The Alta Group is offering a complimentary five-page summary of its 2018 benchmarking survey and analysis on the pace of digitalization in the asset finance industry produced collaboratively by consultants in North America, Latin America and Europe.

John Rizzi, leader of Alta’s Digital Business Advisory Practice in the U.S., wrote an exclusive article for Monitor, which highlights key points from the study,  Digital Transformation: Is the Equipment Finance Industry Falling Behind?

Rizzi said, “There are organizations that have recognized the disruptive nature of digitalization and have or are in the process of transforming their business models in substantive ways. However, the research suggests that these are in the minority. Many respondents who fully embraced the change to digital business models recognize that measured success will lead to more widespread adoption.”

Fintechs have spurred competitive pressures, but another key driver of digitalization in the equipment leasing and finance industry is the fact that customers are increasingly influenced by such consumer digital services as Amazon and Netflix. This is raising service expectations.

Indeed, 77% of survey respondents reported their digitalization strategy is mostly focused on the front end, but they are dealing with multiple constraints. These include current legacy systems, mentioned by 90%; recruiting or lack of skills needed, the second most-widely reported constraint and challenges posed by the need to re-engineer business processes, mentioned by 84%. Some also noted misalignments with partners or vendors.

“It was interesting to note that digitalization appears to have had the widest impact on customer facing aspects of the business such as improving service and meeting customer expectations,” said Rizzi.

Respondents were also asked whether their company infrastructure enabled them to gather data, participate in a wider digital ecosystem and exploit new technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain.

“It was also notable that relatively few respondents reported that digitalization had significantly impacted business key performance indicators (KPIs), though it was apparent that many felt it was too soon to tell,” he added.

The summary also includes an offer to purchase the entire study along with consulting services to benchmark your organization to the study data.

The study itself, Benchmarking the Pace of Digitalization in the Asset Finance Industry, provides 25 pages of comprehensive details about the industry’s digitalization drivers, barriers, technologies of interest and investments, gathered from survey results and interviews.

It was completed by Rizzi; Richard Ryan, The Alta Group-EMEA (Invigors); John Hurt, The Alta Group – US and Roberto Fernandez, The Alta Group – Latin American Region.