B OB MERCOGLIANO R EMEMBERS THE OLD DAYS, when a fi nancial institution might specialize in fi nancing aircraft or energy assets, and the asset managers knew those types of assets like the backs of their hands. Bye-bye, simplicity. “Now institutions are generalizing across the board,” says Mer-cogliano, who is Managing Director, Head of Asset Management at Suntrust Equipment Finance & Leasing Corp. in Atlanta. “Sales will bring in a deal and expect us to know the asset, no matter what it is. So we also have to be generalists, with the knowledge of specialists.” Chris Nugent, Vice President, Asset Management for Key Equipment Finance, and Chair of the ELFA Equipment Management Committee, gives another example of the growing intricacy of today’s asset management. “We do a lot of soft ware fi nancing for municipalities,” he says, “and one thing that’s changed is fi nancing soft ware for use in the cloud. It changes our job as asset managers, because we’re supposed to understand not just equipment, but fundamentals of soft ware technology and its use, and we write and issue a lot of essential-use opinions.” At Key Equipment Finance, a new soft ware system for a mu-nicipality is evaluated on a 14-point checklist to determine es-sential use. But how essential cloud soft ware is, and how long a government might use it before replacing it, is not easy to discern. Security soft ware, for example, used to be easy to replace. But Nugent says integration features of newer secu-rity solutions make it more essential and harder to replace. “So we have to assess essential use and the likelihood of lease renewal to establish residuals for these types of soft ware, and it’s challenging,” he says, adding, “Changes like these are put-BY SUSAN L. HODGES ting a premium on the experience of asset managers.” In an increasingly complex business, asset managers rise to the occasion Equipment Manag 34 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE SHUTTERSTOCK