Information for remarketing
When a lease contract ends, an asset is returned to the manufacturer or is sold to the company or institution that leased it. In some cases, the asset is returned to DLL. Martijn de Wit is Global Manager Process & Infrastructure at the department that is concerned with managing and selling (remarketing) assets. He explains that good information provision is very important: "We can only properly estimate the market value of an asset if our information about it is complete. Additionally, information on the sales possibilities in various countries is important. Because naturally, it yields most when we sell our assets in the location where the price and conditions are most favourable."
Too many small tools
Throughout the years, the business units and countries developed or purchased tools themselves in order to store information on these assets and facilitate the process regarding the remarketing. De Wit: "The advantage of this was that these tools were often perfectly tailored to the processes and assets of that one business unit in that specific country. Unfortunately, the quality of the tools was very diverse and information could hardly (or not at all) be shared with other business units and/or countries. From the headquarters, we were only able to generate a complete overview of all our assets with the greatest difficulty. There had to be a better way."
One worldwide platform
DLL wanted one platform that would support the remarketing processes for all industries and business units worldwide and that would include all the information on all assets. And that was no easy feat. De Wit: "For a forklift, for instance, you record completely different information than for a copy machine. We wanted to standardise these processes wherever possible, but the platform also had to be flexible enough to provide customised work if needed."
Users determine the processes
DLL and Iquality organised user meetings with employees from all countries and industries. In those meetings, the processes regarding remarketing were first discussed. This was an important step according to De Wit: "By talking about the contents of the field, the differences but also the similarities became clear. The employees learned from each other and were able to recognise the central themes. A second advantage was that Iquality, thanks to these discussions, learned where the complexity lay. As a result, they were able to estimate why certain decisions would or wouldn't work during the development of the software.”
Work agile. Make sure you have a quick demo to present in the design phase. This allows you to quickly make discussions concrete. Moreover, it improves the quality of your feedback.
Martijn de Wit, Global Manager Process & Infrastructure DLL
A network of tools
It soon became clear that one tool for one generic process didn't offer a solution. That would not do justice to important details in which processes differed between the business units and countries. De Wit: "Iquality then suggested the platform. A network solution within which you perform the process steps in a different order for every business unit, country or asset type, without taking away from the global advantages of a tool. This does not only offer the necessary flexibility for the business units and countries, but we can also adjust or expand the various parts to new circumstances in the future (new asset types) without completely redoing the platform.”
Modern look and feel
The result is a web-based tool, with a modern look and feel, that offers the employees the same important functionalities as the dedicated tools they used first. Data of assets, manufacturers, contracts and such are all accessible, can be added and processed from multiple routes. Employees can also more easily look into each other's information. This simplifies both sales across borders and the sharing of knowledge. The platform works like a true community. Additionally, it's now much easier to generate overviews of assets from the headquarters. De Wit is very satisfied with Iquality's input in the entire process: "They haven't only thought about the IT aspects, but have also focused on the user-friendliness of the solution."
Replacing various platforms?
For organisations that also plan to replace all manner of separate tools with one platform, Martijn de Wit has a few tips: "Don't collect the requirements per business unit. Instead, create a user group in which all units are represented. Find a software supplier who is not only interested in technology, but also in the reason why processes are the way they are. Users request certain functionalities for a reason."
About DLL
DLL is a worldwide partner for financing solutions within the sectors: agriculture, food, healthcare, clean technology, automotive transport, construction, industry and office technology. We collaborate with manufacturers, dealers and distributors, so companies can purchase and use the business assets they need in order to contribute to the world. DLL delivers original, integrated financing solutions that support the life cycle of business assets, by means of leasing, vendor and commercial finance and remarketing. Additionally, we offer mobility solutions, work capital financing and private credits. Our 5,500 employees support partners in over 35 countries. DLL is a full daughter enterprise of the Rabobank Groep.
