By Mary Schuster, October Research Chief Knowledge Officer
In Silicon Valley, the motto has long been “Go fast and break things.”
In title and settlement, it’s closer to “Go slow and fix things.”
We live by different rules, and for good reason. In our world, when something breaks, someone loses a home, a life savings, or their professional reputation. There’s no bailout for a missed lien or a wire sent to the wrong place. No venture capital fund comes to make it right. We don’t get to move fast and hope for the best; the stakes are too high.
That’s what creates the infamous friction between tech and title. As new technology emerges — automation, AI, digital workflows — it promises to make our jobs faster, smoother, easier. And it often does. Impressively so. And what’s missing in that conversation is accountability. When the algorithm gets it wrong, who’s responsible?
Right now, it’s not the algorithm.
It’s the agent, the closer, the underwriter; the humans are left holding the liability when technology makes an error. So when tech companies wonder why the title industry can seem skeptical or slow to adopt, that’s the reason. It’s not stubbornness. It’s stewardship. It’s the knowledge that at the end of the day, our signatures are on the line, not the software’s.
That doesn’t mean we’re opposed to innovation. In fact, our industry has widely adopted more change in the past decade than many realize — eClosings, RON, AI-driven search and decision tools, data integrations and fraud mitigation tools. But we’ve done it the way we do everything: methodically, carefully, with an eye toward protecting the consumer and the transaction.
Just last month, after a webinar we hosted on blockchain and Bitcoin, someone remarked that our audience didn’t seem nearly as resistant to tech as they used to be. I think that observation was right; and it says something important. The skepticism in this industry isn’t about rejecting change; it’s about first understanding it. When technology meets us where we are — with accountability, clarity, and purpose — we’re ready to move forward.
Maybe that’s the message tech needs to understand: that in title, the goal isn’t to move fast and break things — it’s to move wisely and fix things before they break.
Because when your work safeguards the largest financial transaction most people will ever make, “slow” isn’t a flaw. It’s a responsibility. We don’t move slowly out of fear — we move carefully because what we handle isn’t mere code or data. It’s people’s homes, hopes, and hard-earned savings.
Read more from Schuster in her blog, Tuesdays with Mary, here.