The purchase of a software solution to manage your loan agenda is an important step in the life of every financial service provider. It's thus extremely important to know which properties of a potential solution to prioritise in your search.
Do You Really Need New Software?
Before you even start looking for a suitable solution, it's crucial to answer one core question:
Do I really need a new LMS? And if I do, why?
As it is a major investment, the purchase of new loan management software should be substantiated by a concrete need and an idea of what the new solution is supposed to help you do. Do you need to free up your employees' time they'd otherwise spend manually copying over documents? Do you want to shorten the time it takes to process an order? Would you like to have a better overview of receivables and payments? Answers to these and similar questions will not only show you how important your purchase really is but also help you establish the criteria your new solution has to meet.
Does the Solution of Your Choice Provide the Basic Features?
The range of functions offered by various solutions can differ greatly depending on the target group and specific area of financial legislation it focuses on. Despite that, there are some basic tools all loan management software should have.
These include, for instance, the following:
- flexible calculation of interest rates (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) and related values (penalties, overpayments, write-offs, etc.)
- accounting and banking modules for easier invoicing and pairing of payments
- electronic storage for important documents and tools for their management (digital signatures, data exporting, real-time editing, backup, etc.)
- online data access for dealers and customers
- CRM module for collecting and managing customer data
- dedicated module for concluding contracts that allow quick creation of quotes and estimates.
Is the Loan Management System User-Friendly?
The clear user interface, simple controls, and adaptation to various devices (phone, tablet) are a must nowadays. Therefore, you should pay attention to how easy everyday tasks are to perform, how clear the control panel is and how quickly users can access important information.
It's also important to note whether the price of the chosen software includes user training. Though you can theoretically handle training yourself, things will go much faster under the supervision of experts and the system will be able to run at full throttle much sooner. In this respect, solutions which have an interface and controls that are similar to those of solutions already in use in your company are preferable (for instance, many solutions have controls analogous to Microsoft Office). Your employees then won't have to learn everything from scratch.
Does the Solution Cover Local Specifics?
Financial legislation differs between countries – negligibly in some cases, and significantly in others. Aside from the letter of the law, it's also important to keep in mind the nuances and conventions associated with loans and accounting in various countries. Therefore, it's necessary to take into account the knowledge of local specifics on the part of the solution's supplier. If your company caters to an international clientèle, focus on systems that have optional localising add-ons or a network of local partners.
Is It Better for You to Run Your Solution on the Cloud or On-Premise?
Another important decision is the form the LMS comes in. Currently, customers generally have a choice between two options – on-premise or cloud solutions. In the former case, the system uses the computing capacity of your business, which requires that you have the necessary IT infrastructure (i.e. servers and all that they entail). This solution thus involves not only a major initial investment into infrastructure but also continuous expenses on maintenance.
In contrast, a cloud system uses the computing capacity of a remote provider, who then gives you online access based on a subscription. This option completely sidesteps the need for your own IT infrastructure, and you can start using the solution almost immediately after purchasing. For that reason, cloud solutions are currently the more popular option.
Are Your Employees Ready?
Whichever loan management software you choose, we strongly recommend getting your employees on board with it as well. After all, they will be the ones using the solution you chose on a daily basis and they will be the first to know whether your choice was the right one. You should, therefore, take the time before the system is implemented to explain to them why you chose this software over the others, what added value it brings, and how specifically it will save them time and effort.
Include OneCore Loans App in Your List of Options
Our cloud-based loan management solution, OneCore Loans App, offers you not only high performance and absolute reliability, but also a vast network of local partners and the strong foundation of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform. You can learn more on our website, on our social network profiles, or on our blog. There, you can read up on many interesting titbits about our work, our most interesting implementations, and the benefits of our solutions.
