The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) announced that its 2013 Operations and Technology Excellence Award will go to two companies: TCF Equipment Finance, Inc., and SunPower Corporation. The winners were selected by a subcommittee of ELFA members and will be showcased during ELFA’s Operations and Technology Conference, Sept. 9-10 at the Hilton Austin in Austin, Texas.

“TCF Equipment Finance, Inc. and SunPower Corporation demonstrated the power of business and technology alignment in action. Their focus on business outcomes coupled with innovative approaches to technology application enabled them to break new ground in the area of leasing and equipment finance systems and processes,” said Deborah Reuben, Senior Product Manager and Equipment Finance Industry Principal, Linedata Lending and Leasing, and Committee Chair for the award. “Both winners are inspiring examples of the innovative spirit of the ELFA Operations and Technology Excellence Award.”

“ELFA is pleased to showcase innovative uses of technology in the equipment finance industry,” said William G. Sutton, CAE, ELFA President and CEO. “The best practices demonstrated by TCF Equipment Finance, Inc., and SunPower Corporation serve as a model on the effective use of technology in our industry, and further demonstrate how ELFA members are ‘Equipping Business for Success.’”

TCF Equipment Finance is recognized for applying technology to automate its end-of-lease management process. TCFEF selected Odessa Technologies to perform a business process analysis of their end-of-lease management functions and to develop and implement an integrated workflow-based system. Using Odessa’s integrated LeaseWave End-of-Lease Management system, TCFEF fully automated key functions, resulting in numerous operational efficiencies and productivity gains. Allowing TCFEF’s end-of-lease team to carry out its work on a singular, integrated platform has led to better overall controls and process management. The solution has enabled efficiency, scalability and management controls, and provided a single repository of data that supports tracking and reporting. 

SunPower Corp. is recognized for using technology to achieve an innovative, financier-friendly approach to its residential solar leasing operations. SunPower implemented a portfolio management application to build and deploy a multi-layer disaster recovery solution on a SSAE16-compliant, cloud-based environment across multiple geographic locations. This was followed by hiring a global business process outsourcing company to manage the operations on the application. The result is a flexible, globally scalable and cost-effective operating model that enables SunPower to mitigate unique risks associated with the growing residential solar leasing market.

The Operations & Technology Excellence Award identifies and recognizes equipment leasing and finance companies that have demonstrated best practices in developing and implementing innovative uses of technology or creative business processes to improve operations, enhance customer interactions, enter new markets and build overall ROI. The program brings the backroom to the foreground, spotlighting the best in the industry as an example for others.

Previous Operations & Technology Excellence Award winners include:

• 2012: LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. and AIG Commercial Asset Finance
• 2011: First American Equipment Finance and ICON Capital Corporation
• 2010: Winthrop Resources Corporation
• 2009: Key Equipment Finance, PHH Arval
• 2008: Orion First Financial LLC, Trinity Industries Leasing Co.
• 2007: TCF Equipment Finance, California First National Bancorp, and Xerox Capital Services
• 2006: Farm Credit Leasing
• 2005: Sytx Capital, Relational LLC
• 2004: Cisco Systems Capital Corporation
• 2003: AgStar Financial Services, National Leasing Group
• 2002: ABB Financial Services, IBM Global Financing, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation