Like many fans, I still need to get my football fix during the pre-season period but with no major tournaments taking place this year, this is largely limited to rumour and conjecture around the transfer market. Which is made even easier, and a little more addictive, by the advent of social media.
As a growing business who is undergoing what feels like a constant recruitment campaign of our own, a recent article also caught my eye around new scouting technology which is changing the face of recruitment in football.
Essentially, this technology helps to produce reliable, benchmarked data to assist clubs and scouts in finding and developing young players. It leverages the latest in computer vision and AI to enable any player to easily participate in a virtual trial program and complete a series of assessments and drills in any backyard, field, or open space via their mobile phone. The app will then analyse players’ ability and, through a fully connected platform, allow clubs to evaluate them via the data generated.
To me, this concept is simple yet mind blowing and serves to highlight how AI can eliminate a variety of barriers like cost, geography and time commitment that traditionally limit the accessibility.
How it was created also resonates.
The founder’s son had just been released from the Tottenham youth academy and he needed a way to gather data to showcase his talents in order to help him secure another club. A classic problem and solution scenario.
In terms of how OMS started, we’d run our own brokerage and specialist distribution business for over 25 years and realised that we had to embrace technology to improve our efficiency and maximise potential revenue streams. We initially looked for a system or solution to help us achieve this but we couldn’t find anything suitable so we started developing our own. The classic problem and solution scenario.
For advisers, I realise that a host of problems constantly crop up and whilst I’m not advocating that you invest time, energy and money into developing your own tech solutions to solve each and every one of these, I do urge you to make time to source the best available solutions which represent the most effective fit for your business.
I speak to a huge number of intermediary firms who can’t answer the simple question – why did you choose your current tech partner? Another leading question that can often lead to eyebrows being raised and furrowed brows is – how do you see technology benefitting your business?
Now this isn’t a criticism. I fully appreciate that time is precious, especially in the current lending climate, and I’m sure that we’ve all made some poor choices on the back of information we were sold, rather than what was actually delivered. But it’s vital to ensure that a range of online tools, solutions and systems are helping firms to work more efficiently and grow their business rather than supress it.
The most effective CRM platforms create a significant amount of time over a sustained period, meaning that any initial scoping and conversations with tech providers should be seen as a time investment rather than time lost. So, make sure you undertake sufficient levels of due diligence when scouting your next tech partner.
Neal Jannels is managing director of One Mortgage System (OMS)
