Can a lender try new mortgage software while under contract with other vendors?

Yes. A pilot runs beside what you have. One branch uses the new system on a limited scope while the rest of the company works as it does today, and existing tools are retired when their contracts come up for renewal.

Do we have to cancel our existing contracts first?

No. Existing agreements can run their course. The decision about each tool is made at its renewal, once the pilot has shown whether the new system does that job. Questions about a specific contract are for your counsel.

How big should a mortgage software pilot be?

One branch, a few capabilities, and three or four measures set before it starts. Small enough that a problem stays contained, large enough that the result means something.

What should a pilot measure?

Things you already count, such as pull-through, cycle time and partner referrals, compared with the same branch’s own history. A pilot measured against a vendor’s benchmark proves less than one measured against your own baseline.

How long does a pilot of inflooens take?

A first pilot of inflooens usually goes live in eight to twelve weeks. The timeline depends on the scope, on access to your LOS and on your team’s time.

Guide

How to pilot new mortgage software while you are under contract elsewhere.

You do not have to wait for your contracts to end, and you should not switch everything at once. Put one branch on a limited scope, measure it against its own history, and let each existing tool run to its renewal date. The renewal calendar, not the vendor’s sales cycle, is the real timetable.

How lenders start with inflooens

By Amit Ghole, President and CTO, inflooens · November 13, 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

What goes wrong

Four ways lenders get stuck

Each one is a reasonable instinct taken too far.

Waiting for every contract to end
Renewals fall on different dates. If you wait for them to line up you will never start, and each renewal will arrive before you know what you want to do.
Switching the whole company at once
No organization absorbs a change that large in one step. If something goes wrong, every branch feels it and nobody can say what caused it.
A pilot with no measures
A pilot that ends with “people seemed to like it” has proved nothing. Decide what you will count before the first loan.
A pilot with no end
Running two sets of tools indefinitely costs more than either. A pilot needs a date on which someone decides.

A plan

Six steps, in order

The first four happen before any software is switched on.

1
Pick one branch
Choose one with a manager who wants it and enough volume to show a result. The rest of the company carries on exactly as it does today.
2
Pick a few capabilities
Not everything the product does. The two or three things you most want to prove, such as follow-up on new leads or keeping conversations on the loan.
3
Pick three or four measures
For example pull-through, cycle time and partner referrals. Record the branch’s own numbers for the months before, so it is compared with itself.
4
Map your renewal calendar
List every tool the pilot overlaps with, what it costs and when its contract renews. This is the real timetable for anything that follows.
5
Run it, then decide
Compare the branch with its own history and with your other branches. Then widen, change the scope, or stop.
6
Retire tools at their renewals
As each contract comes up, decide whether the new system now does that job. Let agreements run their course; nobody expects you to break one.

The overlap

Be honest about the period you run both

A pilot means paying for two things in one branch for a while. Planning for that is better than discovering it.

What you pay twice: During the pilot, the pilot branch has both the old tools and the new one. That is the cost of finding out. Keep the branch small and the period short.
What stays the same: Your loan origination system, and every other branch. A pilot that needs the whole company to change is not a pilot.
What you may keep: A tool that does something the new system does not. Keeping a tool, connecting it and replacing it later are three different arrangements, and not every tool can be connected.
Who to involve: The person who chose each existing tool. They know it best, and a plan made with them goes better than one made around them.

Questions to ask any vendor

Before you agree to a pilot

Including with us. A vendor that cannot start small is telling you something.

1Can we start with one branch and a limited scope, and what would that cost?
2How long does a first pilot usually take, and what does that depend on?
3What do you need from our team, and from our LOS administrator?
4Which of our current tools would the pilot overlap with?
5If we keep a tool we like, can it work alongside yours? Show us how.
6What happens at the end of the pilot if we decide not to go on?
7How is a second branch added, and how much of the first setup is reused?

How inflooens does it

Start with one branch

Stated in full on the implementation page.

Scope: One branch, the few capabilities you want to prove first, and three or four measures: pull-through, cycle time, partner referrals.
Timeline: A first pilot usually goes live in eight to twelve weeks. It depends on the scope, on access to your LOS and on your team’s time.
Your LOS: It stays where it is and remains the compliance system of record. inflooens works on top of it.
Your contracts: A pilot runs beside what you have. Tools are retired when their renewals come up and when your team is ready, not on the day you sign.
Tools you keep: If a tool does something for you that inflooens does not, keep it. We check how the two would work together before anyone commits.
Widening: The next branch joins the Salesforce org and the LOS connection that are already running. Most of the work is adding people and training them.

Implementation How to count and price your current tools

Straight answers

Questions about piloting

Can a lender try new mortgage software while under contract with other vendors?: Yes. A pilot runs beside what you have. One branch uses the new system on a limited scope while the rest of the company works as it does today, and existing tools are retired when their contracts come up for renewal.
Do we have to cancel our existing contracts first?: No. Existing agreements can run their course. The decision about each tool is made at its renewal, once the pilot has shown whether the new system does that job. Questions about a specific contract are for your counsel.
How big should a mortgage software pilot be?: One branch, a few capabilities, and three or four measures set before it starts. Small enough that a problem stays contained, large enough that the result means something.
What should a pilot measure?: Things you already count, such as pull-through, cycle time and partner referrals, compared with the same branch’s own history. A pilot measured against a vendor’s benchmark proves less than one measured against your own baseline.
How long does a pilot of inflooens take?: A first pilot of inflooens usually goes live in eight to twelve weeks. The timeline depends on the scope, on access to your LOS and on your team’s time.

More guides

Keep reading

All guides for lenders

Plan a one-branch pilot.

Thirty minutes. Your branch, your measures and what it would take to go live.

Book a demo info@inflooens.com