White Paper

CONTINUOUS CHANGE AT YOUR SERVICE

Jo Wright Director of Client Services, Auto and Equipment Finance, FIS

To compete in asset finance, you need to keep changing

Why managed services make sense for asset finance software

Competition has never been tougher for asset finance firms. In a mature and saturated market, established and challenger banks, captives and independents must constantly find new ways to set themselves apart and grow market share.

However, in the drive to differentiate their services, firms face a common problem – there are only so many flavors of leasing product they can offer. The assets they finance may vary, from cars to medical equipment, but by nature the finance itself remains largely the same.

With a fairly homogenous set of options to choose from, why would customers favor one firm over another? Increasingly, the clincher is flexibility – not what you offer, but how you offer it.

You might want to make finance available less traditional credit checks. Or, in the age of Uber and Zipcar, you may look to offer subscription-based or pay-per-use services and support a shift away from long contracts toward shorter-term or shared use of assets.

The question is, does your asset finance platform have what it takes to support your next big differentiator, not only now but also in the future? To deliver flexibility and keep up with market change, you need a software delivery model that’s flexible and adaptable, too.

Flexibility matters

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Why stop evolving?

The more crowded and competitive it becomes, the less the asset finance market can afford to stand still. At the same time, regulatory requirements continue to develop and exert their own operational pressures.

Flexibility, in short, should run deep through the DNA of asset finance software. But all too often, the mission-critical platforms that power asset finance firms are simply too big and too complex to bend with speed to new or specialist demands.

In a tier one bank, an asset finance platform may have been built up over time, will interface with multiple external and internal systems and could be used by hundreds of relationship managers. All of which can increase the operational impact and overheads of adding to the platform or updating every three or four years.

Major implementation risksTraditionally, asset finance platform upgrades have resulted in huge, unpredictable spikes in costs. As well as breaking the budget, these major implementation projects tend to overrun, causing significant risk, downtime and disruption.

And if they don’t end in failure their completion might well come too late. After months spent securing the budget and managing the implementation, your latest version of the software could now be out of date.

For firms that must stay nimble to compete, this tired, risky delivery model stands squarely in the way of evolution.

Rise to modern challenges with advanced managed services Despite the continued prevalence of cumbersome asset finance platforms, the next generation of software delivery is emerging and undergoing its own evolution – the managed service.

There’s a lot of confusion about what managed services for software involve or what the term even means. So, let’s be clear – we’re talking about more than simply hosting a solution in the cloud.

Managed services host software almost as a matter of course, in a public or private cloud. Additionally, they can take care of all the infrastructure’s governance, control, security and compliance requirements.

But from hosting, the model has now evolved much further. Through application management services, for example, technology providers have assumed responsibility for managing, monitoring and deploying their software.

And with software as a service (SaaS), vendors offer a web-based version of their technology, which users can access immediately online – without a drawn-out setup process – and pay for on a subscription basis.

Leading services to the next levelCritically, though, the most advanced software services are now moving beyond the provision and management of IT infrastructure and even applications. Still for a simple recurring fee, managed services are crossing over from technical tasks into business processes.

For asset finance firms, that means constantly making sure that your software works exactly as it’s supposed to as users carry out their daily duties, from signing into the system and performing credit checks to entering contracts.

Most importantly, at the highest state of its evolution so far, the managed service can help asset finance firms more rapidly introduce change – through a strategy of “continuous deployment.”

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Taking time-consuming processes off your handsAs well as giving you ultimate flexibility, the move to continuous deployment model minimizes the impact of upgrades and bespoke development on your operations. It does so by running and testing the processes first from end to end at the vendor’s own development center, in a real-time environment that closely mirrors your own.

You may want to offer a new leasing, higher purchase or rental product; develop a new rate curve or credit decisioning workflow; or upgrade your whole platform to the latest generally available version. Either way, with continuous deployment, you can be sure the underlying processes will run smoothly and work as they should, before they go live for your customers.

As a result, you can continually and quickly incorporate changes into your production environment with minimal disruption to business as usual – and much less pressure on your internal resources.

And for a regular, totally predictable cost, you’ll constantly get more from your investment in asset finance software, while clearly setting your business apart from the competition.

Could managed services make sense for your asset finance business?Make flexibility part of your firm’s DNA with highly responsive managed services from FIS’ Ambit Asset Finance.

By taking advantage of our continuous deployment strategy, you can more rapidly implement change, meet your customers’ expectations and increase your competitive edge – without incurring unpredictable costs.

Email getinfo@fisglobal.com to find out more.

Change fast and stand out with continuous deployment Just like SaaS, continuous deployment comes as a managed service for a recurring monthly fee. Unlike SaaS, however, this innovative delivery model doesn’t tie you down to a single version of the vendor’s software – or uniformly deliver the same upgrades to all users at the same time.

Instead, continuous deployment works at your own pace to develop and deliver new functions and processes when you need them – however bespoke – and quickly add and support new products. Consequently, you can differentiate your services without lengthy implementation periods, associated risks or unexpected spikes in costs.

• A simple recurring monthly fee

• No hidden or unexpected costs

• Upgrades or bespoke changes on a regular basis

• Ability to introduce differentiating products and services with minimal disruption

• Fully managed, end-to-end testing services, including systems and integration testing (SIT) and user acceptance testing (UAT)

• Issues fixed before they hit the system

• Secure, controlled, compliant hosting in the cloud

• Ongoing management of change control, patching, vulnerability checking and firewalls

Why choose continuous deployment for asset finance software?

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About FISFIS is a global leader in financial services technology, with a focus on retail and institutional banking, payments, asset and wealth management, risk and compliance, consulting and outsourcing solutions. Through the depth and breadth of our solutions portfolio, global capabilities and domain expertise, FIS serves more than 20,000 clients in over 130 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS employs more than 53,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing, financial software and banking solutions. Providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that empowers the financial world, FIS is a Fortune 500 company and is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500® Index. For more information about FIS, visit www.fisglobal.com

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