Furthermore, mortgages are not as simple as other banking services. The truth about mortgage processes According to Inc., mortgage applications alone "take 44 days on average to close, according to Ellie Mae, and can generate an eye-popping 1,000 pages of manually processed documentation." This is because of a lengthy, fragmented journey from pre-approval to closing to ongoing loan servicing that spans numerous, unrelated players all collecting disparate data coupled with processes that necessitate multiple vendors to achieve regulatory compliance (appraisers, inspectors, title insurance, etc.). This complexity has produced an industry that lags far behind others in the path to digital transformation. Additionally, the mortgage industry is a highly regulated environment that will always require a delicate balance between modernization, cost, and risk. Of course, while the value of digitizing is clear, the path to creating better customer experiences through automation is murky.