Competition's B UY A HOUSE IN 2017 and you’re likely to get a crash course in electronic signa-tures. Not that there’s much to learn. Th e soft ware is user-friendly, and in moments you’re skimming through paragraphs and clicking to sign or initial everywhere your authorization is required in a sales contract. fi nance are providing electronic documents. “Fintech com-panies are leading the transformation, and use of e-leasing by traditional equipment fi nance companies helps level the playing fi eld,” says Schaefer. “[But] new competitors like Am-azon are entering our space and changing the way business is transacted. We must adopt these new methods so we con-tinue to maintain our position in the market.” Th ird, electronic leases are legally enforce-able and easier to transfer between industry participants. “I don’t think the laws and regu-lations pertaining to e-leasing are more com-plicated than anything else,” Schaefer says. “Electronic chattel paper improves the effi ciency of capital fl owing between buyers of paper and banks lending to leasing companies. Yes, you have to pay a law fi rm or your internal counsel to investigate it and become familiar with it. But it’s not all that complicated.” Learning about best practices for electronic transac-tions can help companies establish good ground rules and processes for going forward. Brian Kelly, Vice President of Business Development at eOriginal, Inc., a Baltimore-based provider of digital transaction-management solutions, says established practices include sending all required lease/ loan documents to the customer in one digital package. “Th is accelerates the origination process by preventing er-rors and omissions,” he explains. “From there, loan pack-ages become an asset that can be trusted by funders and investors and quickly moved to the secondary market to access capital.” Th e point is not lost on Schaefer. “I’ve actually had lost paper fi les in my company,” he says. “And when they’re lost, you can’t borrow on that contract or sell it to anyone. It’s like losing money.” Finance a piece of equipment, however, and there’s nearly a 70% chance you’ll be using ink and paper. Although the equipment fi nance industry is renowned for innovative prod-ucts and maneuvering through an economic crisis, we’re sur-prisingly old-school when it comes to using digital processes that together constitute electronic or “e”-leasing. ELFA’s 2017 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA) bears this out. Just 31% of respondents reported us-ing electronic documents to transact a portion of their new business in 2016. And although the percentage rose slight-ly from 2015, when 23% said they used e-leasing, it would still be a stretch to say we’re progressive in our use of this technology. Initiating Change Th us ELFA’s initiative to expand the use of electronic doc-uments and “e-chattel paper” in equipment fi nance. Th e association will be collaborating with providers of electron-ic-signature capabilities, electronic-document management services and others to promote widespread adoption of these technologies. Education is available through webinars, con-ference sessions, magazine and newsletter articles and social media (see p. 27). Dave Schaefer, CEO of Mintaka Financial, LLC, in Gig Harbor, Washington, and head of the ELFA Board of Direc-tors’ Task Force on E-Leasing, says companies’ adoption of fully electronic leasing generates three major benefi ts. “First, increased use of electronic documents makes transactions easier and more convenient for customers,” he says. “E-doc-uments are already common on the consumer side in mort-gages and auto loans, and we should be using them as well to enhance the customer experience.” Second, competitors inside and outside of equipment 24 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE