Conducting Wholesale Floorplan Finance Business with Alfa Systems

In this article, Project Manager Turner Parlin discusses Alfa Systems' class-leading wholesale functionality and how it supports automotive finance businesses, using examples from current implementations.

Introduction

A single platform for all your asset and auto finance transactions, the always-on Alfa Systems supports the full customer and dealer journey. But it also offers the industry’s standout solution for wholesale floorplan business, selected time after time by the leading operators.

Alfa Systems manages the entire unit lifecycle for wholesale floorplan financing. Delivered to dealers, distributors, auditors and finance providers via a customizable user interface and authority model, Alfa Systems for wholesale floorplan finance enables complicated and costly high-volume business processes to be handled with minimum effort.

In addition to our existing clients, we recently went live with one major European asset finance provider and are implementing with two of the largest providers of wholesale finance in the US.

Looking after your dealers

One of Alfa’s wholesale clients, a tier 1 provider in the US, works with over 4,000 franchise and independent dealers. Another key customer works with tens of thousands of independent dealers across the US. We’re currently implementing our wholesale solution with both, and are on track for phased go-lives starting in Q1 next year. Alfa Systems supports the product sets required by their dealers, including commercial loans, retail commission, cash accounts, interest-offset accounts and dealer reserves.

Dealer credit management facilities can be configured to pay out automatically, while custom fees can be generated automatically on key stock lifecycle events. Automated functionality for netting against invoices due ensures that dealer payments are dealt with efficiently. Through payment interfaces, you have the ability to perform dealer trades and transfers in bulk - not one by one, as other systems on the market would have you achieve this.

Single system

The value of running your wholesale or floorplan finance business on Alfa Systems is considerable. Our clients often consolidate an array of existing systems, utilities and workarounds, creating a highly simplified systems landscape Those who also onboard a retail portfolio enjoy a single view of retail and wholesale, and are able to net wholesale transactions off against each automatically. Only when you are using a single platform can the same vehicle in wholesale become a contract in your retail business.

As a true single solution, having every asset and contract and all the cash in one place also improves risk management.

Integration

Through sophisticated interfaces and its comprehensive API, Alfa Systems uses leading-edge technology to provide a high level of integration with other systems. 

If Alfa Systems won’t be your wider enterprise solution, you can integrate its wholesale back-office capabilities with your own front- and middle-office solution, using Alfa Digital Gateway. Read more in Extensible Platform.

Working through Covid

One of Alfa Systems’ key strengths is to support rapidly changing situations, such as when our clients need to work in an agile way during the coronavirus pandemic. Alfa Systems can respond to your needs quickly and easily.

During the pandemic, a major global bank migrated its wholesale and retail portfolios onto Alfa Systems. They were able to use Alfa’s out-of-the-box features to pivot and quickly give their dealers maximum support; for example, by extending manufacturer interest-free periods. The client was able to do this for thousands of contracts, through the API.

Automation

Wholesale in Alfa Systems incorporates high levels of automation, especially mass or bulk changes, including for interest rates, capital repayments/installments (curtailments) and contract restructuring. Workflow and business rules provide excellent support in configuring your business processes to take place automatically without human input, wherever that is possible.

Managing your inventory

Alfa Systems provides support for all asset types, as well as specialized automotive functionality such as integration with external asset guides. Advanced inventory management capabilities are supported through bulk uploads, unit transfers and automated workflow unit additions, with inspection capabilities for floorplan checks also provided. As with all aspects of Alfa, a full audit trail is generated for all transactions. Asset management includes location, inspections, title status and valuation history.

Unlike other systems on the market, clients can use Alfa Systems to achieve goals within their portfolio flexibly, at the unit, loan or dealer level. Similarly, there is particular value in Alfa Systems’ ability to perform complicated backdated adjustments, again to the unit level, allowing the backdating of changes across the portfolio by months if necessary. This was also very relevant when the pandemic was having a profound effect on business; for one customer, the interest-free periods on some loans had expired, but they were able to perform backdated restructures to extend them, refunding the customers any interest that had been invoiced and paid.

Funding requests can take place before stock is in place, meaning your business can still pay suppliers and account for the payments even if there are delays in booking the contracts. As with all of Alfa Systems’ functionality, this is designed to scale to tens of thousands of units a day of throughput.

Other functionality

• Bulletproof accounting engine 
• Support for multiple bank accounts
• Configurable reports, such as a consolidated dealer statement presented only to authorized users

Trusted by top providers worldwide, the Alfa Systems cloud platform with expansive API lets you automate, innovate and challenge in your market.