Why nothing stops managed services for asset finance software

In the midst of a global pandemic, auto and equipment finance providers have needed systems they could count on like never before.

While whole countries locked down and some businesses shut up shop, managed services for financial software kept calm and carried on.

The strain on asset finance organizations, has been enormous, with new key risks to manage and decisions to make at unprecedented speeds.

In days, not weeks, 95 percent of many workforces had to switch to working full-time from home. That’s a huge undertaking – and managed services played a major role in helping front- and back-office staff alike access their web-enabled asset finance platforms away from the office.

But managed services are about more than hosting software securely in the cloud and delivering it straight to desktops, laptops or mobile devices. Here are four reasons why there’s no better operating model in a crisis – or even for business as usual.

1. One partner manages multiple relationships

In our home lives, wouldn’t it be great if one firm could take care of all our domestic responsibilities – utilities, internet, TV, even repairing the refrigerator or fitting a carpet?

That’s how a managed service works for asset finance software, with a single technology provider managing the fabric of doing business on your behalf, meeting all your hosting, governance, control, security and compliance requirements – and deploying and monitoring the application day to day.

2. Systems run around the clock

It’s never been more important to keep technology up and running – and managed services stick to strict service level agreements (SLAs) for platform availability and performance. So, while self-service channels operate 24/7, your staff will also be able to access your asset finance platform and serve customers efficiently throughout their working day, In the current pandemic, FIS has been able to guarantee our Ambit Asset Finance clients availability SLAs around the world.

3. Flexibility doesn’t come at a cost

As part of their delivery framework, managed services allow asset finance firms to easily scale their platform up and down to requirements while controlling overhead. If you double or halve your business volumes, you’ll therefore know exactly how much the extra infrastructure and resources will cost – and will only pay for the infrastructure you need, when you need it.

For multinational organizations, a global platform can be delivered in regional “clusters.” This allow countries with similar business models and processing requirements to onboard their data more efficiently and cost-effectively – without duplicating development work.

4. Innovation never ends

For a truly flexible new asset finance platform, get a managed service with “continuous deployment.” By allowing you to quickly incorporate innovative changes into your production environment and test new processes from end to end, this software delivery model will help you meet customers’ evolving expectations and differentiate your services, while reducing pressure on internal resources.

Continuous deployment has allowed asset finance firms to continue developing their platforms throughout the COVID-19 crisis. And with the cluster model, global organizations have been able to easily prioritize or delay the deployment of new instances in different regions, too, according to the local business need.

Crisis? What crisis?

Even in normal times, there will always be operational challenges for asset finance firms to face; it’s how you react to those challenges that matters.

That’s all in a day’s work for managed services, which will adapt to whatever the world throws at them and won’t even let a pandemic touch the sides.

So, whatever the crisis, you can potentially immunize your operations to the impact.