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MINNEAPOLIS, MN, January 11, 2005 – International Decision Systems
(IDS), the
standard-setting market leader in equipment financing software
and service solutions,
announced today that Komatsu Financial Limited Partnership
(KFLP) has selected
Rapport™ to streamline its lease origination and credit processing.
KFLP is the finance
division of Komatsu America Corp., the North American operation
of one of the world’s
largest manufacturers of construction, mining and utility
equipment. Founded in 1983,
KFLP currently administers a retail portfolio of $1.2 billion
and has 60 employees.
The primary driver for choosing Rapport was “dramatic volume growth
in
recent years, as we diversified and expanded from our core
business in large-ticket
equipment into compact and utility-sized smaller-ticket equipment,” according
to Bill
Fruland, Komatsu Financial’s Vice President, Finance Sales and Credit
Administration.
While volumes increased for KFLP, average transaction size
decreased, resulting
in the desire to automate for efficiency rather than add
staff. With the current, in-housedeveloped
front-end system, credit scoring has been performed manually,
since volumes
didn’t historically justify an off-the-shelf credit-scoring system.
“We went to the drawing board with IDS and looked at what we were
doing and
why,” said Fruland. “We brought in representatives from every
business unit to uncover
bottlenecks. IDS arranged a visit to another client that
implemented Rapport, and it
became apparent to us what the improved productivity would
be – in addressing the
entire front-end process.”
According to Gary Rose, Rapport Product Marketing Manager
for IDS, the main
goals KFLP and IDS identified were to:
- Achieve a streamlined origination
and credit process that will save staff time
and increase productivity;
- Automatically pull information from credit bureaus and scoring
tools utilized
by Komatsu;
- Eliminate manual spreadsheets and redundant
data entry steps, saving time
and reducing risk of error;
- Integrate with the web-enabled
application accessed by Komatsu dealers for
submitting applications and pricing.
“We are very excited about Rapport,” said Fruland, who expects
to achieve
competitive advantages as well as efficiency benefits from
the implementation when it is
completed late this year. “Since our dealer organization has the ability
to use any
finance source, not just KFLP, we are looking to Rapport
to give us the ability to get
answers quickly and close more deals.”
Carol Renn, Manager, MIS, added that Komatsu has used IDS’s InfoLease
backoffice
system since 1993 and has found IDS to be “tremendously helpful in
bringing us
up to speed on their new offerings, and in helping us realize
efficiency and improve
business practices. Their support staff is second to none.”
Introduced in 2002 and recently upgraded with significant
new functionality,
Rapport has been selected by more than 20 companies, including
Sterling Financial
Corp., BB&T Leasing Corp., Highline Capital Corp., and ADP Credit Corp.,
to increase
the efficiency of their lease/loan processing from origination
through booking. While it
can be fully integrated with a range of back-office systems,
the teaming of Rapport with
ProFiniaTM, the asset-centric lease/loan accounting system
from IDS, forms a powerful,
highly customizable solution suite that promotes increased
productivity and return on
asset (ROA) across the enterprise. IDS’s expert Professional Services
team offers a full
range of client support, including a complete migration strategy
to minimize the cost
and risk associated with conversion to these solutions.
About International Decision Systems
International Decision Systems (IDS) is the global leader
in developing lease/loan
accounting and portfolio management software and services.
Headquartered in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, IDS also has offices in London,
Sydney, and Singapore. IDS
offers the largest and most experienced global consulting,
implementation, and technical
support teams in the equipment financing industry. For
additional information about
International Decision Systems, visit www.idsgrp.com.
Media Contacts:
Deb Marshall, IDS Marketing Director, 612-851-3438, dmarshall@idsgrp.com
Konajilo Luseni, Makovsky & Co., Inc., 212-508-9684, kluseni@makovsky.com
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