INNOVATION – BEST COMPANY IN EQUIPMENT FINANCE
Reimagine Advisors isn’t just an innovative company; it’s a company that helps other companies become innovative themselves. Launched in 2020 by Denis Stypulkoski, a long-time equipment finance executive with past roles at TIAA Bank, EverBank Commercial Finance, Tygris Commercial Finance, US Express Leasing and more, Reimagine Advisors’ entire business model is built on consulting clients on how to reimagine their businesses, embrace digitalization and innovate with intention.
So, what does a company built on fueling its clients’ innovation think is most critical to successful innovation? Leadership. “Leadership is the No. 1 requirement to create a culture of innovation and drive an exceptional digital first experience for customers and associates,” Stypulkoski says. “Without the engagement and commitment from the senior-most leaders to embrace the concepts and role model the required behaviors, organizations fulfill nothing more than ‘innovation theater’ by speaking the speak without walking the walk.”
Although Reimagine Advisors believes true innovation starts at the leadership level, the company also focuses on three key elements of innovation: culture, structure and process. To help address these core areas, Reimagine Advisors works with its clients to transform their legacy operations into agile business models that embrace design thinking, product
lifecycle management and intentional innovation.
Reimagine Advisors works with a wide range of businesses within its client base. From companies with fewer than 100 employees to ones with a workforce in the thousands and assets of more than $150 billion, Reimagine Advisors fuels innovation for companies across the direct lending, vendor finance and service provider industries. However, despite such a plethora of clients, Reimage Advisors stays true to its innovation ethos, helping companies evaluate their current business strategy and take inventory of their skills and assets before assisting them in incorporating a digital-first and intentionally innovative approach to transforming their operating models, resulting in extraordinary customer and associate experiences.
To ensure effective client relationships and outcomes, for every engagement, Reimagine Advisors establishes an “innovation funnel” and develops key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the flow of ideas through the funnel, using lessons from both successes and failures derived from those ideas to dictate the way forward. When establishing KPIs for each client, Reimagine Advisors makes sure such indicators effectively measure the experience of customers and associates as well as the business results of the client itself.
“At Reimagine Advisors, the success of our innovation advisory services is measured through our clients’ successes,” Stypulkoski says. “Currently, every one of our client relationships is now a repeat relationship, strongly indicating the value of our services.” In addition to its individual client focus, Reimagine Advisors is also focused on industry transformation, particularly in the equipment finance sector. Carrying its “break the box” thinking into any engagement, Stypulkoski (and Reimagine Advisors, by extension) has been hard at work with his colleagues on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Innovation Advisory Council in pushing the conversation forward about the potential creation of a digital ecosystem built on industry standards for equipment finance. An impassioned champion for the cause, Stypulkoski believes that such an ecosystem could improve business efficiency and customer outcomes, among many other benefits — and he’s not alone. A standards-based digital ecosystem is a top agenda item for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Innovation Advisory Council in 2024.
“Creating a culture of innovation does not start by mandate; it begins by creating a vision and inspiring a movement, followed by deliberate and steady steps toward shaping that vision by involving your people — in your company or in our industry — the essence of human centered design,” Stypulkoski says. •
