GO WITH T E the purchase of a new IT system will find the 1939 Western “Stagecoach” strangely familiar. In it, an Apache warrior leaps from his mount onto a galloping horse pulling a stagecoach that holds John Wayne. Horse-switching amid a gun fight while trying to outrace the competition is not that different from choosing and im-plementing a new system. The old system has to keep run-ning while the new system is selected, designed, built, tested and gotten up to speed. Glitches along the way can spur sud-den moves to different components or processes as everyone rushes to finish on time and within budget. But finance firms face a quandary that never worried cow-boys and Indians: which “horse” to jump onto when tech that QUIPMENT FINANCE COMPANIES contemplating is state-of-the-art today could be trail dust tomorrow? Kristian Dolan, Co-Owner and Solution Architect at Tamarack, Inc., a Minneapolis-based technology consultancy, says it’s impossible to predict which technologies being used now will become obso-lete or mainstream tomorrow. “That’s why companies need agile platforms that can adjust and grow as their business grows,” he says. “You might need to integrate electronic signatures today, but tomorrow you may need biometrics. You want to be confi-dent that your software can evolve as technology evolves.” Ahead of the ELFA’s Operations & Technology Confer-ence, Sept. 12-14 in Baltimore, Dolan and other members of ELFA’s Operations and Technology Committee weighed in on the IT challenges and opportunities facing the equipment finance industry. 24 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE ELLAGRIN / ISTOCK