Editor’s note: this feature originally appeared in the October issue of DS News, click here [1] to view.
Amit Aggarwal oversees the implementation of technology systems to enhance Auction.com’s online platform. He has over 16 years’ experience leading, innovating, designing, and executing large-scale enterprise web-based solutions, most recently as CarFinance.com’s CTO. There, Aggarwal was responsible for defining the strategy and vision for CarFinance.com's technology and the implementation of its product ecosystem. Before his tenure at CarFinance.com, Aggarwal served as Director of Software Development for Equator, an Altisource business unit, where he played a vital role in building and transforming their flagship platform. Aggarwal holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering from Maharishi Dayanand University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My day starts with team collaboration—I walk the door to check on Auction.com’s many initiatives, to make sure goals are on track, and then to meet with executive partners to figure out how to continue to build the most innovative products for our buyers and sellers.
We have a big team, and every member stays extremely busy. There isn’t a department at Auction.com that we don’t interact with in some way. Along with improving our auction platform, we work with every department to help them do their jobs more efficiently and innovate new ways to serve our customers. We are always looking six to nine months down the road, at next steps for digitizing our auction process.
Every day, we collect enormous amounts of marketplace data through our tools. We then redistribute this data in some form to our buyers and sellers to empower them to make decisions. Our data models give buyers their personalized property recommendations. We are continually learning the behavior of buyers to provide them with the best property recommendations. From the seller’s side, we continue to learn from all the data we collect from different auction runs to give our sellers the best recommendations for pricing their assets.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
It’s very satisfying to be part of a process that helps stabilize the housing industry. We know that the faster we help sell an asset, the faster we help stabilize the market. We hear stories about how our platform helps distressed properties become homes again—and this is gratifying.
Your most recent past position was at CarFinance.com. What can mortgage professionals learn from how other industries operate?
CarFinance.com is an online automotive-lending and car-buying experience. Part of my team’s job was to digitize the experience by making the loan- approval process quick, easy, and secure so customers drove away happy. Simplicity and the digitization of customer-experience/business processes were incredibly important, and that's a big part of my job at Auction.com.
You recently spoke at the Five Star Conference during the Servicing & Compliance Lab on the topic of servicing innovation. What were some of the key takeaways?
One major discussion point was the importance of digitization of the entire business process. Whether in the auction or the servicing industry, successful companies are looking to enhance the customer experience through digitization. The bottom line is to ensure that your company is innovative enough to improve the customer experience and invests enough resources to keep up with changing technology.
Finally, make sure you are collecting efficient data, and that data democratization is a crucial goal for your company. We collect myriad data points every day and share it with sellers, buyers, and business partners so they can make informed decisions.
In what ways can servicer providers better meet the needs and demands of their servicer partners?
One of the most significant investments Auction.com has made since I joined the team is building tools for sellers and buyers so they can have a more in-depth look into their portfolio. Our goal is to continually innovate to make business between buyers and sellers as easy and transparent as possible. It’s about our customers being able to make informed decisions.
We assemble the data gathered from our seller and buyer tools in one place, which we can later share with our buyers and sellers so they can see their portfolio performance, what actions they need to take on assets, and empower them to make real-time decisions.
Another great tool is our Auctionsync app, which collects buyer data at in-person auctions. And we have exclusive seller tools that help them make informed decisions, such as determining price optimization at the asset level.