The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association announced Chicago Freight Car Leasing Co. (CFCL), a Sasser Family Company, is the recipient of the 2021 Operations and Technology Excellence Award. The award-winning project will be showcased during ELFA’s Operations and Technology Conference LIVE! on Sept. 14.

“For nearly two decades, ELFA’s Operations and Technology Excellence Award has led the way in recognizing the innovative use of technology in equipment finance,” said ELFA President and CEO Ralph Petta. “Today the spirit of this award is more important than ever as our industry competes in a rapidly changing world. We are honored to recognize CFCL as this year’s winner and we congratulate all our award applicants for their noteworthy achievements.”

The CFCL business and Sasser technology teams are recognized for creating and developing Rail360, a proprietary, scalable, web-based application that provides a 360-degree view of the company’s fleet of railcars. The new solution is an integrated information system that combines CFCL customer and fleet data, making comprehensive information readily available, simplifying its management and eliminating the need for CFCL personnel to access multiple, disparate systems.

The solution connects accounting, asset management and customer management software to the new operations application. Rail360 increases both the effectiveness and efficiency of fleet management by allowing the CFCL team to see mileage, repairs, assets, leases, customers and real-time equipment tracking data in one place. CFCL’s repair shop portal and Sasser’s Open API extend Rail360, facilitating seamless and expedient data exchange and enabling direct integrations with customer systems. Rail360 exemplifies technology that supports a complex business process across organizational boundaries, enhances customers’ experience, and drives value through improved information.

“We are pleased to highlight the achievements of the 2021 Operations & Technology Excellence Award winner,” said Tawnya Stone, Vice President, Strategic Technology at GreatAmerica Financial Services and Subcommittee Chair for the award. “CFCL deserves recognition for their winning solution that enhanced their efficiency, customer service and employee productivity. We look forward to hearing their story at ELFA’s Operations and Technology Conference LIVE! in September.”

Information about ELFA’s Operations and Technology Conference LIVE! on Sept. 14, where the winning project will be showcased, is available at www.elfaonline.org/events/2021/OT/.

The Operations and Technology Excellence Award recognizes equipment 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. More information about the award and a list of previous winners is available at www.elfaonline.org/about/awards/OTE.