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Genuine human interaction – built on empathy, understanding, trust, and confidence – is a core priority for our business, as it should be for any.

Chris Hill

Head of Sales Accord Mortgages

Used well, technology can be invaluable. It frees up business development teams( BDMs) from admin tasks, allowing them to focus on what matters most to advisers

These qualities are what define us, and no matter how advanced technology becomes, I believe they will always remain essential.

Recently, we took the opportunity to step back and look ahead, focusing on how we stay relevant, embrace innovation, and continue delivering what advisers need in terms of service, proposition, and support for both new and existing borrowers.

This led to expanding our management team in May, enabling our sales teams to better support advisers by working more efficiently. We also reviewed how technology could help – without losing the human touch that remains vital.

Used well, technology can be invaluable. It frees up business development teams( BDMs) from admin tasks, allowing them to focus on what matters most to advisers. It also saves advisers time, especially when they self-serve for simple queries via web chat or lender websites – leaving BDM teams available for more complex, value-adding support.

With this in mind, we’ ve introduced new technology through our customer relationship management system to pilot a fresh approach to booking appointments. Advisers can now book appointments directly into their BDM’ s diary via a link, even seeing whereabouts in the country the BDM will be that day – eliminating back-and-forth emails.

In just three months, it’ s led to over 1,200 appointments and freed up valuable BDM time which can be used to be proactive with advisers.

That said, we know technology can’ t – and shouldn’ t – do everything. If an adviser needs to speak to someone during the booking process, they still can. This is key to the wider debate around tech in our industry. It’ s easier to embrace digital tools when there’ s reassurance that human support is still available.

In the broader conversation about how technology should be used, one point stands out. From my experience, it’ s far easier to adopt digital tools when there’ s confidence that human support is still available when needed. Any tech advancement should come with a clear intention: to use the time it saves to improve the interactions that truly benefit from a personal touch – like discussing complex cases in detail. At Accord, technology isn’ t about replacing people; it’ s about empowering them to focus on the meaningful, value-adding work that advisers genuinely appreciate.

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