How Opibus transformed internal efficiency and strengthened client service capability
Opibus Finance, founded in 2021, aims to help business owners navigate the complexity of SME and commercial lending, helping them quickly find the right lending solutions.
Faced with the challenge of an unprofessional data collection experience for customers, Opibus turned to the streamlined efficiencies of a digital broking platform to transform their business operations.
For SMEs in Australia, finding the right lender to support their business needs can be daunting. With over 20 years of lending experience, Opibus Finance (Opibus) was established to help business owners navigate complex options and pricing, enabling them to quickly find the right funding solution and get back to business.
Opibus Director, Neil McKay, founded the business in 2021. The team consists of three front-end staff and offshore support staff. Opibus uniquely emphasises both the process and the outcome for clients. One of their key value propositions is leveraging their extensive deep experience and access to lenders combined with automation, to provide not only fast results but also a process that adds value for customers with every interaction.
Major Challenge: The traditional lending process fails to deliver a professional customer experience
Neil McKay, a self-described “tech savvy” enthusiast of AI and automation, explains that without a digital solution, Opibus’s operations were plagued with inefficiencies. These included everything from manually collecting data and completing financial analyses, to manually preparing and submitting applications to lenders. These cumbersome manual processes were only unproductive for the business but also impacted the professionalism of the customer experience.
Data collection, management and data transfer issues
One of Opibus’s major pain points was securely collecting and transferring customer information, particularly customer identification.
Lenders often requested customer information and data to be transferred via email, which McKay admits they were never comfortable with. “There wasn’t a good digital solution to provide secure links to collect customer information and then submit applications inclusive of customer data to the lenders.”
Limitations in available digital solutions
McKay further explains, the tools available to Opibus were primarily geared towards home lending and lacked crucial business finance capabilities. “There has never been a good digital platform in the Commercial Finance and Asset Lending industry that provides an efficient end-to-end process.”
Recognising the benefits systems and technology
To offer SME businesses every financing product they might need while ensuring ease and convenience, McKay recognised the need for better digital tools to support Opibus’s operations. Opibus set out to implement a digital soluton to streamline their business process and enhance customer experience. The comprehensive solution offered by CitoPlus is what drew McKay to the platform.
Solution: Transforming operations with streamlined technology
Professionalised data collection
One immediate benefit of implementing CitoPlus was providing customers with a smoother and more professional experience. Using the platform, Opibus could issue requests directly to their customers and associated third parties for secure uploads of data, documents and identification. McKay says, “Our customers feel comfortable with using the [secure] links they receive, and we’ve had a lot of support from CitoPlus in setting this up.”
New levels of efficiency with an end-to-end process
Instead of juggling manual and disconnected processes, all workflows including sourcing data, financial analysis and building the credit paper are now connected and streamlined in CitoPlus. This saves time and money on third party data searches and enables seamless teamwork on every deal.
“I like the data collection process it goes through from the start – setting up the borrower through to the deal,” says McKay. “Being able to collect that data and getting the reports out of the system so early – like the UBO report and the creditor watch data – is very insightful and helps to put the application together.”
McKay further utilises the sequential workflow to effortlessly issue mandate letters to customers and generate short-form proposals for lenders to gauge early appetite for a transaction. “It’s great to be able to do that as part of the process.”
These streamlined workflows and early insights have enabled Opibus to transact more efficiently with both customers and lenders and build deals quickly. “Efficiency is number one for us and [CitoPlus] provides us with that sort of ability,” says McKay.
Time savings from using powerful built-in tools
McKay found that by making use of built-in tools and reports generated significant time savings. “Financial analysis is one example where we’d been using spreadsheets and manual input, then working things through. Now you input the data [into CitoPlus] and it does all the calculations and ratios for you and produces an end report for the financier.”
“The biggest gains are in the added ability to produce different types of credit applications from credit memorandum ‘early reads’ through to full applications,” says McKay. “It’s hard to put an actual time saving on that, but it would be at least an hour or two on each application.”
Fast solutions to eliminate roadblocks
In-depth training and highly responsive support have been crucial in the success of Opibus’s implementation and ongoing use of CitoPlus. McKay praises the promptness and accessibility of CitoPlus’s live support. “You use the support button in the platform and people respond to you immediately. It’s not hours or days; they respond to you in minutes. They’ve been on hand to help resolve issues or help me understand and operate the system a little better, in a very short time frame, so we’re not holding the customer up at all.”
The result: The ability to do more
More time for the front end to excel
The intuitive end-to-end workflow that is built into CitoPlus helps teams work together smoothly and productively. “I think the system is very user-friendly so our support staff will be able to use it confidently,” says McKay.
“It allows me to do what I do best... getting out and meeting more referral partners, more customers, more prospects. Rather than sitting behind a desk putting applications together.”
New capabilities
Opibus have used CitoPlus’s streamlined workflow and specialised tools to increase their capabilities.
“The platform allows brokers to do many more different things than what they could do in the past, and much more efficiently,” says McKay. Citing the financial analysis tools as an example, the simplicity of CitoPlus’s system means Opibus can now easily generate detailed and accurate financial analysis, without worrying about user error.
When working with a small team, with limited time and resources, the impact of increased capability, velocity and efficiency has proven to be a game-changing competitive advantage.
As McKay looks to the future, he’s focused on expanding his support staff’s usage of CitoPlus to further accelerate Opibus’s efficiency. He’s also eager to make use of CitoPlus’s direct lender integrations. “The ability to be able to transact directly into a financier’s system using their application process is an absolute bonus,” says McKay. “For anyone who’s in commercial finance, I would highly recommend this system.”.
