Implemented in less than seven months, White Clarke Group’s CALMS2 Platform has automated application submissions and decisioning for Exeter Finance’s recently launched Strategic Originations Channel.

Officials indicated that now 100 percent of Exeter’s channel applications are pushed through this platform.

White Clarke believes the new system gives Exeter a competitive advantage in recruiting strategic alliances.

Exeter is a growing subprime finance company in the U.S., serving more than 9,000 dealers through its traditional branch channel. Exeter’s growth and the introduction of a centralized strategic originations channel necessitated a completely new platform.

Matt Colby, senior vice president of strategic originations at Exeter, helped build out the process and explained what the company was seeking from the system.

“For us, there were two key requirements,” Colby said. “One, we needed to fully automate the initial underwriting and decisioning process to deliver an offer to the end-customer while they are seated in the dealership. That means a total elapsed time of less than five minutes. In fact, the application decision should be returned in seconds.

“Two, we needed a highly configurable platform that would accommodate future strategic alliances and continued growth, without systems development. That is a major competitive advantage that CALMS provides,” he continued.

Exeter’s project was kicked off in December 2012 and went live in June of last year on time and on budget, something that Exeter chief information officer Nick Ockwell describes as a big win and unusual for an initial system launch.

“Internally, we put our best people on the project. That was fundamental to a successful implementation,” Ockwell said.

“White Clarke Group was the second big factor. We wanted a partner with experience and credibility, someone who had a certain scale and could challenge our thinking,” he added. “Ultimately, White Clarke Group delivered a quality product that has delighted both our business users and our first alliance partner. It has exceeded all of our expectations.”