As 2024 concludes, the final ELFA Innovation Roundtable left us inspired by AI’s ability to reimagine workflows, empower teams, and unlock unprecedented growth opportunities in equipment finance. The key insight? AI isn’t just technology—it’s a transformative tool for leaders to create smarter, more impactful organizations.

This engaging and interactive roundtable featured a dynamic showcase of practical AI applications presented by industry leaders, highlighting how AI is already driving change in the equipment finance ecosystem. From streamlining workflows to delivering personalized customer experiences, the session demonstrated the potential of AI to solve real-world challenges and uncover new growth opportunities.

The AI Showcase featured presenters from a variety of ELFA Member companies.

  • Deborah Reuben, CLFP – TomorrowZone
  • Jennica Burgh – TomorrowZone
  • Moto Tohda – Tokyo Century USA
  • Martin Klotzman – Ivory Consulting Corp.
  • Darpan Saini – App0, Ankit Jain – Siemens Financial Services.

Kelli Nienaber, Executive Director of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation, kicked off the roundtable with an inspiring message about the Foundation’s role in fostering forward-thinking innovation within the equipment finance industry. She emphasized how critical it is to focus on the future while navigating today’s challenges.

Deborah Reuben, CEO and Founder of TomorrowZone and ELFA Innovation Advisory Council Chair, set the foundation for understanding AI’s potential in the equipment finance industry. Providing a clear, accessible definition of artificial intelligence as “intelligent automation.” She shared the rapid evolution of AI, from narrow applications like scheduling assistants to today’s general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, showcasing how these advancements have transformed workflows at TomorrowZone.

Drawing on experience applying AI since 2016, she showcased a series of engaging demos highlighting practical applications of AI in equipment finance and beyond. Beginning by illustrating the “spaghetti method” for identifying AI use cases as an individual—encouraging experimentation to discover where AI can solve real problems. She also shared her structured workshop approach to accelerating cross-functional team exploration of AI potential and identification of relevant and valuable use cases across an organization.

She demonstrated how TomorrowZone combined AI capabilities and automated SOP creation, combining video editing tools with AI to generate detailed, actionable procedures in minutes. Deborah also showcased AI-powered note-taking applications like Sybill and Fathom, which summarize meetings, track key points, and even generate follow-up tasks to enhance team productivity.

Additionally, she explored creative AI tools like Suno, which generates custom music, and Perplexity, which uses AI to produce research summaries and actionable insights. Deborah emphasized the importance of combining structured approaches, experimentation, and human ingenuity to maximize the value of AI across workflows.

Her demos reinforced the message that AI isn’t just about automation—it’s about creating smarter, more innovative ways of working.

The roundtable conversation centered on how organizations can strategically leverage AI to operate smarter and faster, turning insights into actions. Whether it’s automating tedious processes or uncovering hidden opportunities, the focus was on actionable, high-impact strategies to stay competitive in an ever-evolving landscape.

If you couldn’t attend, no worries—here are the most transformative takeaways from each showcase speaker to help you leverage AI in your business with confidence.

Key Takeaways from Kelli Nienaber

  • AI is Front and Center: As one of the most transformative topics of 2024, AI is reshaping the equipment finance industry, creating opportunities for innovation and growth.
  • Introducing ELFI, the AI Resource Tool: This new AI-powered resource from the Foundation will help industry professionals easily access research insights, with its full launch slated for early 2025.
  • Collaboration Fuels Progress: Innovation thrives when industry leaders come together to share insights and co-create solutions for the future.
  • Leadership Through Change: Navigating today’s challenges requires a focus on forward-thinking strategies that empower organizations to embrace transformation.
  • The Foundation as a Catalyst: Through its research and thought leadership, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation is dedicated to inspiring and enabling innovation across the industry.

Key Takeaways from Deborah Reuben, TomorrowZone

  • AI as Intelligent Automation: AI isn’t just technology; it’s a tool to amplify human creativity and streamline complex workflows.
  • Start Small: Begin with low stakes experiments to identify where AI can have the most immediate impact.
  • Structured Innovation: Use workshops and frameworks to map AI capabilities to help your team learn about AI and identify business priorities for applying AI to get the most value.
  • Take Ownership of Your AI Learning Journey: Build confidence by experimenting with accessible tools and learning how to ask the right questions.
  • Collaborate with AI: Framing challenges effectively unlocks AI’s potential to drive meaningful change.
  • Humans + AI = Transformation: Success lies in combining human ingenuity with AI’s power to innovate and solve problems.

Key Takeaways from Moto Tohda, Tokyo Century USA

  • Empower teams, bypass bottlenecks: AI tools can eliminate reliance on IT for report generation; enabling faster, smarter decisions.
  • Simplify before scaling: Start with smaller, manageable projects to build confidence and momentum.
  • Data trust is non-negotiable: Analysts and stakeholders must trust AI’s insights to fully adopt its potential.
  • Dashboards are evolving: Chat-based data explorers are making traditional dashboards less essential by providing direct answers.
  • Context matters: Adoption thrives when AI outputs are presented in ways that make sense to users.

Key Takeaways from Jennica Burgh, TomorrowZone

  • You don’t need to be a tech expert: Anyone can leverage AI to drive change—it’s about curiosity and asking the right questions.
  • Think of AI as an eager intern: AI drafts, humans refine—being the human in the loop ensures quality and relevance.
  • Standardize creativity: Custom AI templates maintain brand consistency and save time.
  • Play to learn: Experimenting with low-risk, fun projects builds confidence and sparks ideas for bigger applications.
  • Streamline content pipelines: AI revolutionized TomorrowZone’s podcast production with a scalable, repeatable process.

Key Takeaways from Martin Klotzman, Ivory Consulting Corporation

  • AI improves meeting productivity: Summarize discussions, track action items, and eliminate the need to rewatch recordings.
  • Test, iterate, improve: AI workflows require ongoing refinement to ensure reliability and accuracy.
  • Operational efficiency at scale: Automate updates like account summaries or data aggregation to free up teams for strategic work.
  • Generative AI for outreach: Use AI to draft personalized emails, saving time and improving consistency.
  • AI powers account insights: Summarize accounts and opportunities instantly with AI to stay prepared and focused.

Key Takeaways from Darpan Saini, App0

  • Start with low-risk trust builders: Begin with AI use cases where mistakes have minimal impact to establish credibility.
  • End-to-end automation: AI handles repetitive tasks like application processing, freeing staff for higher-value activities.
  • Customer-first design wins: Successful AI solutions start with understanding the end-user’s experience.
  • SMS is the new frontier: Text-based interactions provide a simple, accessible channel for dealer communication.
  • Transparency builds trust: Explain AI’s decisions clearly to customers and stakeholders to encourage adoption.

Key Takeaways from Ankit Jain, Siemens Financial Services

  • Keep it simple: Intuitive interfaces reduce barriers to adoption, enabling teams to act faster.
  • Data is gold: AI-powered insights transform raw data into competitive advantages.
  • From reactive to proactive: Predictive analytics enable teams to mitigate risks before they happen.
  • Empathy at scale: Use AI to personalize customer interactions and address challenges with compassion.
  • Fast cycles drive results: Siemens’ 10–12 week Structured AI development process ensures consistent progress and quick wins.

Embracing Innovation and the AI Revolution

This final roundtable of the year underscored the importance of blending human creativity with AI’s capabilities. From simplifying workflows to delivering exceptional customer value, the insights shared revealed a vital truth: innovation happens at the intersection of people, process, and technology.

At TomorrowZone, we help teams like yours make sense of what’s next. Through hands-on workshops, forward-thinking advisory services, and thought-provoking discussions on The TomorrowZone Catalyst Podcast, we’re here to empower you to move forward confidently in the age of AI.

Ready to start your AI transformation journey? Let’s connect and make it happen.

As we close this chapter and look toward 2025, the message is clear: The AI revolution is just beginning. Think big, start small, and keep learning forward fast. The best is yet to come.