YBM — a major UK independent mortgage brokerage
From spreadsheet-heavy referral operations to a centralised lead system
CloudburstAI helped Yellow Brick Mortgages (YBM), a major UK independent mortgage brokerage, replace a heavily manual, spreadsheet-led referral workflow with a more centralised lead intake, allocation, tracking and reporting system.
New
Allocating
In progress
Done this week
Lead intake
This week- Lead AReferrer 1Validated
- Lead BReferrer 2Allocating
- Lead CReferrer 1In progress
- Lead DReferrer 3Allocating
Broker load
- Broker 1
- Broker 2
- Broker 3
- Broker 4
Before and after
Where the operation started, and where it landed.
Before
- Email-led intake in inconsistent formats.
- Allocation handled manually across multiple channels.
- Tracking lived in spreadsheets, with limited shared visibility.
- Reporting required manual aggregation each week.
After
- Centralised intake with structured, validated lead data.
- Structured allocation with status tracked centrally.
- Broker, referrer and admin portals on a single source of truth.
- Live dashboards replacing the manual weekly report.
The situation
Yellow Brick Mortgages (YBM) runs a high-volume referral operation. Leads arrive from a wide network of referrers, and the operations team is responsible for getting each lead to the right broker, tracking progress, and reporting back to the business and its referrers.
Like a lot of growing operations, the workflow had grown organically — built around the tools the team already used, plus a lot of human glue holding it together.
The problem
In day-to-day reality:
- Referral leads arrived through email in inconsistent formats
- Tracking and updates lived in spreadsheets that drifted out of sync
- Allocation depended on manual conversations across WhatsApp and email
- Leadership, brokers and referrers had limited real-time visibility
- Reporting and follow-up needed unnecessary manual aggregation
None of this was a tooling problem. It was a process problem that no single point tool could fix.
What CloudburstAI built
We replaced the spreadsheet-led workflow with a more centralised AI-powered operating system, built around the tools the business already used. In plain English, that included:
- A central intake that captures and validates referral leads in a consistent format
- A structured allocation workflow that gets each lead to the right broker
- Broker, admin and referrer portals so every role sees the same source of truth
- Live operational dashboards for leadership
- Status tracking and reporting that runs without manual aggregation
The outcome
The new system replaced dozens of spreadsheets and ad-hoc allocation conversations with a single, more centralised operational picture: cleaner visibility across the team, more consistent tracking, less manual chasing, and a referral workflow that scales as the business grows.
Why it matters
This isn’t a chatbot story. It’s a systems story — connecting the tools and workflows YBM already used into something cleaner. Most of the value sits in better intake, better allocation, better visibility and better reporting. The AI is in service of the operation, not the other way around.
What CloudburstAI built
The main components of the system, at a glance.
- Lead intake
- Validation & data standardisation
- Allocation workflow
- Broker portal
- Admin visibility
- Referrer reporting
- Status tracking
- Operational dashboards
Outcomes
- Cleaner operational visibility across the team.
- More consistent tracking and status updates.
- Less manual chasing and re-entry.
- A more scalable referral workflow as the business grows.
In their words
From the YBM directors, in their own words — lightly tidied from video, used with their permission.
We instructed CloudburstAI seven months ago to put together a very individual CRM system for us, which allocates all of our lead base. That lead base has now been formally transferred onto the system, it is now live, and we are very, very happy with the outcome.
Greg Marcham
Managing Director, Principal & Founder, Yellow Brick Mortgages
Having had the initial meeting to sit down and discuss what our needs were, we were really impressed that the model and plan CloudburstAI put together got us to a point where we fully understood exactly what was happening and when. Most importantly, when it did happen, we had a really quick response time to make sure everything ran smoothly. All of the work they did was generally outside of business hours, so it didn't impinge on our work or our service in any way, shape or form — and we wound up with a fantastic end product.
Greg Marcham
Managing Director, Principal & Founder, Yellow Brick Mortgages
Now we're fully up and running with the new system, we've seen first hand the benefits an AI system like this can bring to our business — and we're already approaching CloudburstAI about other systems they can build for us to save further efficiencies across the business. We've also been really impressed that, even post completion of the project, the continued follow-up, availability and responsiveness of the team with the ongoing support packages has been really beneficial to the business.
Stephen Perkins
Managing Director, Principal & Founder, Yellow Brick Mortgages
Thank you, George and Alex, for all your work with us on our lead portal system. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you, and we look forward to many more projects together. We would highly recommend CloudburstAI to any business looking to make efficiencies in the way they work.
Stephen Perkins
Managing Director, Principal & Founder, Yellow Brick Mortgages
A note on the numbers
- Specific metrics and real screenshots are intentionally withheld until they are approved for public use.
- All visuals on this page are synthetic mockups, not real client data.
- The quotes on this page are from YBM's directors, lightly tidied from video testimonials, and are used with their permission.
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