Going Paperless

Everyone dreams of a paperless mortgage loan process. 

In a SunStar article last 2010, Margaret Chan, manager of Global 360, a solutions provider, urged companies to phase out paper-based transactions in favor of online automation of their business processes. The article goes on to mention AUB's (Asia United Bank) initiative to automate their loan processes as well.

Although the article hints of some biases in the part of the writer, it does point out an inevitable trend in the banking industry, one that will continue in the coming years.

In a related article from Stewart, a company, eOriginal, had begun pioneering the advent of paperless transactions in mortgage loans. Even the local government had stepped in, initiating and passing special legislation to make paperless transactions possible.

Why am I talking about this? That's because I intend to do the same thing here in the Philippines. Let's just say I'm frustrated with the current loan process that we have now, not only in my company but also with the rest of the banks  that comprise the Philippine banking industry. 

To start, I've decided to make paperless loan transactions my personal pet project. However, I guess there are a lot of factors working against me. I don't have any programming knowledge, so to speak. I don't have much in the way of resources, particularly time and money. I don't have special access to my company's databases for beta testing purposes. 

But I do have knowledge of the loan process (I've been a marketing assistant for almost two years now, for crying out loud). I can name collaborators and programmers who can assist me. I have bosses who can support me if they knew how big an impact this is going to be.

So how do I begin? Well, I'm keeping it small for the meantime. I'm thinking of starting with the development of an application which will integrate once and for all the company's loan management system with its loan documentation process. It's not that complicated, mind you. All I need is a team of dedicated individuals to jump start the whole shebang.

Then afterwards, we proceed to making the entire transaction paperless, including the actual loan mortgage agreement that the government gets. But that's for later.

I'm excited at the prospect, at the challenge. I'm going to make this work.