National Leasing launched the third and final phase of its new core system, a multi-year, in-house project. The project, internally coined as FELIX, kicked off more than five years ago with the mission to build something tailored to the company’s processes and streamline internal systems to improve efficiency.

“We knew building our own, completely customized core leasing system from scratch would be a significant feat – something other companies wouldn’t consider attempting,” said Arthur Anhalt, vice president of IT. “But thanks to the smart, creative minds and innovation-focused culture at National Leasing, we were able to deliver a state-of-the-art new system that will truly benefit our customers and employees into the future.”

The scope of the project was incredibly complex, which prompted National Leasing’s team to take an Agile Development approach from early on.

“The Agile approach has helped us work together to build a large software system in smaller pieces, one iteration at a time,” said Todd Neil, manager, Business Technology. “It’s worked really well for us, because we’re able to get valuable feedback from stakeholders and improve the quality of the system as we go. We still work from an overall plan, but this approach allows us to pivot and adapt as we come across unforeseen obstacles, which helps us produce the right software system for our business in the end.”

The Agile approach proved to be a good fit as the team conquered each milestone and continued to see successes through to the final phase.

“This latest phase of our new system will bring quicker turnaround times for our customers and a simplified user experience for our broker partners,” Anhalt said. “Its enhanced framework also provides the opportunity for future updates, including more self-serve technology options for our customers. This wasn’t just an IT project. It was a business project. Throughout the years, every department and every part of our business have been involved in ensuring the project’s success. From business leads analyzing processes to create synergies to subject matter experts providing valuable feedback, this project was a great achievement thanks to everyone behind it.”

The final phase of this core system replacement represents the end of an era for National Leasing, but also the beginning of new ventures that Anhalt is eager to see take shape.

“If our team is capable of pulling off a project of this magnitude, I can’t wait to be part of the cutting-edge ideas they’ll take on next.”

National Leasing, Canada’s largest and longest-running equipment financing company, currently helps more than 65,000 Canadian businesses secure the equipment they need to help their business grow and offers a full range of financing services to commercial, agriculture, construction, transportation, forestry, health care, golf and turf equipment sellers.