AI for IF? Do this first.
There’s no doubt that AI offers rich possibilities for specialist finance providers. But something that’s rarely spoken about in conversations around AI is whether businesses are ready to innovate.
As an IF provider, what do you need to be thinking about before you introduce AI into your lending operations?
Simple: data.
AI innovation begins with good data
To get any value from LLMs or machine learning algorithms, your business data needs to be in order. This isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’. Data hygiene is an essential precursor to tapping into the opportunities AI offers invoice finance businesses.
These opportunities include automated risk monitoring. Simpler credit applications. Streamlined lending decisions. Liberation from admin to help your team manage more clients without increasing headcount.
But without good data, it’s not possible. Worse, when your data is spread across systems, the use of AI can actively complicate your operations. Adding layers of data complexity; generating ‘insights’ that you cannot trust.
So what does good data hygiene look like in practice? Three things: 1) knowing what data to capture; 2) making sure it’s recorded accurately and updated regularly; 3) centralising that data in one or as few systems as possible.
Banking data, risk scores, performance metrics – if it matters to your business and you want to apply AI to it, it needs a strategic data approach. No data duplication, no fragmented silos.
Data hygiene: the new business essential
Imagine a busy factory floor. Ageing machinery is causing increasing unscheduled downtime. You lack the modern tools to tender for big new contracts. Yet the contracted work that you do have keeps you busy enough to prevent you from addressing your ageing production lines. Month by month, your work begins to dry up.
But if you could hit pause, you could conduct a strategic audit of your factory floor. Update your machinery to reflect the way your industry has evolved. Make sure you have the right tools to win new business. Futureproof your company.
Effective data management works the same way. It unlocks significant business benefits even before you implement AI. The right data in the right systems enables you to streamline operations. Better track performance. Ensure your short-term goals match your long-term strategy.
So what’s stopping IF lenders from realising the benefits of effective data management? Outdated systems. Patchy information spread across multiple platforms. And a lack of knowledge. Bringing order to data can be hard without the right approach.
Put your data to work with Dancerace
Consolidating lenders’ data and workflows into one space has been a key part of our mission over the past five years at Dancerace.
Today, our flexible, powerful platform has evolved to support lenders’ onboarding, operations and risk activities. Your products, decisioning, risk monitoring – it all lives in one central place, fuelled by an intelligent data ecosystem. One platform not just for observing your data, but for acting on it.
It’s also designed to flex to the nuances of your individual business. Select from a variety of lending products or combine them to make hybrid products. Configure your fees and operational workflows. Fine-tune your approach to debtor management and collection cycles. It’s an intelligent consolidation of data and business systems, with shared visibility across your team.
Our belief is that by bringing your data and operations into one platform, lenders like you can build the IF businesses of the future by spending less time managing multiple systems and more time innovating and delivering borrower value.
Of course, change can be daunting. That’s why we’ve evolved the service side of Dancerace too, bringing in IF professionals to work alongside our technology experts to provide consultancy, migration, implementation and training support. We champion your growth and make sure our platform is configured to support your strategic goals. And if you don’t know what they are, we can help with that, too. Our clients think of us as partners – here to tap into the opportunities presented by new tech in a way that’s secure, compliant and non-disruptive.
What could our new technology do for your business?
If you haven't seen the Dancerace platform in the last six months, let us help you get acquainted with powerful new tools. Get in touch for a no-obligation walkthrough of the platform and a discussion about how we’re reshaping the future of invoice finance. (And start setting the data foundations for your AI transformation, while you’re at it!)