Technology advancements impacting equipment dealers

As technological advancements continue in the equipment industry, dealers must navigate and integrate modern technology. 

Technology in equipment finance and the wider equipment industry continues to evolve, David Costa, chief technology officer of Kubota Credit, said during a panel on May 6 at Equipment Finance Connect 2024. 

“There’s a tremendous amount of change that’s coming and we can’t predict,” he said. “What we say is that [technology] costs are going to rise, but the trick is, how are we going to contain those costs that arise, scale it out and make it as less painful as we can for our dealers and bring them holistic solutions based on granularity.” 

Investing in technology adds to operational costs, but the potential return on investment makes it worthwhile, Tim Yalich, head of motor vehicle strategy at vehicle finance software provider Wolters Kluwer, told Equipment Finance News. 

“Businesses today have to manage their operational costs and infrastructure to make sure their margins are where they need to be so they can be successful,” he said. “Investing in technology, particularly technology that assists with pottage, are areas that they get immediate return from upon completion.” 

Dealer process automation 

Advancing technologies for dealers help with process automation and minimize burdens on salespeople, Eric Pettigrew, director of financial services at truck and trailer group Doggett Freightliner, said during the panel. 

“We’ve talked about being able to be faster and take a lot of the responsibility out of the salespeople’s hands,” he said. “The ability to get these guys a ticket, get them more hands-off and have them follow up for all this stuff, and it’s more automated … that’s a no-brainer.”  

Digital information and automation are key components to doing business today, Wolters Kluwer’s Yalich said. 

“The ability to leverage information and do automation in a digital arena is critical to success, whether it’s conducting business, getting a return on your investment, controlling your cost and overhead and expenses of doing business,” he said. “It’s all part of it.” 

Utilizing tech for compliance

Data security and data privacy are also key drivers for commercial equipment dealers adopting new technologies, Beckham Thomas, founder and chief executive of commercial equipment finance software provider TRNSACT, said during the panel. 

“Commercial equipment dealers now care more about compliance than they used to,” he said. Dealers are emphasizing FTC safeguards, identity theft protection, know your business, know your customer and money laundering requirements, Thomas said.  

“Our approach has been to enable dealers to not only efficiently drive customer and salesperson experience but receive a credit application or sensitive personal identifiable information and store them securely,” he said. “We then run an automated set compliance test utilizing third-party tools, like Experian, Equifax, and others to ensure that the dealer is able to check the box compliance regulations.”