If there’s one industry that begs for the improvements that modern technology brings to the table, it’s undoubtedly the mortgage business. Why? Well, for starters, it is currently one of the biggest sectors in the world. The Federal Reserve estimates the amount of outstanding residential mortgages to be worth a whopping $15 trillion in the U.S. alone, with the last five years seeing an average loan origination of $2 trillion.

Then there’s the vast amount of data, most of it sensitive, that borrowers share with their lenders to facilitate loan applications. Mortgage providers require that applicants provide numerous types of documents, from identification and asset proof-of-ownership to income declarations, bank statements and W-2 forms, all of which change hands more than once, over a variety of channels, before a loan is ultimately granted. It’s therefore not surprising that borrowers wait for weeks, sometimes months, before they can get the financing they need.

Thankfully, technological advancements seem to be finally making their way into the highly inefficient mortgage industry. New companies have been increasingly tapping into portable devices and mobile apps for better ways to connect with borrowers and hasten the application process. And now, with blockchain innovation in high gear, the mortgage space is about to get even more interesting.

In recent times, modern technology has gone from a mere facilitator of business to a revolutionary force in virtually all sectors of the global economy. Thanks to groundbreaking innovations like online user platforms, portable smart devices, and artificial intelligence, businesses are finding new ways to refine customer experience and utilize resources more efficiently.

Among the industries that are experiencing dramatic change as a consequence of the current wave of digitization is the mortgage sector. Although the housing market is yet to fully recover from the damaging effects of the 2008 financial crisis, statistics show that home prices and loan origination volumes have been on an upward trend for the past several years. Those numbers, along with the challenges that mortgage lenders have been facing, most significantly in time management and borrower satisfaction, all point to the fact that the industry is more than ready for the disruptive effects of new technologies.

To that end, players in the mortgage sector are gradually embracing technology to increase throughput, promote accuracy, improve processing speeds and reduce overhead costs. Additionally, tech developers are consistently introducing new solutions, with the intention to digitize the origination process from start to finish.

So, have you been asking yourself what the ongoing tech boom means for the mortgage industry? Here are five ways digitization is reinventing the game for both lenders and borrowers.