Everyone talks about innovation. Putting it into action is another story.
In every industry, “innovation” has become a mantra. Companies identify themselves as “innovative players.” Managers look to it as a harbinger of success. Marketing campaigns have relied on it.
In the process, the often-overused word can lose its real meaning. Yet true innovation is critical to every industry’s and every company’s ability to survive, grow and thrive. The equipment leasing and finance industry is no exception. In fact, in the words of Leigh Lytle, ELFA’s president and chief executive officer, almost every major industry in the country relies on equipment leasing and finance in some way. “ELFA’s work is at the heart of innovation and growth for American businesses, large and small.”
Driving momentum, driving innovation
Enter the Innovation Experience. Committed to helping members put innovation into meaningful action, ELFA is embarking on a dynamic, year-round program to advance momentum in innovation throughout the industry.
The initiative is designed to equip members with the tools and insights they need to incorporate innovation consistently through their organizations. Whether it’s navigating technological and regulatory changes, addressing the evolving technology landscape or updating key processes, Innovation Experience programming is working to lead the industry forward.
The Innovation Experience is a continual process to drive momentum around innovation, as opposed to a finite set of events, explains Lytle. “Adopting this mindset throughout our work, ELFA can lead the industry forward at a pivotal time,” she says. “With a goal of creating an environment where members can embrace and implement innovation at their own pace, programming will shift talk about innovation into actions with tangible, measurable results.”
A few key highlights from this comprehensive approach that members will see this year include:
ELFie
Artificial intelligence (AI) is coming to ELFA in a big way with the introduction of ELFie (Equipment Leasing and Finance intelligence expert), an AI-powered knowledge assistant. Developed by ELFA and the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFie is a more efficient, effective way to access the deep volume of ELFA and Foundation industry resources, data and insights.
ELFie serves as a virtual expert capable of recalling and summarizing content. Its large-language model makes it fast and easy to locate and use essential industry and association information. Representing a significant step forward in how members interact with ELFA and Foundation resources, ELFie directly supports decision making, professional growth and advocacy efforts in the equipment finance sector.
ELFie is trained on a vast array of ELFA and Foundation resources, including:
- Economic impact data
- Education and training
- Federal advocacy
- Conferences and workshops
- Knowledge Hub
- Forward-looking industry research, including the Monthly Confidence Index (MCI-EFI)
Making data-driven decisions is essential for identifying and implementing innovation efforts in today’s equipment financing sector. With ELFie, members can query the wide expanse of available research more easily, stay up to date on industry trends and regulatory updates, and navigate market data and analysis.
One of the best parts is that ELFie – like members – is not static. While ELFie is a comprehensive and reliable knowledge assistant, it is constantly learning and improving. ELFA encourages members to provide feedback on ELFie’s responses, helping to refine and enhance its capabilities over time. A smart way to engage with ELFA resources, ELFie will just become smarter with member feedback.
“ELFie is designed to enhance the member experience and assist members with quickly locating the resources that they value most from ELFA and the Foundation,” says Julie Benson, vice president of Membership Marketing at ELFA. In the year ahead, members will benefit from continued enhancements, including a redesigned ELFA website, strategically built to empower their innovation efforts and maximize the value of ELFA’s resources.
Trend scanning
ELFA will continue its trend-scanning work to identify, explore and prioritize issues that are shaping the future of the industry. Two sessions each year will look at specific short-term and long-term ideas and solutions, and review how companies can put them into action. Discussions also will help inform topics for webinars, podcasts and conference break-out sessions.
These trend-scanning sessions will occur in March (virtual) and September (in person at the Innovation Experience). The spring session will include industry volunteers who have been actively engaged in innovation within their organizations or participated in previous ELFA initiatives. The fall session will be open to all attendees who are registered at the conference.
The sessions, say Lytle, will help foster an industry that is open to being experiential in the innovation space. Keeping conversations going through a multitude of experiences will help drive innovation forward throughout the industry.
Tech Talk webinars and podcasts
ELFA will be updating and reimagining its webinars and podcasts to shape a continual conversation on innovation. Exploring key industry innovations throughout the year, the programs will engage with member company representatives, as well as industry and selected topic experts. According to Chelsey Barron, senior vice president at LEAF Commercial Capital and chair of the Innovation Committee, ideas discussed in the webinars and podcasts will help identify subjects ELFA members are eager to learn more about and help shape content for the annual conference content.
Revamped “Excellence in Innovation” awards
Now housed within the Innovation committee, the Excellence in Innovation awards will take on a wider scope with new categories. “The awards will honor innovative equipment finance teams, highlighting inspiring stories of impactful initiatives, experiments, or transformations relevant to the diverse membership of ELFA,” explains Peter Haug, product manager at LTi Technology Solutions and chair of the “Excellence in Innovation” awards program.
New categories include the following. Organizations will be able to submit projects in one or more categories.
- Operational Excellence Initiative: Recognizes significant improvements in operational efficiency, productivity, or cost management through technology or process innovation.
- Technology Innovation Project: Acknowledges implementation of a new or emerging technology that has positively impacted business outcomes (e.g., AI, machine learning, blockchain).
- Digital Client or Employee Experience Transformation: Highlights initiatives that have elevated customer or employee experiences, such as user-friendly digital platforms, self-service solutions or streamlined digital interactions.
- Culture of Continuous Innovation: Celebrates organizations that have embraced a mindset of innovation, fostering an environment of experimentation, adaptability and continuous improvement.
“The awards will honor innovative equipment finance teams, highlighting inspiring stories of impactful initiatives, experiments, or transformations relevant to the diverse membership of ELFA.”
—Peter Haug, LTi Technology Solutions
Another new element will be a live pitch contest to select the winner of the Innovation Award (formerly the Ops/Tech Award). “It will give applicants a chance to bring their submissions to life and flex their storytelling muscles,” says Haug. He encourages ELFA member companies that are ready to “courageously innovate and transform, and inspire others,” to submit nominations for the awards.
Innovation Lab Conference and Exhibition
Set to take place Sept. 8-10 in Denver, the conference will offer interactive sessions, exhibitor showcases and actionable insights to fuel innovation. The event will replace the Operations & Technology Conference, providing a fresh perspective on conference programming and engagement.
To plan this year’s event, the conference planning committee has expanded to include members from the Innovation Advisory Council and Foundation Industry Future Council, says Barron. “The result will be an experience that goes beyond the traditional conference style.”
Participants can expect to find more collaborative sessions, additional workshops, engaging speakers, and new opportunities to get to know fellow attendees and learn what they are doing in the way of innovation in their organizations. An innovation lab experience with technology providers will be a new venue for direct learning, and participants will find more ideas and more content around the growing need for technology and creative financing solutions.
“[The Innovation Lab Conference and Exhibition] will be an experience that goes beyond the traditional conference style.”
—Chelsey Barron, LEAF Commercial Capital
Lytle explains that attendees will be actively engaged in activities and sharing information, not only listening. And, with innovation involving people from every part of a company – not only operations and technology – the conference will include a broader cross-section of attendees. “In turn, that will foster more out-of-the-box thinking and allow attendees to take back more innovative ideas to their organizations,” says Barron.
Investing in innovation
Whether through the introduction of new products, services, technology, operations or processes, innovation is all about making key changes that add value. In other words, says Lytle, innovation is more than advanced technology. “It’s being open to new ways to solve new challenges, a vital component in the future of financial services.”
“Through every part of the Innovation Experience, ELFA is taking the lead in investing forward with innovation,” she continues. “Starting with where members are at, the Innovation Experience will help them engage, reimagine and transform as they move forward to achieve their goals – today, tomorrow and in the years ahead.”
ELFie’s key features
- Understands and responds to common language
- Communicates multi-lingually – in any language commonly represented on the Internet
- Can answer complex questions and summarize text
- Offers 24/7 access: Members can obtain instant information anytime, anywhere
- Works comprehensively with ELFA and the Foundation’s extensive knowledge base
- Constantly learns and improves through use and member feedback on responses
- Easily scales to handle increasing volume of resources and usage
Meet ELFie and learn more here.