Vector Capital plc (LON:VCAP), a commercial lending group that offers secured loans primarily to businesses located in the United Kingdom, Chief Executive Officer, Agam Jain, joins DirectorsTalk Interviews in a new series on what makes them different.
Q1: What makes Vector Capital different?
A1: The aim at the outset was to establish a complete end to end process online which would minimise phone calls and eliminate the use of paper. The process would eliminate human errors in producing statements and redemption figures. Being based on the Cloud, it would enable staff to work effectively from home and reduce office space requirements to hot desking.
The technology was created as a portal for Brokers to directly input their enquiries, upload supporting documents and access proposals generated from the Company.
For the Company’s side, the software platform would manage the CRM database, generate offers, submit valuation requests, interface with the solicitors all the way to completion. The platform would then handle all transactions, generate standard letters (sent via email), statements, redemption figures and all accounting entries. The system would generate detailed reports and analysis required for regular Team meetings as well as the monthly Board meetings.
The platform included a section for underwriting and supervisor approvals on loan proposals. All documents would be held in the system and be instantly accessible. This in itself reduced huge cabinet storage and archiving requirements and importantly reduced clerical errors.
Vector Capital achieved this in 2016 and with continuous iteration and improvement thereafter, the platform in 2023 drives incredible efficiency for the Company and its business. It has saved the Company significant amounts in terms of reduced headcount over the years whilst the embedded processes make it easy to induct and train new staff. There are various security levels called Roles. For example, the Auditor Role allows external auditors to view all data but does not allow them to enter or make modifications. This was of significant benefit particularly during the COVID lockdowns as auditors could complete their tasks of checking entries, reviewing legal documents and drilling down on transactions without needing to make site visits.
The Company provided its Brokers with initial training and logins to submit their enquiries on the portal which enabled them to see progress their cases. After a few months, it was realised that not all Brokers wanted to deal via the portal – they really wanted to have a conversation with a representative of the company preferably by phone or at least by email. Vector’s business is in the segment of non-standard mortgages for bridging and development loans. The Broker and Lender need to talk in order to explore options and arrive at a workable solution. Therefore, it was decided not to force the portal on to the Brokers quite early on and deleted the section from the platform.
Similarly, Vector is holding fire on adopting AI especially for underwriting and prefers the comfort of carrying on with an experienced credit committee.
The implementation of the software platform has had a great impact in terms of reduced headcount, office space, document storage, elimination of paper, remote working, reduction of human error in calculations, etc. However, lessons have been learned very early on that the technology should be used to bring efficiency to the business process and not remove the human interaction between Broker, Borrower and Lender.
