"They are a bright team who deliver the highest quality, consistently; you can rely on them."
Despite being regulated, getting a new mortgage or re-mortgaging is a daunting task for many consumers.
Podium had an innovative idea that would change the face of how people chose the right mortgage, and make it as pain-free as possible for everyone. Being a brand new concept, the race to be first to market was real.
Podium had one single objective – to make mortgage applications as pain-free as possible. For everyone.
Adding deep technological expertise and fresh insight into what information people need and when, we acted fast to create a simple, intuitive platform that launched on time and made mortgage applications as pain-free as possible for everyone.
Putting the consumer first was always going to be our approach for a service designed to make people’s financial decisions easier. So, whilst we built APIs, connected various data sources, and navigated financial services regulations and compliance, our mantra was, “is it helpful to the customer? Is it putting their needs first?”
Using active strategy to make hard, fast decisions and keeping stakeholders engaged throughout meant we met the tight deadline and the Podium mortgage service launched as the first of its kind on the market.
Podium are hell bent on disrupting the mortgage industry from within. Not without good reason.
Mortgages scream complexity and difficulty.
So Podium’s aim was to make choosing the right mortgage simpler for everyone. An audacious but noble goal.
A spin-out from moneysupermarket.com (MSM), Podium uses deep data to give customers a better choice of mortgage. It works by serving up the information people actually need – as opposed to what they’re normally just given – to make a better-informed decision. It’s like having a friendly mortgage broker on your shoulder, feeding you all the best deals in a way you can easily understand.
Being something completely new, the race to be first on the market was real from the get-go. Being funded by MSM, there was also the pressure from investors looking for a quick return.
More than anything, there was the issue of technological expertise…or rather the absence of the specific knowledge within the Podium team. It was clear that digital, data and technological expertise would be needed to bring the vision to life.
To answer this shortfall, the Podium team turned to us to provide the missing technical expertise and guidance. We were very happy to be involved. Being a cutting-edge new service, this looked like an exciting and momentous project from day one.
Encountering significant technical obstacles in making connections between different technology platforms, we worked hard to create APIs that would serve up the information needed to improve the customer experience. Sometimes it felt it couldn't be done. But time pressures and the need to move forward forced our hands to act decisively.
Despite working with deep and complex data, our common goal of simplifying it and making it useful to customers kept us on point and on track.
Working back from what the customer wanted – rather than bombarding them with the traditional unhelpful data – brought unity and direction to the team. The culture of a start-up is intoxicating, and the attitude of ‘can do, will do, do now’ gave the whole team momentum at every stage.
Occasionally, this meant pushing back on regulatory restrictions on what information had to be shown, and how this was presented. Our mantra was ‘is it helpful to the customer, or is it just useless information?’ Our answer was always, always to put the customer’s needs first by providing information that meant something – such as the total cost of a three-year fixed rate mortgage over the full term of the loan.
Keeping the various stakeholders involved was critical – it was their investment after all. Which made the success of the first run through, that took place at MSM’s offices, a triumph in proving the validity of our approach. It was genuinely thrilling to see all the pieces falling into place, with all the key stakeholders excitedly buying into the whole proposition.
In making the knowledge of a dedicated mortgage broker available to everyone – thereby democratising the advantages of access to dedicated financial expertise – Podium succeeded by combining its clear vision with the specific technological expertise it was otherwise lacking.
By making hard and fast decisions, rather than endlessly planning and strategising, we were able to keep the rollercoaster ride on track. By achieving progress at every stage, the project launched ahead of the competition and continues to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Indeed, so good is the Podium service in finding the right mortgage for your circumstances, members of our team even used it themselves. There can be no better testimony.
