What is Mortgage Software as a Service?

For most lenders, technology ownership is a fixed cost for a resource that rarely reaches its expected return on investment. Further, loan origination systems are notorious for slow implementation and are subject to numerous annual upgrades that can be either expensive or time consuming, or both, to deploy. As a result, technology has become a prime candidate for outsourcing, especially for growing lenders.

Currently, the most advanced channel for outsourcing technology infrastructure is "software-as-a-service" (SaaS), in which users access their system on-demand via a hosted, secure Internet connection. Comparing SaaS with the traditional model of purchasing "software in a box," is akin to leasing rather than buying a high performance luxury automobile. Why own a rapidly depreciating, instantly outmoded model, when for far less cash commitment, you can pay less to drive the car of your dreams?

For mortgage lenders, the primary reasons to consider SaaS are:

• Lower costs due to lack of up-front license and infrastructure costs;
• Faster implementation because there is no on-site deployment;
• Improved security;
• Easier access to technology upgrades because the vendor host upgrades the entire platform.