GAME C Equipment finance has been slow to convert to electronic documents and electronic chattel paper. Have we finally reached a tipping point? “ The world is going digital and our industry needs to keep up.” OMINIC LIBER ATORE remembers using an analog copy machine, and he wants you to remember it, too. See the light flashing under the lid like a tiny electrical storm when you asked for 100 copies? “It seems like only 10 years ago, and people in our industry made Dominic Liberatore, DLL a lot of money off analog copiers,” recalls Liberatore, who is Deputy General Counsel for DLL in Wayne, Pa. Then digital copiers burst onto the scene in 1997, and almost overnight analog copiers went the way of black-and-white TV. Says Liberatore, “I truly believe the same kind of thing could happen with electronic documents.” Liberatore is not alone in his belief. Leaders at equipment leasing and finance firms already using electronic documents and electronic documents management systems see the writing on the wall—and they’re doing all they can to convince colleagues to move to this newer way of doing business. But, so far, the pace of change has been slug-gish. Advocates, including Liberatore, think time may be running out. “The world is going digital and our industry needs to keep up,” he stresses. Yet, Liberatore understands all too well the way some of his colleagues think. “We’re a successful, old-time industry that has been profitable operating in a very traditional way,” he says. “Too many of us are asking, ‘If it works, why fix it?’” David Schaefer, CEO of Mintaka Financial, LLC, in Gig Harbor, Wash., and Chair of the ELFA Task Force on Electronic Chattel and Documents, has this an-swer: “We need to fix it because we’re placing ourselves at a huge competitive disad-vantage if we don’t,” he says. “As an industry, we need to provide the best customer experience to differentiate ourselves from other ways of acquiring equipment. If we can do that, I think all boats will rise. And, ultimately, our cost of capital will be lower, because this is a more efficient way to move chattel paper around. A better customer experience and lower cost of capital will be good for all of us.” SHUTTERSTOCK D BY SUSAN L. HODGES 14 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE