The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals who have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s Tech Trendsetters award are now open through Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. Click here to nominate someone you know — it can even be you!
As tech innovation continues to transform the housing ecosystem, one sector that has witnessed a surge in tech transformation is servicing. Application programming interface and other tech enhancements are helping improve efficiency throughout the servicing lifecycle, eliminating manual processes and boosting data quality and integration points.
“We need to keep the focus on making digital a reality by creating self-service portals that are 24/7 and not reliant on traditional business hours,” said Cecelia Raine, vice president of single family, servicing strategy and integration at Freddie Mac. “When possible, service, communication and problem solving should be on demand.”
Raine was selected as a 2021 Tech Trendsetter, an award that recognizes the most innovative technology leaders serving the housing economy. Raine influenced the creation of Reimagine Servicing, one of Freddie Mac’s biggest and most effective initiatives and one of the largest investments in servicing in 10 years.
HousingWire reached out to Raine to learn more about how Freddie Mac is working to find solutions to industry challenges through tech and how Raine stays up to date on the latest tech innovations.
HousingWire: You have been known for leading transformation through technology innovation in servicing. What’s the latest problem you and your team are trying to solve?
Cecelia Raine: Freddie Mac is currently looking at our Servicing technology roadmap for the next 2-3 years to ensure we are aligned with our partners. Innovation, change and integration takes resources, process change and culture shifting, therefore we want to have our finger on the pulse of what our partners are facing so we can tackle those challenges together. One major focus at Freddie Mac is continuing to bring API technology to leverage robust data to streamline as we modernize the Servicing space for the benefit of the entire servicing eco-system, including the homeowners.
HousingWire: Where would you advise clients and colleagues to focus their technology resources as we navigate the second of 2022?
Cecelia Raine: During the pandemic we saw online services really step up to help struggling borrowers. We need to keep the focus on making digital a reality by creating self-service portals that are 24/7 and not reliant on traditional business hours. When possible, service, communication and problem solving should be on demand.
HousingWire: As an executive, how do you keep your learning curve steep and prepare for an increasingly digital future?
Cecelia Raine: It is extremely important to listen and truly hear what the needs are of all constituents. It is also imperative to stay on top of the tools and technology available today in order to offer the best solutions. Staying current is a real challenge, but if you keep your ear to the ground and have strong technology partners, you won’t miss a beat. Finally, at Freddie Mac we talk about agility in delivering tools, however we as people must also remain nimble and agile and understand change is constant. Once we know that to be true, change isn’t so daunting.
