equipment finance software– · nefa members this fall! the home hotel for nefa’s 2015 funding...

National Equipment Finance Association

Operations & Technology Issue | July/August 2015

EQUIPMENT FINANCESOFTWARE–Creating Efficiencies, Capturing Opportunities

Nurturing Your Operating Systems ... A Smart Move for Your Business

Equipment Finance & ABL: Naturally Beneficial, Mutually Satisfying

nefassociation.org

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July/August 2015 NEWSLINE 1


July/August 2015Volume 7 Number 4

FEATURES12 ARE YOU BEING MISERLY WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR OPERATING SYSTEMS?Gary Souverein has “seen the light” as it relates to nurtur-ing his business’ operating systems. He shares his story…By Gary Souverein

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BUSINESS PROCESS MAPPING – A COURSE FOR SUCCESSBusiness process mapping is much more than an “in vogue” concept … done right, it can make a positive impact on your business.By Nick Kramer and Sean Murray

20PORTFOLIO SERVICING IN THE AGE OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGYWithout a doubt, electronic communications have impact-ed virtually every aspect of life both professionally and personally … and portfolio servicing is no exception.

EQUIPMENT FINANCE SOFTWARE PROVIDERS ROUNDTABLENewsline speaks with three equipment leasing and finance software providers to provide insight into key issues industry professionals should consider when upgrading their software or migrating to new systems.Plus! A view from an equipment lessor’s perspective.

Roundtable participants include Randy Haug at LeaseTeam, Inc.; Jim Humphrey at Odessa Technologies, Inc.; and Steven Sadgrove at Leasepath. Bank of the West’s John Evans provides the lessor’s perspective. .

2 NEWSLINE July/August 2015

NEFA Newsline ©2015 is published bi-monthly by the National Equipment Finance Association. All rights reserved. The opinions and views expressed in this publication including all editorial and advertising content are not those of the National Equipment Finance Association and/or Equipment Finance Advisor, Inc. Reproduction, duplication or redistribution in whole or in part is not permitted without express written permission of the National Equipment Finance Association and Equipment Finance Advisor, Inc.

NEFA HeadquartersP.O. Box 69Northbrook, IL 60065-0069847.380.5050 Main847.380.5055 [email protected]

NEFA Executive Director & CEOGerry [email protected]

NEFA Senior Association CoordinatorKim [email protected]

Newsline Design & ProductionEquipment Finance Advisor, Inc.d/b/a Advisor Publishing Group975 Mill Road, Suite GBryn Mawr, PA 19010

Editor-in-ChiefMichael [email protected]

Executive Editor Stuart [email protected]

Director of Sales & MarketingDenise [email protected]

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ALSO INSIDE...3 From NEFA’s President

4 From NEFA’s Executive Director

5 In the News…

11 NEFA Pictorial

22 neFACTS

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DEPARTMENTSBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Natural Partners: Asset-Based Lending & Equipment FinanceToby Dahm at Hitachi Business Finance explains how a natural partnership between equipment finance professionals and asset-based lenders can bring about satisfying results for both.By Toby Dahm

ACCOUNTINGIt’s All Just Reporting … Right?Compilation, review, audit and standalone financial reporting … it’s all just reporting, right? Not by far assures ECS Financial’s Nancy Geary. By Nancy Geary

HUMAN INTERESTChasing Significance Over SuccessShawn Smith of Dedicated Commercial Recovery shares how his life was touched forever by a little girl called Jenika while on a mission in Haiti.By Shawn Smith

ASSOCIATION Big Bucks in BuckheadThere are big bucks in Buckhead and smart equipment finance professionals will be on hand October 7-9 this year for NEFA’s 2015 Funding Symposium to be sure they get theirs!By Gerry Egan


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

presidentTARA AASANDLEASETEAM, INC.

vice presidentGARY SOUVEREIN PAWNEE LEASING CORP.

treasurerGREGORY NAPPIDDI LEASING, INC.

secretarySTEPHANIE HALL, CLFPBRYN MAWR FUNDING

immediate past-presidentKYLE GILLIAM, CLFPARVEST EQUIPMENT FINANCE

board of directors

KIP AMSTUTZ360 EQUIPMENT FINANCE

MIKE COONLCA FINANCIAL, INC.

DENNIS DRESSLERDRESSLER & PETERS, LLC

ANNA-MARY GEIST TAXWARE

DOUG HOULAHAN, CLFPMAXIM COMMERCIAL CAPITAL, LLC

MARC KEEPMAN KLC FINANCIAL, INC.

DARYN LECYSTEARNS BANK

GABE JARNOTNORTHLAND CAPITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC

BRYAN INMANGREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE

NICHOLAS ROSS, CLFPBANK OF THE WEST

A Message from NEFA’s President

Summertime in the Pacific Northwest is a fantastic thing! The beautiful weather defi-nitely brings a special kind of energy to everyday. The energy the NEFA is exuding is no different. The NEFA continues to thrive through the late spring and summer (our non-conference season) as we continue to provide our members with a wide variety of opportunities to connect and network. Regional events are the perfect opportunity to meet with your industry peers, clients, and colleagues in a smaller group.

Be on the lookout for these upcoming events:

• Angels Baseball Game (SOLD OUT!) – 7/24

• Atlanta Networking Lunch – 8/13

• Midwest Summer Social (Minnesota) – 8/20

• Pacific Northwest – Session & Ball Game– 8/26

Aside from keeping you connected, how else can the NEFA fill your value bucket? Have you checked out the NEFA web site? You can link the NEFA web site to social media sites, update your bio and profile on a per-sonal and company level, review recent arti-cles, blogs and forum activity. The NEFA web site is a perfect way to stay connected all year long.

The executive committee and board of directors have been hard at work too. Our strategic planning process is well under way! Having a great understanding of the associ-ation’s purpose, value propositions and mis-sion will ultimately help us to provide our members with the best experience possible. More to come on this at the fall conference in Atlanta…

2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tara AasandNEFA President


A Message from NEFA’s Executive Director

I may have created a little trouble for some NEFA Members this fall! The home hotel for NEFA’s 2015 Funding Symposium happen-ing October 7 through 9 in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, is the JW Marriott. The hotel is attached to the famed Lenox Square shop-ping mall. That’s the fancy mall that blos-somed into the glitz and glamour that Buck-head is now known for. It’s going to be hard not to bring your significant other to such

a great hotel in such a great spot. With free time and over 250 first class shops and eateries just through a door in the lobby … well, you better make some really good business connections and deals at the meeting to pay for it!

The good news is you’ll easily be able to do that!

This year’s Funding Symposium, under the chairmanship of Bob Hanna at Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A., and his team of smart and dedicated NEFA volunteers, has upped the value ante considerably. The Symposium offers expanded educational offerings with more for everyone in your company. There will also be more exhibits, more spon-sors and greater networking with more people. It’ll be so packed with solid business value that you’ll be glad to have your partner hit the shops next door!

There’s another reason you need to be at this year’s Fund-ing Symposium. The Funding Symposium also serves as NEFA’s required annual business meeting. This is import-ant because that’s when we elect the Board of Directors and Officers who, working with the NEFA staff, set the direc-tion and strategies for growing NEFA into the future.

This year has been critical in that regard. After struggling a bit following its birth from the merger of the long standing EAEL and UAEL associations, NEFA is now doing quite well, with great member participation and dependable financial performance. From this solid standpoint, NEFA this year began an in-depth process of looking ahead and re-evaluating its goals and operations. It’s important to me that we do things each year that cumulatively and over time will evolve us as necessary to be as appropriate to the future of this industry and our members as we have been histori-cally in the past.

I began the process with a series of thought-provoking dis-cussions within the Board and with a broad range of NEFA Members. Then I enlisted the aid of an accomplished expert to re-examine our findings to then distill the many import-ant things down to things we can focus on and build plans around.

This is an ongoing process — and I hope it always will be. I hope to have the opportunity to share some of it with you during the business presentation at this year’s Funding Sym-posium. It’s important that you are there both to express yourself through the Directors and Officers elections and to be fully informed of NEFA’s future plans. That way, you can maximize the personal opportunities your Association membership offers you.

I look forward to seeing you at the 2015 Funding Sympo-sium, October 7 through 9, in Atlanta!

Gerry EganNEFA Executive Director & CEO

in the NEWS


PERSONNEL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Key Equipment Finance Names Arnone VP, Program Management

Key Equipment Finance announced it has named Shawn Arnone vice president, program

management. In this role, Arnone will be responsible for building senior management relationships and driving the

strategic direction for major technology vendor programs. Prior to joining Key Equipment Finance, Arnone was most recently senior vice president and chief origination officer for Century Tokyo Leas-ing. This followed a position as senior vice president with RBS Citi-zens Asset Finance. He has also held positions of increasing respon-sibility with CIT Group, Everbank Commercial Finance and Key Equipment Finance from 2001-2005.

Frechette Rejoins The Alta GroupThe Alta Group’s newest director is Paul W. Frechette – a name already familiar to many clients for his previous work with the firm, CEO John C. Deane announced. Frechette has returned to Alta as director of client relations and consulting, working closely with captive and vendor leasing companies and other finance businesses to build new markets, drive revenue growth and improve market positioning. Known for his accomplished

career in captive and vendor finance, he most recently served as a business unit manager with Bank of the West Equipment Finance Division. In his previous work for Alta, Frechette managed the consultancy’s captive and vendor finance practice.

First American's Verhelle Steps Down; Sikora Named CEOFirst American Equipment Finance, a City National Bank Com-pany, announced that Alan Sikora has been named Chief Execu-tive Officer. Sikora succeeds company founder Bill Verhelle, who is stepping down as CEO. This planned transition comes on the 3-year anniversary of City National Bank’s acquisition of First American. Verhelle will remain as a consultant to the company. Sikora joined First American in 2002 and has held various oper-ations, sales and leadership positions throughout the business. Since 2011, Sikora has served as First American’s president. Sikora has a B.A. in economics from the University of Rochester and an M.B.A. from University of Rochester’s Simon Graduate School of Business.

Quiktrak Names Holyk as Director of Operations - AutomotiveQuiktrak, a Bureau Veritas Company and a leader in field inspec-tion and inventory auditing services, announced that Casey Holyk has been named its Director of Operations for its automo-tive audit/wholesale division. He will report to Greg Froomer,


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PayNet Offers New Interactive Platform PayNet announced Risk Insight Suite®, a new interactive plat-form, providing instant access to credit performance data and industry analysis on the small business sector of the economy at www.sbinsights.net.

U.S. small businesses are an important, but misunderstood seg-ment of the economy and account for roughly 50% of GDP and 65% of U.S. new job creation, while remaining a growth engine for U.S. banks. Because small businesses generally respond to changes in economic conditions more rapidly than larger busi-nesses, these indices, which are leading economic indicators of GDP by 2 - 5 months, provide an early view of the economic trends.

At Risk Insight Suite, users can access one-of-a-kind credit perfor-mance data including lending activity and loan delinquencies by geographic region and industry sectors, and probability of default at the national, state and county levels for 21 industry sectors.

Aimed at providing commercial lenders, regulators, policy mak-ers, media and institutional investors with increased data trans-parency and innovative analytics, users can benchmark their C&I growth against an objective index, reduce the uncertainty of

entering new markets with probability of default, and can even use this intelligence to lower operating costs.

Boston Financial & Equity Closes Lease for ManufacturerBoston Financial & Equity recently closed a $600K lease line for manufac-turing and production equipment. The ten-year old startup has been funded since its beginnings by three venture capitalists with over $20 million. The company develops and produces aluminum nitride substrates for ultraviolet LEDs and Power Supplies. Although the company is reve-nue generating, it has accumulated losses of $24 million. They recently signed an agreement with a Japanese manufacturer and the new equipment will reduce the outsourcing costs of both the production and the research.

Satellite Finance Goes Live with ASPIRE, Expanding LeaseTeam’s UK PresenceLeaseTeam announced that Satellite Finance Limited, one of the fastest growing sales-aid leasing finance brokerages in the U.K., has gone live with ASPIRE. The installa-

President and CEO of Quiktrak. Jennifer Howell’s role as Direc-tor of Operations will now focus on general equipment auditing, field services and quality assurance.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Creating Value Remains Top Priority at LeaseTeam’s Users’ ConferenceLeaseTeam recently held its annual Users’ Conference in down-town Omaha, NE. The three-day event was open to LeaseTeam clients and prospective business partners alike, and reinforced the company’s commitment to building partnerships and providing an exceptional customer experience. Attendees were invited to join interactive sessions relating to the ASPIRE platform and its functionality, as well as participate in roundtable discussions following each session. The roundtable discussions gave attendees the opportunity to not only provide targeted, session-specific feedback, but also offer input on future LeaseTeam functionality as it relates to their individual businesses. Additionally, LeaseTeam employees were available to answer any questions and meet one-on-one with attendees to provide a more individualized experience.

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tion marks LeaseTeam’s second U.K. customer to be live with the ASPIRE platform.

Satellite selected ASPIRE because of its ability to provide the functionality they required today, as well as the full end-to-end capabilities that the business will need in the future, all from a single system. The configurability of ASPIRE ensures the system will evolve and grow as the business does.

“Satellite had a tight timeline for getting ASPIRE into produc-tion, which led to an aggressive implementation schedule,” said Brent Walmsley, U.K. business development leader at LeaseTeam Solutions LTD., a U.K.-based division of LeaseTeam. “We [Lease-Team] were able to put people onsite to work closely with Satellite and turn their project around quickly and efficiently, meeting their objectives.”

Top Five Bank Standardizes on eOriginal’s Solution for Document Custodial ServiceseOriginal announced a Rating Agency-approved, top five U.S. bank has standardized on eOriginal’s eAsset® Management Solu-tion for their document custodial services. As one of the largest third-party document custodians, the financial institution has moved their loan custodial services to 100 percent digital: accept-ing eSigned documents; securely maintaining and storing them within an electronic vault; and administering fully electronic secu-ritizations and collateralizations.

By digitally transforming their services, the leading financial institution is able to provide state-of-the-art custodial services to lending institutions and asset-backed issuers within the residential and commercial markets for collateral including: mortgage loans; vehicle loans and leases; equipment leases; timeshare and vacation ownership loans; and home equity loans.

Lease Corporation of America Surpasses $1B in Lease VolumeLease Corporation of America (LCA) announced that as of April 30, 2015 it has, from its inception, extended credit to approx-imately 70,000 entities including business, governmental units and charitable organizations. This activity has involved over 88,000 financing transactions, with an average deal size of just over $13,000. The aggregate amount of such transactions was just under $1.15 billion.

LCA’s Chairman John B. Kemp observed the following: “Our team is proud to have been of service to so many organizations over the years. It has been an honor to serve the needs of our over 4,000+ vendor base by shortening their sales cycles and fulfilling the equipment financing needs of their customers. Going forward LCA shall continue to invest in state-of-the-art technology for the benefit of its vendors and end users. LCA shall also increase the size and scope of its organization so that it may continue to better serve its national platforms.”

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Alta Group, Genpact Expand Strategic Alliance The Alta Group and Genpact announced a newly-expanded strategic alliance that will provide comprehensive management, information technology (IT), application consulting, and hosted solutions to equipment lessors and other commercial and con-sumer finance institutions in the U.S. and worldwide. The alliance will leverage the vast thought leadership and indus-try expertise of The Alta Group combined with Genpact’s deep domain experience, software products, and delivery capabilities.

Marlin Launches New Technology SolutionMarlin Business Services announced the availability of Marlin eLink, a new technology solution that gives commercial equip-ment vendors the ability to integrate financing options directly into their ecommerce sales platform.

Marlin eLink is a web service application program interface (API) and is seamlessly integrated to the equipment vendors’ website. Using Marlin eLink, vendors will benefit from the advanced instant quote and application process. Once the customer elects to proceed with a financing option, they are taken through a simple online application process and can obtain a credit decision in minutes.

Vendors can also track the status of these transactions through Mar-linNet, Marlin’s web-based account management platform.

Macquarie to Acquire Advantage FundingMacquarie Group Limited announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Advantage Funding Management Co., Inc. (Advantage Funding) from Marubeni America Corporation. Under the agreement, Advantage Funding will become a fully owned subsidiary of Macquarie’s Corporate and Asset Finance group (CAF). The transaction is expected to close in mid-2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

Ascentium Launches Finance Program With Wayne Fueling SystemsWayne Fueling Systems, a global provider of fuel dispensing, pay-ment, automation and control technologies for retail and com-mercial fuel stations, has joined forces with Ascentium Capital to offer convenience-store and fuel retail customers equipment.Fuel retailers in the United States are eligible for this financing at competitive rates for products such as the Wayne Ovation2 fuel dispenser, Wayne Helix fuel dispenser, Wayne Fusion site automa-tion server, payment upgrades, media programs, services, Wayne Genuine Parts and more.

Through same-day financing and Ascen-tium Capital’s consultative approach, the company will tailor terms to the client’s specific cash flow needs.

Meridian Leasing Goes Live With Odessa’s LeaseWave Customer PortalMeridian Leasing Corporation a Lease-Wave® customer and one of the largest independent lessors in the IT industry, has gone live with the LeaseWave® Customer Portal (“LW Customer Portal”) from Odessa Technologies, Inc.

The LW Customer Portal is one of the various partner portals built right into the LeaseWave® product suite. This web-based portal streamlines the customer-les-sor relationship and significantly enhances the overall leasing experience. Designed to today’s standards, the portal includes dashboard-driven design, role-based per-sonalization and security, user-defined custom reports, powerful lease & asset management capabilities, real-time vis-ibility into critical information, ease of content sharing and collaboration across multiple functions.

in the NEWS


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LENDING TRENDS

Approval Rates at Big Banks, Institutional Lenders Hit New HighsSmall business loan approval rates at big banks and institutional lenders improved to new highs in May 2015, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, the monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2Credit.com. Big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) approved 21.9% of small business loan requests in May 2015, up from 21.7% in April, marking the seventh con-secutive month that approval rates have increased in this category of lenders. A year-to-year comparison shows that loan approval rates are up approximately 12 percent. Meanwhile, institutional lenders approved 61.3% of funding requests by small busi-ness owners in May, up from 61.1% in April. For the first time in Index history, lending approval rates at institutional lenders are higher than alternative lenders, which consist of merchant cash advance companies, factors, and other non-bank lenders Approval rates by institutional lenders have increased each month ever since Biz2Credit began monitoring this category of lenders in January 2014. Lending approval rates at small banks dropped one-tenth of a percent in May to 49.5% from 49.6% last month. For the seventh consecutive month, small banks have denied more than half of their loan requests. In the last year, loan approval rates at small banks have dropped in 10 of those months.

Approval rates at alternative lenders dipped to an Index-low of 61% in May, from 61.1% in April. Alternative lenders’ approval percentages have declined each month since January 2014, coinciding with the emergence of institutional lenders in the small business lending marketplace.

PayNet: U.S. Small Business Lending Investment Reaches All Time HighThe April data release of the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index (SBLI), which is a leading economic indicator of GDP, increased 8% from 130.5 in March 2015 to 141.5 in April 2015, reaching an all-time maximum value. Compared to the same month one year ago, the SBLI is up 13%.

This report shows more investment by more industry groups. After a disappointing 1st quarter, consumer demand is gather-ing steam. Those hit the hardest by the Great Recession were the high level consumers, but they are starting to spend more. Accommodation & Food Service is up 16% reflecting more trav-eling and dining out by this consumer sector while Transporta-tion & Warehousing, with a 25% increase, shows more delivery of goods. In a positive sign, Construction businesses are ramping up investment in response to road and infrastructure building and a firming home market.

“This release suggests that the production gap between small business and GDP will close at a more rapid pace. Previously the


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trend-line for small business and GDP was to converge in 2017,” states William Phelan, president of PayNet.

Improving financial health of small businesses further sup-ports the strengthening theme. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Delinquency Index (SBDI) 31-90 days past due decreased 2 basis points from 1.25% in March 2015 to 1.23% in April 2015. Transportation, retail and construction show steady financial health with almost no change in loans past due over last year while farms and manufacturing have experienced higher delinquencies. Improved financial health is resulting from stron-ger sales and balance sheets.

Phoenix Lending Survey Shows Lower Long-Term ConfidenceThe second quarter Phoenix Management “Lending Climate in America” Survey results showed increased expectations for the performance of the domestic economy over the next six months while the long term expectations fell. In Q2 2015, the lenders grade for the performance of the U.S. economy over the next six months increased to a 2.46 GPA from 2.39 in the previous quar-ter. The long term GPA decreased by twenty one points to a 2.18 GPA. The past three quarter’s surveys have shown a near term GPA being equal to or higher than the long term GPA, which has

in the NEWS

National Equipment Finance Associationnot happened since 2006.

Lender’s responses also indicated that their financial institutions have a lower tolerance for leverage. Forty-five percent of respon-dents indicated that their institutions would consider a loan request with a Senior Debt to EBITDA multiple higher than 3.0x, down from seventy percent in the prior quarter. Lenders appear to be cautious about long term performance, which may be a result of the global economy’s recovery, a strong U.S. dollar and oil prices.

CERTIFIED LEASE & FINANCE PROFESSIONALFOUNDATION

CLFP Foundation Receives CWEF Grant“The Certified Lease & Finance Professional (CLFP) Foundation is deeply honored to receive almost $7,000 from the NEFA’s Chris Walker Educational Fund (CWEF),” said Brian Schonfeld, CLFP President of the CLFP Board of Directors. “As Chris was a long-time supporter of both the equipment leasing industry and the CLFP Foundation, we hope he would be pleased that such beneficial initia-tives as these are being done in his name to raise the quality of the

equipment leasing and financing industry as a whole.”

Reid Raykovich, CLFP Executive Direc-tor of the CLFP Foundation stated that the Foundation is a direct beneficiary of a $4,500 grant to be used to have The Certi-fied Lease & Finance Professionals’ Hand-book professionally edited. The Foundation will also benefit from almost $2,500 in funds awarded to individuals to be used towards their pursuit of the CLFP designation.

“The Chris Walker Fund was assembled to help fund exactly this type of project— an endeavor that furthers scholarship and education in equipment finance. Chris was a strong supporter of the CLFP program and would have been proud of this award,” noted Chris Enbom, CLFP Trustee for the CWEF Fund.

Please send your company's news items to [email protected]

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NEWSLINE PICTORIAL

NEFA's 2015 Crab Feast

June 11, 2015Baltimore, MD


Over the years in the equipment leasing industry, I’ve met lots of people like me … staunch stewards of their business who looked for an immediate, tangible return on every dollar they spent. Most of the time, I feel that the best operators adhere to managing their business with maniacal fiscal discipline. But there are times when such discipline probably inhibits actual efficiency, inno-vation and can even hold organizations back.

As a manager of a substantial leasing operation, Paw-nee Leasing, and a newer working capital firm Windset Capital, most days I looked at our operating systems as a cost center in our businesses. I lamented about the upfront costs, recurring monthly and annual expense as well as hardware infrastructure maintenance and related expenses. Add to that disaster recovery and a third-party redundancy location, I lost most enthusi-asm for this part of our business any time it became a topic of progressive discussion. I was mired into think-ing our systems were adequate.

Despite my own misgivings, that perspective changed more recently as we invested more heavily in our front-fac-ing operating system. Here’s what changed for me:

Put someone more capable than you to be the catalyst for developing and enhancing your oper-ating systems. Most business leaders get inundated

with running the day-to-day and are hard pressed to devote the time required to get the most out of oper-ating systems opportunities. For us, that catalyst was Brian Schonfeld, CLFP, who not only had an aptitude for technology, but also understood our business inti-mately. With Brian, we could readily develop a high-level list of opportunities and he could run with the minutia and hard work of that implementation.

Open your mind to the cost-savings that invest-ments in your systems can provide. Early on, it can be painful to hire FTEs to build or enhance your sys-tems, but be assured that in a relatively short time you will find that you can tangibly affect other cost centers in your business. We have three in-house program-ming staff members and we can readily point to the elimination of two FTEs due to the system enhance-ments they created in one specific area of our business. Partner with a provider that allows you a signifi-cant degree of control of their code. Since there is substantial diversity in our industry, it’s impossible for any of the excellent providers to create a one-size-fits-all operating system. This also provides you the means to adapt more quickly and develop your systems to stand out from the crowd.

Gary SouvereinPawnee Leasing Corporation

ARE YOU MISERLY WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR OPERATING SYSTEMS? As a self-confessed practitioner of fiscal discipline, Pawnee Leasing’s President Gary Souverein has “seen the light” when it comes to nurturing his business’ operating systems.By Gary Souverein


Seize the opportunity to change. With flexibility and control in even a third-party operating system product, begin to com-partmentalize where you want to change how your business does things. Since we only do business with leasing brokers, our initial focus was on making it easier for brokers to transact business with Pawnee. Internally, we spent substantial time building and refin-ing systems that made our employees duties more streamlined, less time consuming and less prone to errors. Substantial quality control is handled by the systems today versus more manual ver-ifications in the past.

Elevate the importance of your operating system. Brian and his information systems team are highly organized with shared work lists, but our management team meets with that team twice a month to help manage competing priorities in their continuous systems development. Management is updated on recent develop-ment projects so we are aware throughout the organization about the improvements and progress to our systems.

Big Data. While analytics and business intelligence have long been a part of the leasing industry, your operating system should have the capability of providing you real time key performance indicators so you can steer your organizations efforts on short notice. It should also collect all the information you need today or in the future to enhance business decisions. Investing in an operating system that has the capabilities to collect and organize hundreds of data points off your third-party information elec-tronically is crucial. Our programming staff has taken dozens of reports that in the past, were regularly created and maintained by our management team and automated those reports from the sys-tems thus freeing our key staff from these unproductive activities.

Be truly paperless. We went from paper everything, to (almost) paperless. Your operating system should capture and neatly cat-alog for easy retrieval every customer’s credit application, third-party information you pulled, as well as all related electronic cor-respondence including email traffic related to that client. More importantly, your operating system must support “electronic documents.” There are fantastic providers such as Docusign and eOriginal that can take your processes to a new level of efficiency. Our industry has been very slow adopters of this technology that we introduced over a year ago. We would not have been able to implement this as easily without an adaptable operating system and having our own in-house staff to drive that development.

Connect your operating system to your customers. Our bro-kers have access 24/7 to our operating system we fondly refer to as AppTrak. We want our brokers to have complete control of the destiny of their transaction flow … brokers enter transactions into our operating system which automatically populates lease contracts on approved transactions. While the system generates

communications to our brokers via email messaging, brokers can see all correspondence within the system under each application at any time. The system also provides a range of information on the broker’s activities with us including application activity and real time portfolio performance information on their customer’s payment activity with us.

Operating systems are substantial investments for any organiza-tion, large and small. I encourage you to consider that your oper-ating systems represent a dynamic, growing investment. In fact in this day and age, it’s pretty difficult not to look at your systems as the most valuable part of your business. They are perhaps even as valuable as the people in your business. Have you ever experi-enced an hour or day when your systems were down? How pro-ductive was your organization at generating revenues when your systems shut down? I’d venture to guess that it was a costly period. So look at your systems for what they really are — business critical. And just like the people in your business, nurture them and then watch them grow your bottom line.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Gary Souverein is the President of Pawnee Leasing Corporation.


http://www.leasingsolutionsllc.com

EQUIPMENT FINANCE TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE THOUGHTS FROM THE EXPERTSNEFA Newsline speaks with leading equipment finance software providers to gain a clear understanding of the technology evaluation process when lessors consider a platform change.

are not only about productivity improvements or savings in hard costs such as maintenance. It is also about growing the business, more effectively supporting their sales force and enabling all fac-ets of the organization … credit, legal, asset management, cus-tomer service, collections, remarketing and accounting teams to be more responsive. In other words, the ROI focus is not just on cost reduction and productivity, but rather on how a new solu-tion enables the entire organization to collaborate more effec-tively in delivering value to the lessee at each stage of the contract management lifecycle.

Steven Sadgrove: One common theme I hear from leasing and finance companies I have spoken to this year, is “we need a platform for growth.” They are looking for software that will provide a structure for growing the business, whilst maintaining efficient processes and communications. They want to control their administrative costs as the business increases. Then there are the concerns about the change process, loss of productivity whilst staff is retraining.

NEWSLINE: When considering a software platform change, why is it important for decision makers to be clear on the dis-tinction that a platform change is not about just replacing a system, but rather its more about building a system that will meet both current and future platform requirements?

Haug: This is a great question, and I think the answer is more than just important — I think it’s crucial. In today’s competitive equip-ment finance landscape, if you can’t evolve your business to meet changing customer expectations, your business won’t be able to remain competitive. To avoid being held hostage by your technol-ogy choices, you need to select a solution and partner that is able to quickly respond to changes in the market and customer demands.

It’s also important to select a software platform that provides the transparency needed to anticipate customer needs, as well as the flexibility to tailor business processes to execute at higher levels, and offer new products and services.


JIM HUMPHREYSVP of SalesOdessa Technologies, Inc.

RANDY HAUGEVP, Vice Chairman & Co-FounderLeaseTeam, Inc.

STEVEN SADGROVEChief Executive Officer, Leasepath

NEWSLINE: What are the most commonly presented issues/concerns equipment finance professionals present to you when considering a change to their software technology platform?

Randy Haug: The biggest concern we hear when it comes to changing their software technology platform is around disrupt-ing their current business. Businesses want system migrations to happen behind the scenes, with little to no impact on their customers. In order to accomplish this, secondary questions and concerns are brought to light. For example, how will they migrate their data and how will they adequately train their staff so there isn’t a temporary drop off in service? Although there are many questions that come up, how to implement a new system without disruption is by far the most consistent concern we see.

Jim Humphrey: This is a very timely question as several of our competitors are actively encouraging their customers to convert to new versions of their platform. A significant investment of resources and capital will be required whether converting to a new platform offered by their vendor or switching to another vendor altogether. As a result, a lot of leasing companies are currently going through an RFP process and examining all of their options.

Decision makers want compelling evidence that changing their platform will provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace. We have come to realize the reasons that lessors change platforms

EQUIPMENT FINANCE TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE

Additionally, since few of us can accurately predict what new strategies will be needed, picking a technology provider becomes extremely important. The future of your business may depend on whether your technology provider can continue to innovate and deliver technologies that help businesses become industry leaders.

Some things to consider when selecting a technology provider include: • Are they financially sound?

• Have they been around for a while, successfully evolving with the industry and making the leap from one technology curve to the next?

• Do they employ technology experts, industry thought leaders and subject matter experts? What is their reputation as a ser-vice and support organization? What are their published turn around metrics and levels of hierarchy within the organization? Do they provide application support and technical support under their full service plans?

• Does your software provider have an earned reputation for being an honest and trusted business partner before and after the sale? What is their fit with you and your organization?

In today’s business climate, companies can’t afford to view their systems as just a vehicle to process their transactions.

Humphrey: Given the effort and cost involved in switching plat-forms, leasing companies should not only look at how closely a system fits their current business model and processes, but how flexible that system is if and when business requirements change. How scalable is the solution? Does the solution have features and functionality that can be turned on later, even if they are not needed now? Can the technology readily support building and configuring new features and functionality at a reasonable cost? Is the solution easily integrated with new or replacement surround systems as required in the future? The most flexible organizations, with capabilities to foster product and process innovation are bet-ter able to ensure success in the face of dynamic market and reg-ulatory conditions.

While the flexibility of the product is one aspect of the equation, leasing companies also need to examine a vendor’s commitment to providing enhancements as well: this can be objectively ascer-tained by simply reviewing their track record. Looking at how long it has taken a vendor to develop new versions of their prod-uct is a key to understanding if they will be a great long term partner. A history of implementing more frequent and incremen-tal changes to a platform is much easier for a leasing company to digest than complete generational rewrites that occur only once every 15-20 years without a cohesive roadmap; without any tech-nological continuity between versions.


Sadgrove: The process of changing software platforms always has a cost in both time and money. It is not something you want to have to do every time there is a change in the business or tech-nology environments. If you are thinking of changing software platforms review all business processes, ensure that the new plat-form will support both the way you want to work now and be able to support the perceived future requirements. It is important to consider the future from both a business and technology perspec-tive. Technologies such as mobile devices, e-marketing and social engagement are changing at a very fast pace.

NEWSLINE: In today’s competitive environment, how can work flow efficiency, effective data mining, and mobile device capabilities make the difference for a finance company in terms of both winning deals and improving margins?

Haug: Implementing effective workflow efficiency, data mining and mobile device capabilities will soon be a “must have” rather than a “nice to have” for businesses. Mobile devices have changed the way people access digital content in all facets of their lives. Consumers have become accustomed to the added convenience and the ability to have rich, digital content at their fingertips, to the point where it has become an expectation. Adding work-flows into business processes is essential in creating the efficiencies needed to provide an innovative, top-notch customer experience. Data mining, when properly analyzed, can help you make better business decisions, improve customer relations, help develop new products and enhance overall business growth.

All of these technologies can help win business and add operational efficiencies. In fact, everyone should have them on their radar screen if that haven’t already looked into them. I don’t think it’s too far into the future where these technologies will transition from being used as a competitive advantage to being what’s expected to keep customers.

Humphrey: Many of our customers are finding that there is ample potential business in the marketplace, but that margins are getting more and more compressed. In such a competitive landscape, being first to market, first to a deal or first to commu-nicate a decision can be the key to a company’s competitive edge. Workflow, data mining, customer portals and mobile devices are great examples of technology investments that our customers are making these days in order to differentiate themselves from their competition; enabling their team to win new business, provide better service, deliver greater value to lessees and to seize new opportunities as they emerge.

Sadgrove: Following a well-designed structured business process whether manual or automated is crucial to consistency and per-formance. Modern systems can guide users through the process avoiding omissions and mistakes.


Lastly, validate that any third party follows remote access secu-rity best practices, such as enforcing multifactor authentication, requiring unique credentials for each user, setting least-privilege permissions and capturing a comprehensive audit trail of all remote access activity.

Humphrey: Leasing companies should be very concerned about the potential risk presented by their lease management system. Over the last few years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the due diligence performed by larger leasing companies in terms of security. This due diligence is occurring not only as part of an RFP, but has become a regular part of an ongoing vendor manage-ment process throughout the life of the relationship. It includes regular examination of the policies, procedures and the technol-ogy infrastructure we have implemented to run our own busi-ness. It also involves extensive due diligence performed to identify potential vulnerabilities of the software products that we license to our customers.

Interestingly enough, we have not seen the same level of aware-ness of the risk of security breaches from small- to medium-sized leasing companies. The potential liability for any size lessor can be huge, but it would be particularly devastating for a small-to medium-sized lessor. We would encourage all leasing companies, regardless of their size, to be asking their software vendor for this type of information and assurance, both at the beginning of the relationship as well as on an ongoing basis.

Sadgrove: I think it is important to have a written security policy in place and review it on a regular basis. The policy will spell out clearly to staff the measures they must take to avoid the systems being compromised. Provide security awareness training for all staff on an annual basis. Configure access control for passwords to be complex and expire them if they are not changed on a regu-lar basis. Always follow a strict off-boarding process, disabling all systems access no matter who it is that is leaving. Physical secu-rity access to your premises must be maintained to avoid theft of devices or printed information. Have a theft management process in place for when a computer or mobile device is lost.

There are many steps that can be taken on the technical side, however if you ensure that your data is encrypted when stored and transmitted it will not be usable, if the device it is on, falls into the wrong hands. From a network perspective have a formal process for monitoring of logs for unusual activity and have regular vul-nerability scans performed.


Analyzing the data that is captured in your systems can tell you what worked historically and what did not. It can tell you which sectors and products are most successful. If you capture the data you can analyze the types of opportunities you lose and which competitors you lose to. You can compare different sales and marketing approaches to see which reap the best returns. From this information you can adjust which sectors to target and the approaches you take.

For those of us constantly on the move, being able to access customer information and monitor transactions on our mobile devices means we can always be in touch. Efficiency is increased by reducing the number of emails requesting and providing infor-mation, when you can just track what you need to on your mobile device.

NEWSLINE: As security breaches continue to make the head-lines, what steps should a leasing company consider when addressing this particular issue?

Haug: Security breaches are a real concern for most companies, but there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” solution. With that said though, there are precautions everyone should be taking.

The first is to protect your network. Companies need to utilize firewalls and virtual private networks to secure sensitive informa-tion.

The second is to have a clear cyber security policy. Companies should write a well-planned policy that encompasses device use and how to dispose of secure information.

Next, it’s important to have policies around storing confidential data, including how it is updated and disposed of, and who has access to it.

Another important exercise is to have a policy in place to ensure all of your security patches are up to date. Network devices have security patches all the time. If you are behind in your patch updates, you may have an exploitable device in your network waiting for hackers to gain access to. Also, if you are using any cloud applications, it’s important to use a strong data encryption, such as AES 256-bit.


The preceeding Q&A is part of a continuing series of roundtable discussions. To participate in an upcoming Newsline Q&A, contact [email protected].

At Bank of the West, two areas take center stage in how we think about technology and software for our business: 1) the rise of big data collection and analysis, and 2) the need for robust delivery system capabilities.

The ability to collect, analyze, manage and leverage large amounts of data on a daily basis is increasingly important in today’s business environment. Collecting and using data to make real-time adjustments – whether to a company’s risk perspective, the promotions and offerings they send their external customers, or the products and services they provide – has become a principal ingredient within some business models. At Bank of the West, we have begun tapping into this capability by creating an electronic data warehouse and master data management system that will give us a 360° view of our client relationships. We will leverage this data to bet-ter understand our clients’ activities, current and developing needs, and opportunities to help them grow.

The second big area for us is delivery system technologies that allow us to support various, sometimes very complex equip-ment lease and loan structures from origination to post dispo-sition, and to do it in one ecosystem. Convenience is a huge factor for our business, and keeping in step with ever-present change can be challenging. We are constantly adapting and improving our infrastructure and our electronic interface with other systems within and outside of the bank. We know we need to keep innovating so we can help our clients evolve, too.

Against this broader backdrop of big data and delivery system technologies, we consider several elements when assessing lease accounting software system providers:• It’s important that a lease accounting software system pro-

vider understands the leasing business, but it’s also critical that they understand technology. Do they keep up with the leasing industry, the software industry or both? Which is more central to them as a provider of software to a leasing company? A company that is tapped into both industries has a strong advantage.

A Lessor's PerspectiveJohn Evans, EVP of Bank of the West Equipment Finance, shares his thoughts on assessing a lease accounting system software provider.

• Any lease accounting software system should have all the necessary features/functions that today’s businesses require, but it should also be highly customizable; and those cus-tomizations need to be portable when upgrading to new versions. The ability to deliver an effective out-of-the-box product that allows leasing companies to seamlessly inte-grate the level of customization that any large company needs – whether in terms of architecture, method of deliv-ering service, etc. – is key.

• What is the system’s implementation process and migration cost? How does the system provider ensure that the process will go smoothly for customers? What are their recommen-dations for rolling out the implementation in a way that’s attuned to the customer experience? What is the migration cost of going from a source system to a new software plat-form? What are the timelines involved in implementing the platform change?

• It’s important to see and understand the provider’s road-map. How are the roadmap decisions made? What are the planned improvements or enhancements over the next three years? Can customers influence the roadmap and if so, how?

• We find a lot of value in talking to the system’s user base to hear what they have to say about their experience. How does the provider integrate user support into the system?

• Can the system interact seamlessly with other software currently in use? It is an important point because a lease accounting system is not a standalone; it’s integrated into many back-end systems like Servicing, Accounting, Pay-ables, etc.?

With that information in hand, it becomes far easier to deter-mine which provider is best suited to meet the needs of your business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | John Evans is an Executive Vice President at Bank of the West Equipment Finance


In the following article, we discuss how business process mapping can help your business in this environment of decreasing margins and increasing regulation. This introduction will detail how your business can benefit quickly — and at a relatively low cost — from a close review of your business’s processes including your opera-tional, sales and portfolio management processes.

Process Maps DefinedThis tool is a graphical representation of how your business works, both as a whole and within its various component parts, revealing the flow and relationship between business functions. The maps show the actions and decisions that take place at every step along the way. We’re talking here about process maps that go deep and into great detail, to account for every way things happen inside your business, even the odd-ball scenarios.

Importance of Process MapsOne of the surprising results of documenting processes is that just documenting and distributing the process maps, even before making any improvements, raises the performance of your people immediately and across the board.

This is because, typically, your poorest performers don’t actually know how they’re supposed to do their jobs, and instead rely on the knowledge of your best people to help them through the pro-cess — over and over again. Thus, your best people end up being involved in everybody’s deals, not just their own. This thrashing by the poorest performers often causes rework and wasted time at the end of the process when time is of the essence. As a result, all performers within the organization cannot get as much done as they should.

The maps provide process training and “How-To” guides to your average and poor performers. For the first time, they can be methodical and independent and will begin to make fewer mistakes and, most importantly, drain less time from the top performers. The outcomes of the work passed from one team member to another will also become more consistent and stan-dard. But, process maps will not turn your average performers into superstars; however, they will make them better. It is your top people — the experts — who can best verbalize the process, all the decisions, all the options, all the pitfalls and how to handle all the oddball scenarios. In fact, this is what they do every day as they mentor their colleagues and keep the factory humming.

BUSINESS PROCESS MAPPING- Setting a Course for SuccessBusiness process mapping is much more than a buzzword or an “in vogue” concept. Done right, it can have a positive impact on your business in these days of decreasing margins. By Nick Kramer and Sean Murray


When they are given back time and energy, and can focus on their deals, the whole business can typically handle more deal volume. Therefore, when you can trust your average people to do the aver-age deals, your top performers can spend more time and effort on the complex deals, or engaged with your sales team to help close deals. These “knowledge workers” will have the time to innovate and potentially move your business into new or underdeveloped opportunities within the industry.

You’ll also start to quickly notice that when you empower true knowledge workers to think instead of remember, they start figur-ing out how the process can be improved. And the process maps also help them communicate these ideas.

Strong Communication ToolsWe mentioned earlier that one of the benefits of documenting your processes is that they become measurable. Where are the bottlenecks? What steps are inefficient and can be done better? Which steps take longer than expected? What errors are made most often? The steps identified by process mapping provide data points necessary to conduct the analysis that reveals opportunities for improving workflow. So, process maps provide not only the structure for analysis, but the medium for communicating, dis-cussing and adopting ideas for enhancement.

Process Maps Done RightWhat makes a process map useful, and capable of fulfilling the promise we’ve outlined, is actually very simple and comes down to two problems that need to be addressed.

First, does the diagram make sense to the business users … and can business users understand it and then explain it? Unless they can understand and explain the process maps, you will have no way of knowing if they’re accurate and there will be no way to hand them to your business users because you will be left with documents that are confusing and too technical.

The second common problem is that most process maps are too high-level or poorly organized. If the process maps do not get into enough detail to be complete, the business can’t benefit from the work. Handing incomplete processes over to your poor and average performers will only add to their confusion, and actually increase their dependence upon their expert peers. On the other

hand, process maps that are highly detailed but poorly organized become too confusing to read, which significantly reduces the benefits highlighted above.

So, what is the recipe for getting good process maps and realiz-ing the tremendous tactical and strategic benefits they can bring? There are best practices that we recommend.

The most important, and often hardest to achieve, is objectivity. Too many process mapping efforts are undermined by assump-tions of knowledge. Unfortunately, this is a particularly easy trap for internal teams. Not having any preconceptions of how the process works is essential. For example, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, for your internal IT team to remain objective and to not manipulate the conversation, usually without any intention to do so; it’s almost unavoidable. Therefore in many cases, it’s best to bring in someone from outside your business, a person who can bring a fresh perspective and will listen to the business users without the biases born of familiarity with the current business process to construct the process maps.

Another best practice is to quickly go broad and long, and then go deep. This recommendation means that you should do a full review of all the processes in question first, and then keep going into greater and greater depth at each subsequent review. The rea-son for this is that focusing on one piece before looking at the end-to-end view can result in missing the relationships between parts of the process, leading to unnecessary revision.

Lastly, test the maps. Have your business users reference the pro-cess maps to support them through their jobs and have them point out missed nuances and mistakes in the processes. This will help you to ensure the process maps are both useful to the busi-ness and represent the business accurately.

When done right, process maps become an immediate and ongo-ing asset to your business.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: | Nick Kramer and Sean Murray are Solution Partners at Knowledgent, an industry information con-sultancy.

One of the surprising results of documenting processes is that just documenting and distributing the process maps, even before making any improvements, raises the performance of your people immediately and across the board.



Portfolio Servicing in the Age of Mobile TechnologyWithout a doubt, mobile devices have impacted virtually every aspect of life both professionally and personally … and portfolio servicing is no exception. Jerry Noon, Senior Vice President of Asset Management at Ascentium Capital notes the pluses far outweigh the minuses, yet certain safeguards need to be considered.

Over the past decade, the use of mobile devices has touched more and more functional areas of commercial finance. Port-

folio management and the servicing of loan/lease portfolios have not eluded the mobile revolution.

In the following question and answer session with Ascentium Capital’s Jerry Noon, Newsline explores the topic a bit deeper to better understand the impact mobile communications and email in particular have had on portfolio management.


standardize the communication with pre-approved content and format, which may limit potential for error in an email commu-nication.

All communication that is delivered/received in electronic for-mat should also be verifiable and authenticated should a dis-pute arise down the road. Therefore, it is important that the IT Department be involved in confirming the servicer’s ability to store and validate these electronic communications.

NEWSLINE: How has portfolio servicing been positively impacted by the increased use of mobile technology? Is this impact measurable and if so, in what ways?

Noon: The cost savings are significant as customers can more easily respond in a timely manner at little to no cost. Timely and frequent communication with customers will inevitably lead to a better customer experience, and quicker collection of receivables reducing delinquency and losses. Email exchange reduces the time cost associated with traditional U.S. mail letter exchanges to resolve complex issues or disputes.


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NEWSLINE: How has the increased use of mobile technology impacted the way portfolio servicing specialists communi-cate with their clients?

Jerry Noon: The percentage of custom-ers utilizing some type of mobile device to stay closely connected to their business, or in some cases virtually running their business by mobile device, has increased dramatically in the past few years. It wasn’t

too long ago that the best customer contact method was via tele-phone conversation, facsimile or even U.S. mail. Lately, the vast majority of customer contact is done via email. U.S. mail takes days to reach the customer, and telephone calls can be screened.

Emails, however, tend to be read and responded to much faster. If you carry a mobile device, whether for business use or personal use, and you receive an email, the tendency is to respond in a timelier manner than traditional methods of contact. This is pri-marily because of two reasons; a) email communication allows the customer to control the pace of communication, and b) we have become conditioned to multitask and we tend to respond to these inbound messages while doing other things even if the message being delivered is a perceived negative one (i.e. a collection mes-sage which historically has been avoided).

To be successful, the servicing operation must put email contact at the top of the list of customer contact methods.

NEWSLINE: What risks should portfolio servicers be prepared to address with the increased use of mobile technology as it relates to customer contact?

Noon: Mobile technology makes customer contact easier than ever before and more small business owners are managing their businesses and communications over a mobile device. However, it is important that communication policies and procedures with respect to email and text be reviewed and approved by legal coun-sel. There should be added language to the finance documents that allows for this type of communication, and it should speak to any costs/fees associated with such communication via a mobile device.

Additionally, servicers must know who they are communicating with in an email or text, so that personal or confidential informa-tion is not shared with someone who is not authorized to receive such information or communication. Some form of verification should be implemented for these methods of contact. Email “tem-plates” can be created for staff to use when communicating with customers about frequently requested matters. These templates

Jerry NoonAscentium Capital, LLC

http://www.finpac.com


nefacts2015 NEFA PARTNERS

PLATINUMBank of the WestChannel Partners, LLCLeaseTeam, Inc.Pawnee Leasing Corp.

DIAMONDBanc of CaliforniaECS Financial Services, Inc.FORA Financial

GOLDFinancial Pacific Leasing, Inc.Marlin Business Bank North Mill Equipment Finance, LLCStearns Bank

Angels Baseball NetworkingJuly 24, 2015

Angel Stadium of AnaheimAnaheim, CA

Atlanta Networking LuncheonAugust 13, 2015

Ansley Golf Club, Atlanta, GA

NEFA Funding SymposiumOctober 7 - 9, 2015

JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead HotelAtlanta, GA

EXPO NJ Super RegionalNovember 15 - 16, 2015

Teaneck Marriott at GlenpointTeaneck, NJ

INDUSTRY EVENTSCALENDARSILVER

Allegiant Partners IncorporatedBryn Mawr FundingBusiness Credit ReportsConestoga Equipment Finance Corp.Dakota Financial, LLCDedicated Commercial Recovery, Inc.Great American InsuranceMaxim Commercial Capital, LLCOrange Commercial Credit

Cherokee & Walker – Funding SourceCooper, White & Cooper, LLC – Service Provider

Superior Business Lending, LLC – Broker/LessorVoyage Technologies – Broker/Lessor

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

http://www.nefassociation.org


Natural Partners: Asset-Based Lending & Equipment FinanceBy Toby DahmToby Dahm at Hitachi Business Finance explains how natural partnerships between equipment lenders and asset-based lenders can create opportunities for both to offer improved deal structures and referral relationships.

One of the basic principles of lending is to match the loan term to the life of the collateral. Working assets, such as accounts receivable and inventory, should be used for short term needs such as payroll and paying bills. Long-term assets, such as equipment, should be used to fund equipment purchases, facility improve-ments, or projects that have a similar duration. The logic of this match funding approach is that it keeps the collateral in alignment with the amount borrowed. Short-term working capital financing is what most asset-based lenders focus on. This is normally provided in the form of a line of credit. Longer term equipment financing is what equipment lenders focus on.

The logic of match funding has a flaw, however. As a borrower makes its monthly payments on an equip-ment loan, a portion of each payment generates equity in the equipment. This occurs because the equipment normally has a useful life that extends well beyond the term of the loan. With each payment made, an investment in equipment is made, due to the growing equity value of the equipment. Over time, this invest-ment can become substantial.

The consequence of this is that at the end of the term, when the equipment has been paid in full, the borrower has made a substantial cash investment in

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

the equipment. This has taken money out of its cash cycle as if the borrower had paid cash for the current value of that equipment. This deprives the borrower of liquidity, which is critical to the financial health of the borrower, especially if it is growing rapidly.

It is wise for borrowers to be aware of this equity build up and to consider tapping into it to maintain adequate liquidity. I see far too many businesses that struggle with working capital pressure. This pressure causes them to miss opportunities for fear of not being able to fund large orders. It also results in too much management attention on juggling bills instead of focusing on growing and improving the business. Only by tapping into its full spectrum of assets can a borrower free up the optimal amount of cash.

Toby DahmHitachi Business Finance

The existence of equity value in equipment creates a natural partnership for asset-based lenders and equipment lenders/lessors to work together.


How much should be borrowed by refinancing equipment? In many instances, a borrower will take as much money as the equip-ment will support to ensure adequate liquidity. In other cases, a borrower may not need to tap the entire value of its equipment. It would make sense to look at its expected line of credit balance, and perhaps refinance up to the minimum projected balance. Anything above this would add to the company’s leverage and could result in forced borrowing, where an excess cash balance is held.

The existence of equity value in equipment creates a natural partnership environment for asset-based lenders and equipment lenders/lessors to work together. Asset-based lenders have a strong preference for accounts receivable and inventory over equipment. They value the liquidity of these assets and have the systems and expertise to monitor them closely. Conversely, equipment lenders are very comfortable with the valuation of equipment; however, they do not have the systems and processes in place to monitor the constantly changing levels of accounts receivable and inventory.

The optimal situation is for the asset-based lender and equipment lender to work together as financing partners, with each lever-aging its preferred asset class. Because each lender remains com-pletely in its comfort zone, the combined financing will reflect a more favorable risk assessment than if either lender attempted to stretch its position. This will result in a lower blended cost of funds as well as more favorable terms for the borrower.

All three parties benefit from this arrangement. The borrower has access to financing on the most favorable terms. The equipment lender has the comfort of knowing that the asset based-lender is committed to financing the working capital needs of the business. The asset-based lender has the benefit of the added liquidity of its borrower, which enhances its risk profile.

Beyond an improved deal structure, asset-based lenders and equipment lenders have a great opportunity to form mutual refer-ral relationships. Because they do not compete with each other, yet have an overlapping client profile, they are in a position to see and refer opportunities to the other party, even if there is no play for them. They can generate referral fees as well as benefit from

being a productive resource to those seeking the funding that falls into the other camp.

As asset-based lenders, we are always looking to align with com-panies that complement what we offer. By growing our base of partnerships, we expand our reach as well as the amount of value that we provide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Toby Dahm is a Senior Vice Presi-dent and the ABL Portfolio Manager at Hitachi Business Finance.

Because they do not compete with each other, yet have an overlapping client profile, [ABLs and equipment lenders] are in a position to see and refer opportunities to the other party, even if there is no play for them.


http://www.nefassociation.org


It’s All Just Reporting, Right?By Nancy Geary, CPA, CLFP Compilation … review … audit … standalone financial statement preparation … it’s all just reporting, right? Not by far, assures ECS Financial's Nancy Geary.

We often receive inquiries regarding the various lev-els of financial statement presentation and attestation services provided by Certified Public Accountants. Companies we speak with think they need or want one or another level of service without really under-standing what is included at each level, and what is really appropriate for their needs.

First, it is helpful to explain a few terms that apply to all levels of service:

• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) – The standard accounting rules, regulations, and procedures used by companies in maintaining their financial records in the United States. GAAP pro-vides companies and accountants with a consistent set of guidelines that cover both broad accounting principles and specific practices.

• Applicable reporting framework – GAAP or other comprehensive basis of accounting on which the financial statements are prepared.

• Independence – a state of objectivity in fact and appearance, including the absence of any significant conflicts of interest. When an accountant is inde-pendent, they do not have control, nor do they par-ticipate in any management decision making related to a company’s accounting policies, procedures or performance.

• Accountant’s letter – A letter issued as a part of the basic financial statements issued by a certified public

ACCOUNTING

accountant. The letter will indicate the level of assur-ance the accountant is offering (compilation, review or audit), whether the statements are prepared using GAAP or another comprehensive basis of account-ing, whether the statements contain any departure from GAAP (or the other basis of accounting being used), and whether the accountant is independent with respect to the financial statements.

The following information will address the major types of financial statements offered by CPAs, includ-ing compiled, reviewed and audited.

Compilation: A compilation is the most basic level of attestation services provided by a certified public accountant. At this level of service, the CPA assists the company in presenting its financial statements. A compilation does not require the accountant to obtain an understanding of the company’s internal control, or assess fraud risk. The accountant does not have any obligation to analyze the statements or conduct inqui-ries of management, although they should review the statements for reasonableness. A compilation does not provide any assurance regarding the information pre-sented in the financial statements.

The Accountant’s Compilation Letter should dis-close the applicable reporting framework (and any departures from that method, if they exist) and the lack of assurance provided. While some CPAs will literally compile the data with no further steps taken,

Nancy GearyECS Financial Services, Inc.


many will assist the client with reconciliations, adjustments and/or workpaper preparation. Sometimes the accountant will partici-pate in management decisions related to the statements, in which case the letter will disclose their lack of independence, and if the accountant chooses, the reason why they are not independent.

An accountant’s lack of independence is not necessarily a bad thing in this level of service. In many cases the accountant is not inde-pendent because they have helped a company that lacks appro-priate internal expertise to properly record transactions in com-pliance with the applicable reporting framework. In our opinion, using an outside expert to help comply with proper accounting is not a bad thing. Be aware, however, that the accountant’s lack of independence does not give way to a higher level of assurance on the statements. The accountant generally provides assistance where requested, and operates based on data provided from the company, without confirming the accuracy of the data provided.

The Accountant’s Compilation Letter also discloses any depar-ture from the applicable reporting framework. The most common departure is the lack of financial statement disclosures (footnotes), which is only allowed in compilations. The disclosures help the reader to gain a better understanding of the company’s account-ing systems and the activity presented in the financial statements. However, due to the time and expertise required to prepare the disclosures, some companies elect not to include them in their financial statements.

Many companies find compiled financial statements provide ade-quate information for their needs, and do not feel compelled to look for a higher level of attestation service unless a bank or other funding source requires it of them.

Review: In a review, the accountant provides limited assurance that there are no material modifications that need to be made to a company’s financial statements for them to be in conformity with the applicable reporting framework. A review does not require the accountant to obtain an understanding of the company’s internal control, or assess fraud risk.

The accountant performs those procedures necessary to provide a reasonable basis for obtaining limited assurance that no material changes are needed to bring the financial statements into com-pliance with the applicable reporting framework. These proce-dures generally include inquiry of accounting and management personnel, as well as analysis of financial data and performance. A review does not include confirmation of any information with third parties

The Accountant’s Review Letter should disclose the applicable reporting framework (and any departures from that method, if they exist). It will also indicate the accountant’s limited assurance that there are no material modifications that need to be made to an entity’s financial statements for them to be in conformity with the applicable financial reporting framework.

In a review engagement, the accountant must be independent.Banks and other funding sources may request reviewed financial statements to gain some additional assurance. Depending on the extent of funding, they may not feel the need for the added assur-ance (and cost) of an audit.

Audit: In a financial statement audit, the independent auditor examines an entity’s financial statements and accompanying disclo-sures and provides a higher level of assurance than either a review or compilation.

An audit includes risk assessment, testing of transactions and con-firmation with third parties with regard to relevant account bal-ances and/or transactions. The auditor may choose to test internal control to assess the possibility of reducing the level of transaction related testing required, however the auditor does not express an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control.

The Independent Auditor’s Report attests to the fairness of the presentation of the financial statements and related disclosures. It details the responsibilities of management and the auditor with respect to the financial statements. The report will also indicate the audit opinion, generally that the financial statements are pre-sented fairly, in all material respects.

Public companies are required to have an annual financial state-ment audit. Banks, investors and other funding sources may also require an audit in order to gain a higher level of assurance on the financial statements being presented. Some companies may seek an audit to provide potential future investors a higher level of assurance if they have plans of selling or going public.

Standalone Financial Statement Preparation: In addition to the compilation, review and audit services traditionally offered, there is also a new regulation allowing CPAs to offer standalone financial statement preparation services. Financial statements are prepared in conformity with the accounting framework used by your com-pany, with no accompanying report being issued and the financial statements marked that no assurance is provided. This would be used in a situation where the company generates internal financial statements and the CPA offers limited assistance.

ConclusionWe generally recommend our compilation clients choose to include financial statement disclosures with their financial state-ments, as it provides the user with a more complete picture and presents a more professional image for financial statement users such as potential funding sources or business partners.

In any case, a higher level of assurance is not a guarantee. Even audits, based on testing and risk assessment, are not fail-proof !

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Nancy Geary, CPA, CLFP is a share-holder at ECS Financial Services, Inc.



On my last day in Port Au Prince, Haiti, while stand-ing atop the mountain overlooking the city, I realized something profound: I had been chasing the wrong thing most of my adult life. At that moment, with my heart shattered and my emotional strength gone, I knew that my life was never going to be the same.

Below is a portion of the blog that I wrote while in Haiti for the first time, serving in The Home for Sick and Dying Children in Port Au Prince, Haiti.

As this little girl sat with me, I began to study her, and I noticed that she had been psychologically, emotionally, physically and verbally abused in the past. I could tell that just by watching her demeanor.

As I held her, I quietly wept. At one point, I noticed that someone had carved an X into her temple, and that the X was now a scar. In fact, I saw that she had many scars all over her body.

This little girl was so beautiful, and I felt a pain in my heart that I had never felt before. I held her as long as I could, and when I left, I told her goodbye and said in French that I loved her. She didn’t respond, though. She just curled back into a fetal position in her crib.

I rode all the way back to the volunteers’ house with tears flowing from beneath my sunglasses. When I got back to

the house, I went to wash my face, and I wept in the washroom for awhile.

I just could not hold myself together. I went to my room, crying out to God because my soul screamed out in such pain for this girl.

I was beginning to find something in my heart that I hadn’t known was there before: a calling to help children in extreme poverty who did not get the option to choose their place in this world. God was stirring something in me that was making me feel crazy on the inside, like nothing I had felt before.

On my third trip to The Home for Sick and Dying Chil-dren, while accompanied by my wife Stephanie, I was on a personal mission. I wanted to find out as much as I could about the little girl who God was using to change my life.

I quickly found out where she was and that her name was Jenika. I found out that she had a fever and was severely malnourished. I found out that her caregivers were busy cleaning her and that I’d have to wait to see her.

When I finally entered her room, she immediately rec-ognized me, and I saw a look on her face that I had not seen before. I saw that a little peace was now in her spirit.

Lessons Learned From a Little Girl Named Jenika By Shawn R. Smith

HUMAN INTEREST

Shawn R. SmithDedicated Commercial Recovery Inc.

Chasing Significance Over Success

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I picked her up and said “Bonjour, Jenika mon amour” (hello, Jenika my love.) She hugged me and cuddled up to my chest.

We went back out to the courtyard and sat down. Once again she was finding peace in my arms, and once again her scars were reminding me of the terrible pain that had been inflicted upon such a beautiful child.

Unfortunately she was sick, and the nurses had to get her ready for an IV that would help her fight her fever. Jenika was severally dehy-drated, and could not hold down any food. She screamed in fear like nothing I had every heard before. I held her hand, but it didn’t help. She was trembling in fear.

The nurses took a long time to prepare her, and on their first attempt to insert the IV they missed the vein. My heart and soul were being crushed and shattered.

I eventually tried to hold and comfort some of the other babies, but the screams coming from Jenika’s room were horrible, and they were too much for me to bear. I was starting to realize that I loved her as if she were my own child. If I could, I would take her home to America without a moment’s thought.

My wife was standing with me, and I could see that she understood why my heart was broken. I could also see that hers was breaking as well. But all we could do was go to Jenika, to comfort her, to hold her hands, to rub her feet and back.

Finally, mercifully, the nurse got the IV into Jenika’s arm, but by then we had to go. I was shaking, and once again, my eyes were filled with tears. God was moving me in a more powerful way than I have ever experienced. But we had to go.

I knelt down beside her and looked into her eyes. I gave her a big hug, then whispered into her ear “Au revoir, Jenika mon amour.” (Good-bye, Jenika, my love.)

Both of us were crying as she responded, “Au revoir, mon amour…”

As you can see, my trips to Haiti have changed my life.

Since then, my wife and I have dedicated ourselves to serving oth-ers and to helping those in need. We have returned to Haiti sev-eral more times, and we have helped Jenika get better by helping with her medicine, by providing for two years of schooling, and by providing a gift to her aunt and uncle, who saved her from the bad situation she was in, so that the family can start a business.

Right now, the paperwork is being filed to start the Jenika Fran-cois Foundation. Several like-minded individuals have pledged to serve on the foundation’s board.

And we have launched a company with the core value of being dedicated to serving others.

We have pledged to do local community service every quarter, such as volunteering at Feed My Starving Children or at local food kitchens for the poor. Our hope is that starting next year, we will be able to offer one extra week of paid vacation to all staff who want to do mission work. We also hope to be able to offer trips to Haiti to any of our clients or possible clients so that they can help us serve the poor.

It’s a large world, and we can’t be significant to everyone in it. But we can be significant to one child or one family at a time. Our help can be the difference between life and death. We can mean the world to them.

I encourage you to chase significance over success. I truly believe that, if you put the right one first, it will make all the difference in your life – as it has in mine...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Shawn R. Smith is the CEO of Dedicated Commercial Recovery Inc.



Funding Symposium 2015: Big Bucks in Buckhead for NEFA AttendeesBy Gerry Egan

There are big bucks in Buckhead and smart equip-ment finance professionals will be on hand October 7-9 this year for NEFA’s 2015 Funding Symposium to be sure they get theirs!

Buckhead, the fast-moving, success-oriented testa-ment to drive and vision, a virtual mini city within Atlanta, GA, will be home to this year’s Funding Sym-posium and is destined to draw the best of the best in our industry from across the U.S. and Canada. On the heels of this spring’s Finance Summit in Long Beach — NEFA’s most successful conference ever — you can expect all that was good about the Summit and even more at the Funding Symposium.

Under the guidance of Conference Chairperson Bob Hanna of Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A., and a sharp team of NEFA Member Volunteers, we’ve drastically expanded the education offerings. This year’s Funding Symposium will offer more education, more exhibitors, more sponsors, and more opportuni-ties to create and cultivate the relationships that build your business and make you money — what could be more appropriate than that?

Headquarters for NEFA’s 2015 Funding Symposium will be the beautiful JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel. Compact and classy, this luxury hotel is per-fectly situated. It’s in the heart of all the dining and

ASSOCIATION

entertainment that Buckhead is famous for, directly across the street from both Houston’s and Katana Teppanyaki & Sushi. It’s also attached to Buckhead’s famed Lenox Square Shopping Mall which has been the premier shopping destination for the Southeast’s fashionistas for almost 50 years! Lenox Square boasts Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus and Macy's and fea-tures nearly 250 specialty stores like Fendi, Burberry, Cartier, David Yurman, Louis Vuitton, C. Wonder, and Vineyard Vines. Finally, and perhaps most con-veniently, the NEFA Symposium hotel is just a $2.50 non-stop MARTA train ride from the Atlanta airport, delivering you directly across the street from the door to the JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel and all this year’s Funding Symposium has to offer you.

Because of our early, time-staggered pricing, the ear-lier you register the better the value — and the more you’ll have left to spend enjoying Buckhead! I hope we’ll see you there!

Gerry EganNEFA Executive Director & CEO


http://www.leaseteam.com

equipment finance software– · nefa members this fall! the home hotel for nefa’s 2015 funding...

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