That data holds the keys to answering so many problems is not surprising. Using the right data in the right way at the right time already underpins many of the decisions businesses make.

The issue is for most businesses whether they have, can access, or will know which data to use and generate to make the right decisions and demonstrate how they arrived at that decision – not so straightforward if you are effectively handcuffed by your systems infrastructure.

This is frustrating and damaging because understanding your lending risks and how to mitigate them involves making sense of the data you have – and may want to reference in the future – and having agile interoperable solutions that can deliver meaningful insights you can act upon quickly and use to show your workings.

But if we thought we knew the drivers for change a few months ago, recent political and subsequent economic events shone a light on other parts of the lending business that will likely come under immense strain in the not-so-distant future – and in doing so reminded us that target operating models go far beyond the point of origination and into servicing.

In just the last few months, conversation has turned from how quickly one gets new propositions to market to how one protects margins through more effective product launches and withdrawal systems.

Writing the right kind of business has become paramount but the failings of old legacy architecture and running dual systems has meant lenders have found these simple tasks to be slow and costly.

And now the same systems for arrears management which, like product launch and withdrawals in a rising interest rate environment, have lain untested for so long may need to deliver not just effective customer outcomes of a different nature but also effectively evidence them for the purposes of regulatory scrutiny.

Systems of record (banking platforms that maintain customer accounts) are now as much a part of the technology transformation conversation as origination. Updating and ensuring both are fit for purpose has suddenly become pressing. Recording that you have attained the best possible outcome for any borrower is a key driver behind the Consumer Duty regulation due to go live in July next year – it is even more true for vulnerable and distressed borrowers already on the books.

In a world where change management is effectively a constant work in progress, one question is which platform delivers this operational panacea. The cloud offers part of the solution, but a simple lift and shift will not deliver the real advantage of moving to that environment

Service as a Software (SaaS) does, however, offer an affordable, scalable, agile way through that will not only deal with issues of today but allow businesses to evolve fit for the future – be they the digital demands of consumers or the regulatory requirements of tomorrow.

And we should remember that we will emerge from this part of the credit cycle too, at which point we will need operating models that deliver new origination propositions at pace and deliver the requisite regulatory reporting to support them.

What give SaaS the edge is that it offers solutions that were once the preserve of the few but are now available to the many. The need for lenders to pivot according to complex market dynamics is not going to abate and thankfully technological answers are available to support them.

The current shift in motivation has further supported the cause of systems transformation.