FILED IN: MARCH 2023 TRENDS IN EQUIPMENT FINANCE, EQUIPMENT LEASE FINANCE ASSOCIATION TRENDS, ASSET FINANCE, LTI TECHNOLOGY FINANCE, OMAHA, NE FINANCE
The equipment finance industry has long been known for its reliance on traditional, on-premise software solutions to manage operations. But, with the rise of cloud hosting and Software as a Service (SaaS) models, more and more companies are realizing the benefits of moving to the SaaS Model.
If you are still on the fence, there are several advantages over on-premise software solutions. Within the equipment finance business, things movie fast, and like most in this industry, discovering any method that can improve efficiencies is attractive, SaaS can bring tremendous gains in efficiencies and cost savings.
First, they allow companies to gain efficiencies by streamlining operations and automating processes. Eliminating manual tasks, can not only reduce errors, but free up teams to focus on more valuable tasks for the business. Additionally, the SaaS Model can provide real-time access to data. This enables companies to make more informed decisions and respond quickly to changes.
Many businesses are hesitant, as you can clearly see here, but the downstream impacts will eventually be felt, moving into the future, especially related to the customer experience.
Key Reasons for Holding Back on Automation Projects
Advantages of the SaaS Model:
Cost Effective: yet another advantage of the SaaS Model, offering a more flexible and scalable model than on premise software. The investment for hardware and software and licenses up front is a significant financial burden. As the business grows and needs change, purchasing more hardware and licenses are also costly and time consuming. Cloud-hosted SaaS solutions offer pay-as-you-grow that allow companies to scale up or down easily, as needed. This is a very valuable advantage, especially for smaller businesses that need flexibility with lower up-front costs.
High Availability based on modern architecture. Cloud services are provided by redundant resources allowing for workloads to remain available and operational. Traditional hosting on a single server can result in extended downtime for any application and website.
Disaster Recover and backup is another key reason to make the move to the SaaS Model. Allowing for seamless application and database backup, providing faster and easier disaster recovery (DR).
An Improved Customer Experience: And perhaps one of the most important advantages is the management of customer relationships and enhancing the customer experience. Maintaining strong relationships to retain business over the long term is greatly enriched by providing a central location for customer data. This makes it easy for the customer and company to track interactions and identify potential opportunities for additional revenue. The SaaS Model also allows for real-time access to account information and allows customers to self-service their accounts. Also providing permissions for specific viewing of specific data, to maintain some interaction and control of the customer, keeping communication lines open, and focusing on improving the overall customer experience with the business.
Conclusion
Considering the number of companies in the equipment finance industry that have already made the move to the SaaS Model, according to the Equipment Leasing Finance Association in a report in 2022, more than 62% of businesses in the equipment finance industry have made the move, and the number is expected to be upwards of 80% in 2025. It’s time to leverage SaaS and cloud hosting technology to differentiate a business from the competition. This sends the clear message to customers, that the business is ready to serve their needs, focusing on the future.
In summation, the significant move within the equipment finance industry adopting the cloud-hosted SaaS Model of solutions to gain efficiencies and maximize ROI is growing exponentially. The clear benefits of streamlining operations, automating processes and enhancing the customer experience, these companies will be positioned for success. As technology ecosystems continue to evolve, and equipment finance companies look for ways to be innovative and ready for growth, the cloud-hosted SaaS Model is the answer to maximizing ROI.
The SaaS Model takes advantage of the very latest technology. So, if you are still thinking about why use the SaaS Model, those key reasons make sense to make the move. Considering maximizing ROI, and improving the customer experience? Think SaaS. LTi Technology Solutions are a premier SaaS provider. Let’s talk about how we can improve efficiencies in your business.
