ART Business Loans
Building the foundations for high-growth, high-impact community lending through smarter systems, clearer processes, and scalable operational structure.
“EFTIA helped position ART for the next stage of our growth.”
A cost-effective CRM solution, implemented with minimal disruption and aligned to ART’s operational needs and marketing ambitions.
Client Overview
ART Business Loans is a long-established Community Development Finance Institution, CDFI, providing finance to businesses that struggle to access their full needs from mainstream lending. Most business owners that approach ART are doing so due to limited assets or non-traditional profiles.
ART blends capital from banks and other funders and often lends under government-backed schemes such as the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme.
Recently, ART secured access to Community Enable Funding, CEF, supported by JP Morgan’s Capability Fund. This gave the organisation a rare opportunity to modernise operations, strengthen its customer journey, and accelerate lending growth.
Key Challenges
ART entered this transformation phase with several structural and operational hurdles that needed to be addressed without slowing down the team or disrupting lending activity.
- A mix of legacy systems and a newly acquired loan management system that still required configuration
- Limited visibility in a market increasingly dominated by fast-moving FinTech lenders with large marketing budgets
- A need to streamline operations without losing ART’s competitive advantage, deeper, more flexible credit appraisal than mainstream lenders
EFTIA’s Approach
Building Trust and Organisational Buy-In
Nick began by spending time with the ART team and its leadership to understand their operations, strengths, and internal dynamics.
EFTIA focused on creating alignment and helping the team recognise the need for transformation while ensuring they felt heard, supported, and involved in shaping the solution.
Understanding the Operational Reality
EFTIA conducted a detailed review of ART’s end-to-end lending process, identifying bottlenecks, duplication, and unnecessary manual steps.
This included mapping how the new loan management system would fit into the wider workflow and where additional tools were needed to improve speed and consistency.
Selecting the Right CRM
Rather than recommending a high-cost, feature-heavy CRM, EFTIA evaluated several options and identified a lesser-known, low-cost system that delivered around 50 to 60% of the functionality of major platforms at a fraction of the price.
- Simple enough for ART to adopt quickly
- Practical enough to avoid overwhelm and under-utilisation
- Flexible enough to manage applications, support marketing activity, and integrate with the loan management system once loans were disbursed
Managing Implementation with Minimal Disruption
EFTIA took full responsibility for configuration, integration, and supplier communication. ART’s team only needed to review proposals and make decisions.
There was no technical build burden, no heavy admin, and no risk of mis-implementation. This kept the project moving at pace while protecting the team’s time during an increasingly busy period.
Preparing ART for Scalable Growth
The CRM was configured not just for application management, but also for future marketing automation, lead nurturing, and improved visibility of pipeline performance.
EFTIA ensured the system was launched on time and within budget, and even ahead of ART’s own loan management system rollout, which had started many months beforehand.
Results & Impact
Operational Efficiency
- A streamlined, structured loan application process ready for immediate use
- Faster internal workflows, reducing the risk of losing deals to quicker competitors
- A CRM that supports both lending operations and marketing activity
Team Adoption & Confidence
- A system simple enough for the team to adopt without overwhelm
- Clearer roles, responsibilities, and decision points in the application journey
Strategic Readiness
- Foundations for scalable growth supported by CEF funding
- Better lead management, pipeline visibility, and future automation
- New marketing resource working alongside EFTIA to maximise the CRM’s capabilities
Ongoing Partnership
EFTIA continues to support ART with incremental improvements, ensuring the system evolves at a pace the team can absorb while maintaining momentum toward a more modern, competitive lending operation.
Client Feedback
“EFTIA has helped position ART for the next stage of our growth. The CRM solution they recommended is cost-effective, intuitive and well-aligned with our operational needs and marketing ambitions. Nick’s expertise in the CDFI sector was invaluable. He knew exactly where to focus and how to get us there quickly. We now have a stronger foundation for scaling our impact.”
Steve Walker CEO, ART Business LoansSmarter systems. Stronger foundations. Scalable growth.
If your organisation is ready to modernise operations, improve visibility, and build the foundations for sustainable growth, EFTIA can help bring structure, clarity, and momentum to the process. Learn more at https://eftia.co.uk/
