come.