If you are one of those who had the pleasure (or pain) of watching Black Mirror’s interactive movie Bandersnatch, you might have experienced the thrill (or the irritation) of making choices and watching how your choices lead you to different and often dangerous consequences.
At the risk of sounding redundant, it is pretty obvious that choices we make, especially those made on a business or a strategy level, can make or break it for the entire org. When businesses or organizations venture into device financing, the risk vs. rewards factored in is huge. In one of our previous articles, we exclusively discussed how device financing risk management (DFRM) platforms help telecom carriers and finance companies. The need for DFRM is well-established, and if you aren’t already looking for a DFRM platform while extending device financing, you should consider doing it right away.
Opting for the right DFRM platform is critical since it directly impacts your organization’s ability to effectively manage the risks involved in device financing and aids in ensuring that your business stays profitable (which, if you aren’t worried about in 2023, you should be).
In this article, we will discuss the key must-haves you should consider while choosing your organization’s device financing risk management platform.
1. Features and Functionalities
You know the drill. Any platform is only as good as its features. While pricing and support are critical elements for platform adoption (especially for a DFRM platform where the user knowledge is just starting to pick up), finding the platform that aligns with your business needs is the first thing you should be worried about.
This includes the types of OS supported, the OS versions supported and having the right set of features to execute key functions such as credit scoring, instant fraud detection, fraud prevention, payment recovery and data reporting and analytics.
2. Integrations
Since DFRM is not the only tool you will be deploying, you should attest to how well it sits with your other systems and processes. Ensuring that your DFRM is integrable with your accounting software, your CRM and whether or not it has OEM-level integrations with the device manufacturers for which you primarily want to open device financing is the key.
This will ensure that your workflows are not patchy, your employees do not have to beat their heads around manual data migration and your customers continue to enjoy the same UX as earlier.
An ideal DFRM platform should also present a strong API that can integrate into your existing systems or web applications via webhooks and SDKs.
3. Scalability
One of the integral characteristics of thriving businesses and business models is their ability to evolve and grow. When choosing a DFRM platform, it is essential to evaluate whether it is scalable. The best way to know is to look over the historical data of how and when the platform has shipped features, the typical turnaround times for building a new feature and what is the overall approach of its product owners in solving customer problems.
Your chosen DFRM platform should be scalable and this can be determined by assessing the platform for the following:
- How elastic is it to support dynamic needs; can it scale up or down based on needs for data storage and security?
- How well will it serve when its user base continues to grow?
- How does it handle unexpected outages, and does it have a strong fall-back mechanism?
- What is the infrastructure that it is built on? Is it modern?
- Does it offer APIs to accommodate a growing ecosystem of developers and partners?
- And the most important of them all, does it maintain performance without impacting speed and security?
4. Compliance
DFRM platform is mostly used by banking institutions, financial organizations and telecom carriers, all of which undergo regular and stringent compliance checks. Ensuring that the platform is relevant to regulatory requirements and policies is one of the major deal breakers when choosing the right DFRM platform.
Read More: Benefits of Device Financing Risk Management for Smartphone Financing
5. Customer support and success
Customer support is key to the successful adoption of any SaaS platform, and rightly so. When choosing a DFRM platform, look at how well it looks after its platform adoption via demos and training and how far along is the support available. Typically, these questions can be answered by your dedicated account manager, but online review sites such as G2 and Capterra can also be a good indicator of customer satisfaction.
6. Cost
With shrinking budgets and businesses trying to cut corners as much as possible to extend their runways, it would be silly to say that cost does not matter. An important consideration while choosing a DFRM platform—you should be looking not only for a competitively priced product but also the transparency of its pricing plan, whether or not it has hidden charges that could add up to the overall expenditure.
Closing lines…
When businesses walk into the unknown and uncharted territory of device financing, having the right DFRM platform to make the journey profitable is imperative. And while this is a serious decision, considering the abovementioned points can be pragmatic.
