Technology & Innovation: Why it’s Critical to Success – Even if You’re Not a Tech Company

The key to success is constant evolution and transformation. As Walker & Dunlop has grown from a small family-owned company into one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate (CRE) finance companies (and the largest provider of capital to the U.S. apartment industry in 2020), we have had to adapt to constant change.??

How?? By building a phenomenal corporate culture, staying ahead of the curve, and pledging to constantly be better than we were yesterday.?

To do that, we invest in our people, brand, and technology.? Our technology investments are at the center of the over $1 billion in acquisitions we have made over the past year.?

Our latest acquisition is GeoPhy, a leading CRE technology company that will allow us to dramatically accelerate the growth of our technology-driven businesses, specifically small balance lending and appraisals.? GeoPhy brings with it an exceptional group of data scientists, engineers, and product professionals to join W&D’s existing technology team. This is our largest technology investment ever, and dramatically advances our technology capabilities.???

The GeoPhy acquisition also further stimulates technological innovation across Walker & Dunlop to transform the CRE services industry with best-in-class digital experiences for our clients.? Previous investments include:????

• Apprise, our appraisal company that we launched as a joint venture with GeoPhy, combines data science and analytics to produce industry-leading appraisals in days not weeks.?
• TapCap, a web-based application that streamlines the loan origination and underwriting process. This technology underpins Walker & Dunlop’s goal to scale our small loan originations to $5 billion by 2025.?
• Galaxy, a proprietary database that provides our clients with deep insights into their portfolios. Since we started tracking the impact of Galaxy on our business in early 2020, it has added value to our bankers and brokers on 71% of our loan refinancings and 30% of new client acquisitions.? Galaxy defines actionable technology that impacts our top and bottom lines.???

W&D’s technology investments allow us to constantly improve, to be better today than we were yesterday, and to innovate for our clients.? Change is difficult, and without a strong corporate culture, these investments would not be embraced nor used.? But it’s our growth, and understanding that constant evolution and transformation is a core capability of great companies, that allows us to continue investing in our people, brand, and technology.????