5 Takeaways: Innovator Roundtable

ELFA/TomorrowZone Virtual “Unconference” Focuses on New Technologies and the Future of Work 

INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION, composable architectures, organizational agility and the future of work were among the topics explored during a virtual Innovator Roundtable held on March 25 by ELFA and TomorrowZone, a future-focused consulting firm specializing in technology trends. The interactive “unconference” was the first event from the new partnership of the two organizations to help ELFA members capitalize on the latest innovations to prepare for the future. 

TomorrowZone CEO and Founder Deborah Reuben facilitated the event with panelists Michael Baez, Director of Banking & Diversified Financials, Capgemeni; Andrew Cotter, CIO & Executive VP, Somerset Capital; Eldon Richards, CIO, IDS; Denis Stypulkoski, Founder and Principal, Reimagine Advisors; and Moto Tohdo, VP of Information Systems, Tokyo Century (USA) Inc. The Roundtable discussion was followed by four-person zoom chats for participants guided by senior leaders from ELFA’s Technology Innovation Working Group. Throughout the 2.5-hour program, participants enjoyed multiple opportunities for learning and information sharing—and some fun, interactive networking.

ELFA President and CEO Ralph Petta kicked off the event by stressing the importance of innovation. “There’s no more critical component to high performance and success in the equipment finance industry than what we’re here to do today: looking for the next breakthrough, sharing ideas with peers and discovering new ways to approach business challenges.”

He added that ELFA partnered with TomorrowZone and Reuben—who chairs the Technology Innovation Working Group—to help equipment finance professionals capitalize on the latest innovations and prepare for the future. 

Reuben invited the Roundtable participants to take advantage of the collaborative nature of the event. “This is a place to step away from your day-to-day and learn something new with other people who want the same,” she said. “The conversations that we’re going to be having are all about stirring up new thinking so you can bring that back to your own organization.”

The highlights below are among the wide range of cutting-edge technology advances and ideas shared by panelists for the equipment finance sector.

The future of work will be impacted by a myriad of factors.

• Work-from-home has created data control and security issues and will require further consideration to protect both employees and employers as hybrid home-office work models become long term. Remote working and working across time zones will enable projects and initiatives around the globe, as well as hiring across countries and internationally. 

• Equipment finance companies will need to make mindset and culture shifts to being agile, starting with the recognition that they are really software companies that are delivering the digital experience that is providing a financing capability. Managing an innovation idea funnel, backlog prioritization and continuous delivery are all critical new competencies that commercial finance companies will need. Experimentation (which may not necessarily be comfortable for some), creating a minimum viable product and distributing it, getting feedback, failing, improving and repeating will have to become the new normal.

More equipment finance businesses are turning to automation.

• Companies are using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to replace the repetitive, mechanical tasks that people do day in and day out that no one wants to do. 

• Companies are also taking a step further and using Intelligent Automation for creative problem-solving tasks. Intelligent automation goes beyond repetitive click/point/move kinds of tasks by automating human decisioning with technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. 

• While automation can provide efficiencies, in and of itself it does not deliver digital transformation. Starting with the outside-in approach of the customer experience is necessary to really transform your business.

Companies are using intelligent automation to evaluate documents and prepare them for storage and future sharing. 

• Increasingly in the origination and lending space, companies are using Cognitive Document Processing (CDP) to assess applications, invoices, purchase orders and other customer documents. CDP can comprehend different types of print, including machine print and cursive handwriting, and take data from raw documents and inject it into a downstream system. 

• CDP is also used in the collection space through intelligent collections, which can make collections more dynamic, leveraging machine learning and data insights, enabling focus on the right accounts, and using analytics to anticipate, predict and understand payment behaviors to develop alternative collection strategies. 

• CDP is also being used in customer onboarding and credit underwriting where AI tools are used to gather and consolidate information from various sources and provide recommendations.

Clean data and data literacy are essential. 

• To derive value from data they are collecting and automating, companies should ensure they have good data to start with. 

• Data visualization tools are helping businesses to analyze and use their data.  These tools can spark creativity in business users’ minds while they are looking at data, so instead of having a snapshot of what happened last month, they can begin to see what is happening currently and think about what to do with it in the future. 

As the equipment finance industry transforms and products go from traditional leasing to equipment as a service and beyond, it will necessitate a multi-core environment to deliver on different accounting, asset management and behavioral capabilities. 

• As equipment finance organizations seek to drive growth, operational excellence and customer satisfaction, panelists predicted increasing focus on providing an omni-channel experience to customers. That would enable customers to engage on any device, through any channel, at any step in the customer journey.

“I can see this would support the ability of companies to innovate their business models, which is really what we need to be thinking about,” said Reuben. “It’s not about what software you’re going to buy, it’s about how you need to be able to do business, designing for where you’re going, not where you’ve been.”

The Innovation Roundtable is the latest addition to the association’s multi-year initiative to support innovation in the equipment finance space. ELFA annually recognizes innovative uses of technology through the Operations & Technology Excellence Award and the Operations & Technology Conference, both overseen by the Operations and Technology Committee. In 2018, the ELFA Board of Directors established the Technology Innovation Working Group to monitor and analyze new digital strategies and techniques and communicate how these initiatives can help equipment finance organizations better serve their customers and bring about operational efficiencies. ELFA’s new partnership with TomorrowZone will allow members to engage with senior leaders from the Working Group and access cutting-edge knowledge, new tech tools and collaborative networks to shape the future of equipment finance.

Stay tuned for future events

ELFA and TomorrowZone will produce additional virtual collaboration sessions for ELFA members to expand ongoing discussions about technology and innovation’s role in shaping the future of equipment finance. Save the date for events on Aug. 26 and Nov. 18!