Step by step, smart change has led to big results

With Mastek as our transformation partner we’ve taken paper-dependent steps out of processes, and automated manual ones. We’ve dramatically cut the time it takes to make underwriting decisions and to respond to regulatory changes. Ultimately, these and other advances have freed us to grow our business in line with expectations.

Steve Thomason, Head of Business Systems, Together

95% broker satisfaction with new portal

Because Together lends mostly through brokers, its transformation journey has initially focused on them. Mastek has helped the company replace obscure, complex product interfaces with a unified broker portal that is much easier to use, much more systematic and clear about what brokers and customers can expect from Together, and about how the lender’s products work.

30% cut in underwriting turnaround

Over the course of four years, a growing torrent of developments — big and small, complex and simple — has given Together a striking facelift without changing the heart of the business. Improvements to the broker portal have also continued.

For example, a recent addition of decision-in-principle functionality uses sophisticated underwriting logic to give potential customers immediate pre-approval for a specific loan amount. This gives them more information and confidence when choosing a lender to apply to.

150% growth in loan book

Together’s programme of smart change has played a big part in its ability to more than double the value of its loan book in just three years, two years ahead of target. Speed and ease of service have made Together increasingly attractive to brokers and their customers.

New channels, such as mortgage clubs, have opened up to the lender. And Together’s many new internal efficiencies have allowed the company to take this growth in stride.

100+ people, 125+ projects, 100% Agile

In the four years since starting to work with Together on the broker portal, the original 14-strong Mastek team has grown to more than 100, working on more than 125 Agile development projects and IT enabled business enhancements.

Steve Thomason, Head of Business Systems at Together, explains what is keeping them all so busy:“We don’t buy our core IT products off the shelf; we’ve always pursued bespoke development of our systems of differentiation. It’s a strategy that works for us, giving us the control and flexibility to respond to broker and customer needs without ever waiting on a software provider.”Before bringing Mastek on board, developments were managed in house with ad-hoc use of contractors; but as the company’s ambitions grew and the pace of change accelerated, there was an unwelcome increase in delivery delays.These are now a thing of the past, with readily scalable Mastek resource and effective Agile development processes in place.