MBA Premier Member Editorial: The Hidden Cost of a Fragmented Tech Stack—and How to Fix It
Tim Nguyen is CEO & Co-Founder of BeSmartee
When was the last time you looked at your tech stack and felt truly in control?
In 2025, most mortgage lenders are entangled in a complex web of platforms, vendors and contracts. What started as a push toward “best-of-breed” quickly evolved into a fragmented mess of tools that don’t talk to each other, renew on different timelines and trap you in relationships you can’t exit, even when something better comes along.
The result? Operational drag. Frustrated teams. Missed opportunities.
This article isn’t about assigning blame. It’s about reflection. I want you to step back, examine what you’ve built and ask: is your stack really working for you, or have you become a hostage to it?
How Did We Get Here?
The average mid-sized mortgage lender uses over seven different core platforms from LOS and POS to CRM, PPE, Disclosures and VOI/VOE systems; and this doesn’t include data platforms such as credit or title, nor does it include department specific platforms such as contact enrichment platforms your marketing department is using. Each one promises innovation. Each one was vetted by someone on your team. But few were evaluated together, as a cohesive whole that supports end-to-end loan flow.
This is where it breaks down.
Instead of an orchestra playing in harmony, you’ve got seven soloists on different sheets of music. Over time, individual decisions made with good intentions become a tangled web of tools that create duplicate functionality, slow down collaboration and lead to miscommunication across departments.
You’re paying more, doing more and getting less. And, your staff feels it every day.
Ask Yourself: Is Your Stack Fragmented?
Let’s make it real:
• Are your processors still using spreadsheets to manage file status?
• Are your loan officers toggling between three different logins to get pricing, disclosures and conditions?
• Does IT need to manually reconcile borrower data across platforms just to get an accurate picture of pull-through?
If so, you’re not alone. In Aidium’s recent 2025 survey, 74% of lenders reported “stack fragmentation” as a top contributor to production inefficiency, with an average cost of $412 per loan tied to redundant processes and rework.
These inefficiencies often remain hidden because they’re considered “business as usual.” But over time, they snowball into missed SLAs, employee burnout and a diminished borrower experience. Fragmentation is not just a tech problem; it’s a culture and execution problem.
Best-of-Breed or Best-of-Mess?
“Best-of-breed” sounds great in theory. It lets you cherry-pick the most advanced tools in each category. But without shared goals, APIs and tight integration, it turns into a “best-of-mess.”
Take the example of a West Coast IMB that upgraded its POS in early 2024 to offer a sleek borrower interface. It delivered a cleaner application flow, but lacked full compatibility with the company’s LOS and eVault solution. Within two months, loan officers were manually duplicating data, processors were reconciling file discrepancies and clear-to-close timelines increased by 8 days. That translated into increased costs, lower borrower satisfaction and frustrated internal teams.
The takeaway? Tools are only as valuable as their ability to work together. In the absence of true interoperability, your tech becomes a burden, not a benefit. And the more fragmented your tools, the more fragile your business becomes.
The Silent Killer: Misaligned Contracts
Here’s the often-overlooked danger: contract misalignment.
Most mortgage tech stacks aren’t just fragmented technically, they’re fragmented contractually. Vendors operate on different renewal schedules. Some auto-renew unless you give 90 days’ notice. Others penalize early termination with hefty fees. Many include exclusivity clauses that make it difficult to introduce competing technologies.
This creates a trap.
You might love a new CRM or POS platform but can’t switch until your current contract expires 14 months from now. Worse, your LOS contract might expire in March, while your CRM contract runs through the following December, preventing you from aligning strategic changes across the organization.
A recent BeSmartee survey of mortgage executives found that 69% said their inability to switch platforms “when the business needed it most” was due to restrictive, multi-year contracts. This isn’t just an annoyance, it’s a major strategic risk.
You’re not stuck with your tech. You’re stuck with your contract terms.
Take Back Control
So what can you do?
Start by slowing down. Get honest about your current environment. Perform a full-stack audit – not just of your tools, but of your contracts, integrations, dependencies and vendor performance.
Here’s where to begin:
• Inventory every vendor: List platform names, functionality, current costs, key contacts, contract end dates and renewal clauses.
• Score integration health: Rank how well each vendor integrates with the others. Are data flows real-time and two-way, or duct-taped and brittle?
• Evaluate usage and ROI: How often is the tool being used? Does it justify the spend? Is it mission-critical or just “nice to have?”
• Align renewal cycles: Can you renegotiate vendors to have coterminous agreements, creating leverage for bulk renegotiation and stack rationalization?
This process alone will surface dozens of small inefficiencies and a few major risks that you can start addressing immediately.
Real Steps You Can Take This Quarter
If you’re ready to regain control, here’s a simple but powerful 4-step playbook:
• Build a Contract Calendar. Centralize all contract metadata: renewal dates, notice periods, pricing tiers and termination clauses. This turns surprises into strategy.
• Consolidate Where Sensible. Review overlapping functionality. Can your CRM also serve as your marketing automation platform? Is your POS duplicating disclosures already handled in your LOS?
• Renegotiate with Intent. Push for coterminous agreements, scale-friendly subscription pricing (vs. per-loan fees) and clauses that give you the ability to opt out based on performance.
• Create a Stack Governance Function. Form a cross-functional committee that meets monthly to monitor performance, manage renewals and evaluate potential stack changes before issues escalate.
Conclusion: The Cost of Fragmentation Is Real
The hidden cost of a fragmented tech stack isn’t just inefficiency – it’s inertia. It’s the emotional toll on your teams, the strategic rigidity that keeps you stuck and the compounded waste that quietly bleeds margin from every loan you originate.
This isn’t just about streamlining operations. It’s about reclaiming your ability to adapt. To pivot. To grow. It’s about moving from being passively managed by your systems to actively managing them. About shifting from fragmented and reactive to intentional and aligned.
So ask the hard questions. Map your contracts. Bring visibility to your tools.
Take back control. Fix the fragmentation. Start your internal inspection today.
(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policies of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes submissions from member firms. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)
