Westminster Financial

Westminster Finance & Business Solutions is a fast-growing financial solutions company who negotiates funding for clients seeking business, residential, investment and development loans throughout Australia. As the company grew, the need for better, more efficient systems to handle the 90+ tasks associated with applying for and settling loans became pressing.

“The systems we had in place didn’t allow for us to be efficient as we began to take on more clients,” said James Grima, Owner and director of Westminster Finance & Business Solutions. “Managing commissions, generating reports and maintaining separate databases were all lengthy, manual processes that began to overwhelm our staff as our client base grew.”

Grima worked with his developer to build a temporary CRM solution in Microsoft Access to track and manage client data and the loan processing workflow, but after a little over a year, he knew it was time to move to the next level. A colleague recommended Progress® Rollbase®.

“Rollbase adapted to all the technology we’d already built, while enabling us to add to it, so we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “And, because the solution is cloud-based, it provides the flexibility we need to scale the application and add to it as our needs change.”

The new application took one full-time developer roughly three months to build and implement. Grima said migrating his old CRM to Rollbase created about 80% of the new solution; the remaining 20% consists of enhancements to improve the system and provide added functionality. Now Rollbase drives the Mortgage brokerage division of the business, serving brokers and support staff working internally, remotely and even off-shore.

A key functionality is the ability to create templates that allow users to move easily through a workflow. Once a task is complete, the system creates the next task automatically and assigns it to the appropriate person or division, eliminating delays in processing and ensuring no task is left unfinished.

“With Rollbase, we have a system in place that makes loan processing easy,” said Grima. When a client calls the firm, a broker simply opens Rollbase and selects a template to add the client’s information. Any existing data in the CRM populates the template. Tasks are generated as needed, and staff can upload the application directly to the bank once it’s ready for approval.

The Rollbase application enables Westminster’s brokers to check the status of tasks, generate task reports and link from the reports to the application, and store documentation. It’s accessible on mobile devices, as well, so brokers can make updates on the go.

“There are roughly 90 different tasks throughout the workflow,” he said. “Our Rollbase application drives the business through all tasks, from the application through to settlement.”