Speed and quality rarely go hand-in-hand. But with an activity as crucial as onboarding, the last thing you want for your team is a tradeoff. With SPARK, there’s no compromising — in as little as 4 weeks, those who actively participate in SPARK’s curated onboarding process will come out of their training armed with all the knowledge, resources, and support for long-term lending success.

Let’s take a deep dive into the SPARK onboarding process with a week-by-week look at what’s in store.

What to Expect During Onboarding

Onboarding participants can expect at least three meetings per week for every week of implementation to go through the high-level features of each loan origination stage. You’ll be provided with both written materials and videos to watch covering all the features of the system. These materials include loan exercises to practice and test the features, as well as validate your team’s custom configurations prior to the all-team training in Week 4.

  • Week 1: Intro to SPARK and the Intake Process
    We kick off onboarding with an overview of the SPARK loan origination system and a look at the loan intake process.
  • Week 2: Underwriting
    Here, we explore the underwriting features of the software, as well as use cases like advanced deal structures, configurable statement spreading, intuitive lender policy, SBA eligibility review, integrated third-party data, and commitment letter generation.
  • Week 3: Packaging, Closing, and Funding
    In Week 3, we go through the loan packaging, closing, and disbursement. This includes built-in SBA 7(a) capabilities to make submission easy, automated tools to stay on top of your closing requirements, and post-disbursement tracking and communication.
  • Week 4: Full Team Training & Loan Origination in Practice
    Using all the training learned in the first three weeks, we conduct a full team training on a live loan in SPARK so you can see what it actually looks like to put a loan through the system.

Through it all, our customer success team is there to help you get the most out of your onboarding. We’re a high-touch team both during training and after, answering your questions and concerns, meeting with you to discuss long-term platform goals and understanding where SPARK can be improved. Plus, our onboarding has been optimized over time using best practices and recommendations from previous customer training.

Clients express that this is the best product on the market for SBA lending. They like how responsive our team is — from customer success managers to developers — and can see where their feedback is not only taken, but acted upon in production.

Emily McCarty, Senior Customer Success Manager at SPARK.

Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

What will onboarding be like? How does SPARK accommodate each new client’s needs? We’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions to help you prepare for onboarding.

  1. Will SPARK support our process?
    SPARK can meet each lender’s needs with a flexible nomenclature and navigation process.
  2. How do you accommodate borrowers who aren’t tech-savvy?
    Our materials are specifically designed to help new users walk through the process step by step, ensuring an easy experience even for those borrowers who aren’t tech-savvy.
  3. How do we know the platform is secure?
    Each user is given a unique username and password, which they alone control. Users can also enhance security using two-factor authentication.
  4. Do you connect to a servicing system?
    We do not connect to a servicing system, but we can generate the information needed for servicing. Using our API, we can pull data out of SPARK, which can then be used for a servicing system.

Ready for the fastest, smoothest, and most curated onboarding you’ve ever had? Our customer success team is here to help. 

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