ELFA’s Technology Innovation Working Group Looks Ahead to 2022
Technology and innovation are moving swiftly. One way you can prepare for the future is to tap into ELFA’s Technology Innovation Working Group. The mission and vision of this group are to inspire new thinking about technology & innovation among equipment finance industry leaders. We achieve this by creating opportunities for ELFA members to collaboratively discuss technology and innovation advances and their implications specific to the equipment finance industry.
The working group meets monthly to discuss the latest technology and innovation trends and their meaning for the industry. Members include senior leaders from a cross-section of the ELFA membership from banks, independent and captive lessors, fintech companies and service providers.
Key Achievements
The Technology Innovation Working Group pursued several initiatives in 2021. Group members influenced and contributed to various webinars, conference sessions, posts, articles and research, including the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s Industry Future Council. In addition to contributing technology and innovation content, the working group led four industry-level discussions on technology, innovation and future topics. These events were designed to bring cutting-edge, hyper-relevant technology innovation discussions to a broader audience throughout the year.- March’s inaugural Innovation Roundtable kicked off with a welcome message by ELFA President and CEO Ralph Petta. Panelists Mike Baez, Denis Stypulkoski, Eldon Richards, Moto Tohda and Andrew Cotter shared forward-thinking insights and fresh ideas about a wide range of technology and innovation trends already impacting equipment finance. Facilitated breakout discussions centered on the themes of intelligent automation, connected ecosystems, composable architectures and the future of work.
- The August Innovation Roundtable panel kicked off with a lively welcome message by 2021 ELFA Board Chair Kris Snow. Garland Brooks, Jillian Munson, Rafe Rosato and Tawnya Stone engaged in a fascinating discussion about shifting into a post-pandemic world. Small group breakouts covered disruptive point of sale innovations, evolving technology adoption pain points and solutions, and reimagining business processes and models.
- October’s ELFA Annual Convention breakout session, “Real AI in Equipment Finance,” featured panelists Beckham Thomas, Moto Tohda, Rafe Rosato and Shankar Subramanian, and myself as moderator. The engaging discussion featured two service providers and two working group members sharing the latest intelligent automation approaches, discoveries and use cases currently employed across the equipment finance ecosystem.
- November’s Innovation Roundtable, “Innovation is Not Only About Technology,” kicked off with a welcome by ELFA Board Chair Mike DiCecco. The panel featured Tina Cartwright, John Cooper, Steven Siler and Denis Stypulkoski. Discussions explored design thinking adoption in equipment finance and new ways companies are innovating all aspects of their businesses.
Save the date for these 2022 virtual events organized by the ELFA
Technology Innovation Working Group and Deb Reuben of TomorrowZone.Watch for details and register at www.elfaonline.org/events.
• March 3 • May 19 • Aug. 4 • Nov. 10
2022 Outlook
The group foresees the following hot topics for 2022:- The connection between employee experience innovation and enabling delivery of excellent customer experience.
- Opportunities and new possibilities at the intersection of stakeholder (customer, vendor, employee) experiences.
- The complexities of mixed-mode working environments (remote, in-person, hybrid).
Group Members
ELFA’s 2021 Technology Innovation Working Group included the following members:• Deborah Reuben, CLFP, CEO & Founder, TomorrowZone (Committee Chair)
• Michael Baez, VP, Professional Services and Customer Strategy, Leasepath
• Garland Brooks, Senior Advisor, Business Enablement & Sales Optimization, Dell Financial Services
• Tina Cartwright, CLFP, SVP Information Technology and Operations, Equipment Finance, U.S. Bank Equipment Finance
• John Cooper, Director, NAFTA Financial Services Business Solutions, CNH Industrial Capital LLC
• Andrew Cotter, EVP, Chief Information Officer, Somerset Capital Group, Ltd.
• David Giamvu, Head of Digital Transformation, Siemens Financial Services, Inc.
• Jillian Munson, Product Manager, QuickFi by Innovation Finance USA LLC
• Tyson Norman, Director of Technical Infrastructure and Chief Information Security Officer, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation
• Robert Preville, CEO, KWIPPED, Inc.
• Eldon Richards, CTO, Solifi
• Rafael Rosato, Director, DLL
• James Sherlock, Chief Information Officer, Marlin Capital Solutions
• Steven Siler, Chief Technology Officer, Stonebriar Commercial Finance
• Tawnya Stone, CLFP, Vice President, Strategic Technology, GreatAmerica Financial Services
• Denis Stypulkoski, Founder and Principal, Reimagine Advisors
• Beckham Thomas, CEO, DCR Technologies
• Motofumi Tohda, Vice President / Information Systems, Tokyo Century (USA) Inc.
What Distinguishes a Digital Leader in 2022?
Here’s what members of the Technology Innovation Working Group are saying about the year ahead.
“Digital expectations are up, accelerated by COVID. Digital laggards figured out how to work virtually; but they digitized physical aspects of their business under traditional models. Digital leaders are now asking: ‘How do I focus on client experience and employee experience, and rethink our entire business model, wing-to-wing, to become digital-first in how we operate?’ The entire notion of B2B or B2C is gone; replaced with digital P2P (person to person) experiences. Next-generation clients and employees will gravitate towards the digital leaders.”Denis Stypulkoski, Reimagine Advisors
“2022 will be all about changing our collective mindset regarding what’s possible. The past two years have confirmed that a digital business model is essential to survive in our rapidly developing (and sometimes uncertain) working world. But we shouldn’t stop there; our goal, as an industry, shouldn’t be to simply ‘survive.’ Our goal should be to exceed expectations wherever we can. And because expectations are constantly evolving, we must adopt a mindset of always being prepared for and open to change. This mindset is the cornerstone of innovation—and it will result in our industry’s exponential advancement.”Jillian Munson, QuickFi by Innovation Finance USA LLC
“More than ever, forward-thinking equipment finance organizations cannot take their ‘eye off the ball’ when it comes to understanding the experience of the customer, of the vendor and of the employee. Digital leaders bring a mindset of thinking in terms of experience. They not only take into consideration these individual experiences, but also focus on the intersection between them.” Mike Baez, Leasepath
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