Case Study

Digital Innovation with Trinity Finances

About Trinity Finances

Trinity Finances is a growing Irish financial services firm specialising in asset, agri, and car finance. Known for its strong relationships with dealerships and commitment to personal service, Trinity Finances engaged with CeADAR, Ireland’s European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) for AI, to explore how digital transformation could streamline internal processes while maintaining a human touch.

The Challenge

Trinity Finances had built a loyal customer base, but behind the scenes, many operational processes remained manual and siloed:

• Customer applications were managed via email and WhatsApp
• Physical documents were stored on local machines
• No CRM system was in place to track applications or customer engagement
• Performance tracking, marketing analytics, and collaboration tools were not in use

The business was highly dependent on individual team members for progress tracking, which posed scalability and continuity risks.

The EDIH Engagement

In early 2024, Trinity Finances completed CeADAR’s Digital Maturity Assessment, scoring 22%. This triggered a structured programme of advisory support, including:

• Process mapping workshops
• A review of tools for CRM, automation, digital documentation, and compliance
• Evaluation of Trinity’s current customer journey from lead to funding
• Market scans and CRM feature comparison
• Strategic prioritisation roadmap
• Final delivery of a detailed digital strategy presentation and workshop follow-ups

Strategic Outcomes

CRM Implementation

The most critical recommendation was the adoption of a CRM system to unify lead management, automate communication, and provide visibility across the loan lifecycle.

• With CeaDAR’s support, Trinity Finances selected Monday.com in July 2024, engaging a 3rd party provider for implementation
• A kick-off call in late July aligned the Trinity Finances team on goals, metrics, and a 10-week onboarding and adoption plan
• CeADAR provided an executive support framework to structure internal roles: Executive Sponsor, Platform Owner, Workflow Builder, and Technical Admin — while ensuring inclusive participation across all staff

Custom Workflows & Automation

Working closely with CeADAR, Trinity Finances implemented:

• A webform with structured fields, capturing details for applicants
• A status field workflow for each lead:
  New → Assigned → Pending Docs → More Info → Bank Decision → Accepted/Denied → Completed
• Automated task assignment based on dealership name, using a dealer list mapped to individual team members
• Borrower-specific email templates to collect documents
• Dealership-specific email templates to update dealerships throughout the process (in progress in 2025)
• A template email for a specific bank, allowing customers to preview contracts before e-signing

Secure Document Handling

CeADAR supported Trinity Finances in transitioning from local PC storage to Microsoft OneDrive:

• A shared folder system was created per dealership and customer
• Links to each folder are embedded in CRM records for fast access
• This significantly reduced the risk of data loss and improved internal handover capability

Email Signature Rollout

Working together:

• CeaDAR created a branded email signature for all CRM communications (including logo)
• Guided Trinity Finances through removing default Monday.com branding and applying the new template organisation-wide

Next Steps: Reporting & Dashboards

Now live with their CRM since October 2024, Trinity Finances has seen noticeable improvement in operational efficiency and transparency. Looking ahead to 2025, Trinity Finances is considering to re-engage with CeADAR to guide them in planning the next phase of their digital journey with the 3rd party provider to implement dashboard reporting and performance analytics to better visualise business growth, dealer performance, and customer trends.

Impact

The project has already had a transformative effect:

• Streamlined lead management across over 40 dealerships
• Reduced risk by moving to structured, cloud-based document storage
• Improved communication with customers and dealers through automation
• Enabled scalability while preserving the company’s personalised service ethos