Broker portal integration with core leasing software
Author Simona Skorupskaite
Leasing companies are looking at how to optimize their workload and increase efficiency as much as possible. Giving a self-service option to customers and partners is one way to speed up service and organize employee work in a productive way. In this blog I will introduce a simplified way to utilize a portal for leasing brokers.
As per our customers’ experience, for each dealer application a broker portal can save up to 20 minutes of leasing company employee work!
WHAT
A broker portal is used to improve the level of broker contribution to the asset financing procedure. Broker associated activities to some extent depend on lessee strategies, but the most frequently used are submitting quotes and applications, reviewing financing progression, and submitting and transferring documents. Thus, any financing company that integrates broker activities into its business processes should be interested in providing a productive environment for its brokers. As a result, employing a user-friendly portal benefits business from the standpoint of both quantity and quality.
WHY
Why and how does a broker portal improve business efficiency? First of all, it saves time. By using a portal, brokers become self-serving. There is no need to contact a financier to update applications or to get information about terms, rates or fees. By using a well-designed and integrated portal, financiers reduce the time spent communicating with brokers. Secondly, the financing process becomes straightforward. A traditional broker-to-financier connection cannot be imagined without loads of emails, phone calls and paper documents, which all lead to missing information or miscommunication. The financier service level increases with a broker portal because everybody is connected to the same data source. And no one can blame another for human mistakes and mismatches.
HOW
To implement a broker portal, Soft4Leasing decided to go for NAV Web client with a special broker profile. Why do we separate the broker profile from others like the back-office, finance or credit management profiles? The main reason is that brokers need access to a very simplified Soft4Leasing functionality. So in general, ‘portal’ developing involved designing and constructing a new profile, permissions and restrictions. We organized the following features for the dealer set:
- From the web client, brokers can access their own quotes, applications and contracts. In addition, brokers get detailed information only about their own suppliers, customers and insurers.
Picture 1. Broker Web Portal Printscr
- Brokers are fully enabled to capture customer, asset, and financing details, and therefore to submit applications. They can also follow how an application is being processed by a financier, including approval conditions, documentation and disbursement procedures. In this way they get a feeling of being involved in controlling the financing process.
Picture 2. Application Printscr
- We called the other useful function Quick Calculation. It is a non-contract related lease amount calculator with which various financing conditions from the lessee available programs can be quickly evaluated. It may seem like a modest idea, but the idea of implementing the calculator was to prevent brokers from experimenting with actual applications.
One final thing that completes the broker-to-financier connection through a portal is … instructions! Even if a broker portal contains only basic functionality and brokers are restricted from making any critical steps, instructions still offer the best way to competently link both dealer and lessee activities.
BONUS FROM SOFT4
The final and very important thing is a little outside the technical features. Previously, in order to access a web client, a financing company had to redeem a full license for every broker connecting to the system. This can be very demanding for widely operating leasing companies, cooperating with many brokers. There are 2 pieces of good news though: 1. The licenses are concurrent, meaning that the system checks how many users are connected to the system at one time (concurrent user license); 2. Soft4Leasing brokers are eligible for a Limited User license, which is several times less expensive than the Full User license needed for the back-office employees.
This is a great option for SMB leasing and asset finance companies. Large companies should still calculate whether it is more cost-effective to launch a standard broker portal or to use the web client from Soft4Leasing.