Edward EG

Real Estate Capital

How might we increase efficiency and conversion rates by creating a client self-service platform to track their transaction property loan applications?
Financial Services

Overview

As one of the nation’s leading commercial and multi-family real estate finance providers, KeyBank focuses on building relationships with our clients and offering financing options for short and long-term goals.

As a squad, our goal is to address the end-to-end experience by optimizing the process and automating the input, flow, transaction, and information output. Creating a streamlined and automated process will considerably reduce pain points for both clients and employees.

Problem
Too many systems Underwriters, third-party vendors, and borrower clients use up to 50 systems to gather and review information related to real estate capital lending.
System inefficiencies Prolonged complex transactions make it difficult to centralize information and track access to specific data and documents related to the underwriting process.
Outcome
Platform modernization Integrated with Salesforce, Client Relationship Management, Box.com, and DocuSign.
Bulk process user flows Minimized manual, administrative data entry across multiple systems by streamlining upload/edit capabilities.
Role UX Lead
Duration 2-months
Contributions User journey map, user personas, wireframes and prototypes
Platform Web

Approach

Our project kick-off included breakout sessions, during which we mapped critical milestones in real estate capital, from prospect opportunities to portfolio management.

We identified critical user flows and utilized sticky notes to highlight steps, systems, pain points, and opportunities. This initial phase laid a solid foundation for strategic innovation and user-centric design.

Methodology

I partnered with a User Researcher to design an onsite workshop methodology to engage 15 participants, including 5 Prospect Loan Borrowers, 5 Relationship Managers, and 5 Underwriters. The workshop focused on journey mapping and low-fidelity prototyping.

    Key findings
  • The communication and document collection process can take up to 32 days.
  • A lot of manual input of repeated information across systems creates more opportunities for user error.
  • Loan borrowers lack transparency about where their application is and how long it takes until completion.
  • Competitors provide more flexibility to underwriters by traveling onsite to collect information directly from borrowers.
  • Competitors are digitizing and reducing print and scanning with modern platforms.
    Recommendations
  • Reduce the time of application for loan borrowers by improving the process for underwriters and third-party vendors.
  • Improve the application review process by providing more transparency for loan borrowers on application progress.
  • Adapt and become more omnichannel-focused on enabling onsite handheld technology support.
  • Reduce paper by digitizing and providing a centralized electronic document repository.
  • Integrate with a client relationship manager platform to initiate the next steps for individual parties.
User Flow
Empathy Map Canvas

James, Loan Borrower

"Time is money, I don't want to miss on a great rate!"

50 years old

Massachusetts

Employment FPO

"Who is this person? What does this status mean? What do I need to do next? This is too long. Why is there so much information?"
I want to look at market rates. Understand if I can lock a rate, check on my loan status, upload multiple documents, and know my closing date.
Provide information, Review documentation, Email and video calls
I wish there was a timeline. I want a faster closing process!

Jane, Relationship Manager

"I am on the front lines and need to be in the know with our customers and their loan applications."

36 years old

Ohio

Relationship Manager

"What is outstanding? Do I need to re-enter all this information? We have too many tools! This is slow and very manual."
Bloomberg, treasury rates, competitors work from home andtravel to meet with clients, have smart checklists that are digital.
Process data of applications, create pricing alternatives, pre-approval deposits, complete pricing and quoting
Anxious for change, frequently needs to communicate with clients frustration from a slow loan application process, frustrated.

Patrick, Underwriter

"I support our relationship manager by being in the know with client information."

26 years old

Texas

Underwriter

"Where can I find that information? Can we have the offshore team distribute this information? The information being collected is confusing our clients."
I want to have flexibility to adopt underwriting to deal type. I need to share data with multiple audiences to inform decision making, review, and analyze documents submitted in a short time window.
Spend ~10 hrs in Excel per deal, gather information from multiple systems, spend hrs in Closer looking for incorrect inputs, manually create documents to present risk, mitigate and deal points
Frustrated, I want a faster closing process!

Constraints

Our cross-functional team was structured in a 2-week window to plan an engagement lasting 2-months. This timeframe required that we set up our working agreement quickly.

To reduce the back-and-forth of collecting user requirements to ideate solutions:

Critical Team is new to Agile methodology Attempted to define clear sprint goals for providing transparency on progress to leadership as the team attempts to leverage agile methodology.
Risk Limited tech support We set up daily ideation sessions that did not initially include developers to determine feasibility due to availability constraints.

Ideation

Following our co-creation workshop sessions, two prevailing themes emerged as key focal points for our strategic direction.

Transaction details Participants expressed a pressing need for a comprehensive transaction details feature that would cater to the diverse roles involved in transactions and ensure transparency and efficiency.
Underwriter client portal There was an apparent demand for an underwriter client portal, which would provide a secure platform for managing and requesting critical client information, enhancing collaboration, and streamlining processes.

Features

As a blue sky concept, there were no bounds to how we could ideate agnostic to component or UX pattern availability. Our approach became a hybrid, combining features from multiple platforms in a single experience.
Bulk upload Upload more than one file and maintain version and document tracking.
System simplification Reduce clicks and navigation systems into a centralized platform.
Deal showcase View recent transactions portfolio from KeyBank Real Estate Capital.

Key screens

Real Estate Capital overview Recent transaction portfolio & sign-on
Borrower enrollment experience Launch application from desktop or mobile device.
Transaction dashboard View all transactions in a central experience.
Loan status tracker Follow up with any outstanding actions needed for underwriting.
Transaction dashboard View all transactions in a central experience.
Loan status tracker Follow up with any outstanding actions needed for underwriting.
Documents List of documents needed for application.

Impact

While this short-term engagement primarily focused on developing a proof of concept exploration of what this experience can look like, we ultimately informed a new product area for expanding commercial business.

7.5 million Funded for moving forward with this initiative.
32 tools Consolidated into one unified experience.

Takeaway

As a sole designer, sometimes designing in real-time with multiple stakeholders weighing in on opinions, I learned to prioritize adopting a human-first approach rather than technology.
Lessons learned
  • Invest time in building and establishing a working relationship with cross-functional team members.
  • Leverage existing UX sources to help educate and influence stakeholders, especially on accessibility.
  • Familiarize yourself with the terminology used for product engagement conversations.
Some potential next steps
  • User testing to measure effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction.
  • Modify design based on user testing insights.
  • Partner with technology to launch first MVP release.

View all work

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