Assilea: Data management to prepare for the future
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First music, videos cars, and now designer duds and furnishings, too – today you can have everything without owning anything. Another cultural shift prompted by the entry of Millennials and Gen Z-ers into the marketplace on the one hand, and the general socio-economic evolution on the other. With globalisation, distances shortening, and a much more “fluid” job market, comes a drop in the societal value of ownership, no longer considered a status symbol.
If your job requires you to be on the go, owning a home is no longer very attractive. Why purchase furniture, elegant clothes, or a car when you just need them occasionally, or short-term?
ASSILEA, the Italian Leasing Association, has borne witness to these trends. ASSILIEA represents leasing companies within industry organisations. In 2019, the Association noted a spike in long-term car leases and operational-leasing contracts. Financial-leasing rates have stayed largely the same.*
In addition to its institutional role as a liaison in both the public and private sectors, ASSILEA works on behalf of its members by sponsoring research and studies, and producing programming aimed at raising awareness in the market about leasing options.
It was with these goals and this market in mind that ASSILEA turned to Intesa (IBM Group) to create a “Leasing Database” to collect data on individual lease transactions from its members, thereby creating a record of parties, contracts, assets, and guarantees. As data is entered, a special observatory on leasing contract performance, as well as their position and evolution over time, will be created.
In a recent interview with Digital4Executive, Luigi Macchiola, General Director for ASSILEA, explained the history of their partnership with Intesa, which began with the creation of the “Central Database on Risks”. “That experience helped us understand the importance of a database, not just from a credit-score perspective, but also as a market-research tool. Now, our dream is to create a single platform on which to register leasing and rental/hire agreements, as well as to create a database for assets. Once all this information has been pulled together, we will be able to better meet the needs of our members. Intesa has provided invaluable support on this database project for over twenty years; they are indispensable partner in technology for us”.
A single platform into which members can not only enter data on the contracts they have signed, but review data in the system, with a special focus on user-friendliness. As Mr Macchiola puts it: “We needed a responsive interface because information only has meaning and value if you can access it easily and on-the-go, using any device, and from any location. The key is to find information quickly, easily, and securely”.
According to Mr Macchiola, technology has played a crucial role in precisely this arena: data security. Technology will therefore play a central role as the Association moves forward, on the heels of its blockchain technology project. Predictive algorithms are the natural continuation of the work they have done so far: “We have already identified certain predictive algorithms and conducted some analyses on data in our databases with data extrinsic to the platform, from GDP to local macro-economic data. We aren’t just seeking a snapshot of our current situation, or our past – we are looking toward the future”.
* Source: 2020 Lease Press Release https://bebeez.it/files/2020/01/2.-Comunicato-stampa-Lease-2020.pdf
