The equipment finance industry is in the middle of a quiet but consequential transformation. CRMs have gotten smarter, AI can draft a follow-up email before you’ve hung up the phone, and underwriting decisions that once took days now take minutes. But if you ask Monitor’s NextGen leaders of 2026 how technology has changed their work, a striking consensus emerges: the best technology isn’t replacing human connection — it’s creating more room for it.
The AI Moment
Artificial intelligence was the most commonly cited technology across the class, and for good reason. For many NextGen leaders, it has become an essential tool for research, preparation, and communication — one that frees them to be more present with clients, not less.
Victoria Clifford put it directly: “What used to take a significant amount of time — researching a prospect, summarizing a conversation, drafting follow-up communications — I can now do faster and with more precision. That means more of my time is spent on the actual relationship, which is where I believe the real work happens.”
Evan Day described a similar shift: “AI has genuinely changed how I operate this year. From how I craft customer communications to how I prep for conversations, to how we approach marketing content, it has made everything sharper and faster. But the thing I appreciate most is that it gives me more time to focus on the human side of what we do.”
Teyl Stark framed it as a shift from processing to problem-solving: “Instead of spending time gathering and validating information, I can come to the table faster with clearer insights, anticipate questions earlier, and focus discussions on structure, risk, and long-term fit. That efficiency doesn’t reduce the human element — it creates more space for it.”
Ryan Ragland noted a change in the quality of client conversations themselves: “Where I used to spend significant time manually researching a partner’s business model, competitive landscape, and financing gaps, I can now surface that intelligence quickly and walk into conversations with sharper context. More importantly, it’s shifted the dynamic — less time on discovery groundwork, more time on strategic dialogue. Customers notice when you come prepared to solve, not just to sell.”
Not every NextGen leader was uniformly enthusiastic. Patric Berkery offered a measured view: “The most obvious answer will be artificial intelligence, but it is important to have a disciplined approach to utilizing it. It is an evolving tool that requires you to review the information and confirm that it is accurate.” And Cory Svihla acknowledged a counterintuitive effect: as AI makes interactions feel more automated, “it’s pushed me to double down on being real. I’ve become more intentional about showing up personally, communicating with genuine care, and treating every client relationship as exactly that — human, not artificial.”
For Daniel Aronoff, AI has reshaped client engagements in a more structural way: “AI has reshaped how we interact with clients by shifting us toward a more structured, education-focused approach. Instead of simply providing answers, we guide clients to discover the best solutions themselves, creating more informed and confident decision-making.”
The CRM Revolution
If AI is the year’s headline, the CRM is the unsung workhorse. Across the class, leaders described meaningful upgrades to how they use customer relationship management platforms — not just as databases, but as strategic tools for proactive engagement.
Brooks Anderson described the shift from reactive to proactive: “Having visibility into customer history, vendor relationships, and transaction trends allows me to enter conversations with context and deliver more targeted insights. Embracing this technology has changed my approach from reactive to proactive — identifying cross-sell opportunities earlier and helping partners plan for upcoming equipment needs or sales trends.”
Jordan Bonneur saw similar benefits from CRM consolidation: “Our CRM platform has fundamentally changed how I interact with customers by consolidating data across departments into a single, reliable source. This has improved efficiency, visibility, and collaboration, allowing me to respond to customer inquiries more quickly and accurately.”
Kim Lorang’s team took a design-first approach to their CRM buildout: “Instead of treating it as just a place to store information, we designed it around the actual flow of a deal and the way we communicate with customers and partners. It allows us to stay organized, respond quickly, and maintain a clear view of where everything stands without losing the personal touch.”
Ashlee Henninger pointed to capabilities that simply didn’t exist a few years ago: “CRMs and email systems can now predict issues, scan for errors, and create follow up in a way that didn’t exist even three to five years ago. Technology hasn’t replaced the relationship — it’s made our communication more precise and reliable.”
Michael Kianmahd described the operational impact of Salesforce automation at his firm: “The implementation has reduced friction, improved response times, and improved consistency. Instead of chasing paperwork reactively, we can communicate with customers in a more timely, organized, and proactive way.”
Automation That Removes Friction
Beyond CRMs, several NextGen leaders highlighted workflow automation as a force multiplier — one that, when done right, clears away administrative friction so that genuine relationship-building can take center stage.
Cory Damm described an overhaul of his firm’s origination process: “We rebuilt our entire origination workflow around intelligent automation — and it fundamentally changed the relationship between us and our customers.” The result was application-only approvals delivered in minutes, along with real-time status updates at every stage. “Automation didn’t remove the human element from our customer relationships,” Damm said. “It removed the friction that was preventing real human connection from happening in the first place.”
Joseph Borges saw a similar dynamic with his company’s partner portal: “It’s empowered our partners to handle things like pricing and docs on their own, which is a win-win. Because they can handle the quick administrative stuff themselves, it frees me up to focus on the tougher issues and actually spend time helping them grow their business rather than just pushing paperwork.”
Alyssa Lawrence described how a loan origination system changed her team’s day-to-day: “Building structure around how information flows between teams means we’re able to respond to customers more quickly and with better accuracy, without tracking down updates or navigating manual steps. That shift has freed us to focus on what actually matters: keeping customers informed, setting clear expectations, and staying ahead of questions before they become concerns.”
Data as a Differentiator
For a number of NextGen leaders, the real transformation has come from getting better data — and building the infrastructure to use it.
Ian Lockwood’s team built a Power BI reporting hub that changed decision-making at every level: “Collections managers can now track what their team is bringing in daily, weekly, and monthly with actual numbers in front of them. On the credit and sales side, we can break down deal performance by broker and quickly identify who is sending us quality business and who isn’t. The conversations that follow are sharper because the data is there.”
Nicole Hietikko of Tiger highlighted the trust-building power of objective, accessible data: “Merchant knowledge and judgment calls are still part of the picture, but having these objective measures at our fingertips has been really important. Clients want to know that your assessments are rooted in reality.”
Monica Ieng described how real-time financial reporting access has changed the nature of client conversations: “It enables timely insights, proactive discussions, and more meaningful engagement — helping build trust while keeping larger accounts closely monitored and informed.”
Alexa Bagchi’s firm took a longer-term approach, investing in dedicated data science resources and advanced analytical tools. “We’re thrilled to be leveraging Databricks more broadly in our next phase of risk analytics to optimize our portfolio performance,” she said.
Technology That Shifts the Nature of Work
Across all of these examples, a common thread runs through the NextGen class’s responses: technology at its best is not a substitute for expertise or relationships, but a catalyst that elevates both.
Aaron Case put it plainly: “The combination of strong relationships and modern technology is what differentiates us. It allows us to move quickly without losing the personal element that matters in this business.”
Aileen BeVard described a shift in the nature of client conversations themselves: “Instead of starting with a fixed financing solution and relying on our tenure and existing knowledge, conversations begin with how a partner’s business is evolving and what they need to support evolution. It requires more creativity and flexibility but also creates stronger partnerships.”
As Quade Koffler observed, “In a relationship-driven business, speed and consistency create real value and strengthen long-term partnerships.” His firm’s AI-integrated underwriting workflow delivered on that promise: faster decisions, more reliable feedback, and a foundation for deeper partnership.
The message from Monitor’s NextGen Class of 2026 is clear. Technology is changing the industry faster than ever — but the leaders who will define its future are those who know how to use it without losing sight of what has always made equipment finance work: trust, responsiveness, and the willingness to genuinely understand and solve problems for the people they serve.