The SF Federal Reserve’s workshop, Disruption Ahead, opened my eyes even further to the changes to small business lending driven by technology, big data and machine learning through algorithms.  Each speaker amplified on how their company was following this trend: Crowdfunder, HUB Bay Area, LendUp, Kiva Zip, in Venture.  This is truly a new world, with automated underwriting allowing almost instant assessment and quick closing; a big change from the 2-4 month process of yesteryear.  Even small tech start ups can create or buy this new algorithm-based, big data capacity and lots of players are jumping into the field.  This workshop underscored the need for community-based business lenders to up their use of technology for their programs.