Once viewed as a disruptor by equipment finance companies, today's fintech solutions are increasingly being welcomed as rescuers thanks to their ability to jump-start the automation process and move leasing companies closer to a complete digital transformation. With the leasing landscape radically transformed over the past months, it’s clear that adaptability in the face of change is emerging as a critical capability to remaining competitive.
Collectively, how will these fintech solutions contribute toward transforming lease management into a completely digital process?
According to Mukul Mittal, vice president of industry solutions with Q2’s lending group, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced leasing companies to employ fintech solutions to take four crucial steps toward digital transformation.
By employing these four steps, a digitally transformed process emerges that can directly meet the pandemic's challenges to leasing companies. Here’s how.
“This would be a more systemic solution that would allow lessors to automatically bring back lessees as their creditworthiness improves – doing so invisibly, effectively, and easily,” Mittal explained.
“The holy grail,” Mittal added, “is to speed up the time and lower the cost of lease processing.” With this dynamic, an equipment finance company would be able to provide self-service capabilities so that customers can do their work on their own and not be dependent on a customer service agent. These are all parts of an effective digital strategy.
All of the advantages that fintech can bring to the process of moving leasing companies that embrace their solutions closer to a unified, seamless, digital strategy – from marketing through origination to portfolio management to asset liquidation – are continuing to gain recognition today.
Leasing doesn’t have to be hard, and fintech can make it easier. The ability to access automated origination, underwriting, and servicing information – within a single system of record – empowers lessors to serve their customers better. Creating new lease products quickly to meet market and regulatory needs immediately, offering configurable leasing solutions, and approving and funding leases immediately – without sacrificing compliance or creating credit risk—are all within the realm of possibility. (And the demand for such solutions is particularly high.)
“With the pandemic, the fintech strategy has come front and center for everyone,” Mittal said. “Other initiatives are being forced to the wayside, and the investment into the digital transformation through fintech is becoming critical for leasing companies to survive.”
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