The Challenge

Capital Direct is one of Canada’s premier private lenders for home equity and mortgage financing; providing services to clients in financing but also in Investment through their Capital Direct Income Trust.  They have been experiencing rapid growth in both sectors since 2008 and are expecting the growth to accelerate in coming years.  To prepare for steep growth, Capital Direct engaged Propel Solutions to ensure their processes and systems were scalable to support their team in providing continued client service excellence.

Propel Solutions was brought on board to conduct a review of current systems and processes to identify opportunities for improvement that would build capacity for the anticipated growth. More specifically, Propel was charged with identifying solutions that would allow the organization to move to a paperless office.  This engagement included a review of available systems and system selection to support the currently manual processes.

The Objectives

  • Process Review and Needs Assessment: Propel worked with Capital Direct to map over 12 processes in the areas of Client Onboarding, Lending Administration, Book Keeping and Income Trust Fund Management. To better understand operational barriers and recognize opportunities, Propel observed processes and conducted workshops with the staff in order to ensure buy-in and give an opportunity to voice ideas.
  • Roadmap and Systems Requirements: Propel developed a roadmap that included both quick wins and longer-term recommendations to bridge gaps in the current processes. The needs and desired direction of Capital Direct were translated into comprehensive system requirements.
  • Facilitating System Vendor Selection: With the well defined and ranked requirements list, Propel conducted a market scan for best in class solutions that met Capital Direct’s unique needs. Propel then worked with the selected vendors to customize their demonstrations to facilitate a decision by the Capital Direct stakeholders.

The Results

Capital Direct was able to select a vendor that not only met their current system needs but one that would facilitate their move to a fully paperless office.   Propel has continued to be engaged to support the migration to the new solution and ensure that the processes are scalable for the rapid growth of the organization.   Propel will work with the Capital Direct team to ensure the successful deployment of the developed roadmap.