Positioning Your Organization for a Digital Future W HAT’S THE CURRENT STATE OF TECHNOLOGY in the equipment finance industry? Find out in the 2014-15 Business Technology Performance Index. This new report provides insight into the technology trends and forward-looking initiatives that equipment finance companies are using to drive their firms into new markets and opportunities. Key findings from the report, which is based on industry research and a survey of industry members conducted for ELFA by Capgemini, include— ● ● Customer relationship management solutions will be ● ● The equipment finance industry continues to close the digital transformation gap behind other comparable industries, such as retail banking and lending. To maintain that trend and outperform the competition, equipment finance companies will need to develop more innovative and engaging service offerings and fully leverage rapidly evolving digital technologies. a key component in the suite of platforms for forward-looking organizations expecting to take full advantage of the benefits of digital transformation. ● ● Analytics and social, mobile and cloud technologies ● ● It’s time for equipment finance companies to consider digitization of their back-end processes, operations and platforms. Over the years, companies in our industry have placed such focus on improving the front end that their back-end technology has been ignored and become outdated. The current back office is often overly paper-based and wrought with disconnected silos and manually intensive processes, resulting in ever-increasing operational costs and, most important, a negative customer experience. will be key change agents for digitally transforming organizations to be better equipped for conducting business in the future. ● ● Transformational solutions offer benefits that extend beyond cost savings and position an organization for a digital future. Companies that seize the opportunities offered by digital transformation will possess a significant competitive advantage in the industry and will be equipped to lead their organizations well into the future. ■ ● ● Digital technologies can help equipment finance companies streamline processes, achieve significant cost reductions and improve customer satisfaction. Transformational and tactical solutions will be driven by budget dollars available, level of investment and expected return on investment. With a portfolio of combined digital technology solutions, annual cost savings of as much as 30% are attainable. Top IT initiatives that equipment finance companies plan to tackle in 2015: ● ● Improving ● ● Improving integrations business intelligence workflow abilities technology to enable business core front-and back-end systems ● ● Increasing ● ● Replacing ● ● Leveraging ● ● Expanding efficiencies and visibility outward to customers and partners 42 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE SHUTTERSTOCK/ SERGEY NIVENS Download the 2014/2015 Business Technology Performance Index from the ELFA website at www.elfaonline. org/Research/?fa=Studies#BTPI. For a listing of the leading software solutions for the equipment finance industry, visit the ELFA Software Guide at www.elfaonline.org/Directories/Software/ .