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As we approach 2025, the challenges and opportunities facing the industry continue to evolve. One key realisation is the growing need to embrace modern, cloud-based software solutions to underpin business growth and efficiency. The software landscape for lessors and asset owners has changed significantly in recent years. This transformation accelerated at the end of 2024 with Aer Data’s withdrawal from the market. While this challenges its customers, it also creates an opportunity to embrace the benefits of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) through engaging modern, agile systems.
When choosing a new platform, the customer must have a clear view of its requirements and internal capabilities to take on the new system and best exploit it. There are numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when selecting a software partner for contract/asset management.
Key Checklist for Selecting a Software Partner for Contract and Asset Management
Define Your Needs: Understand your business’s unique challenges and identify how a software platform can address them. Focus areas may include improving internal efficiencies, ensuring data accuracy, enabling real-time access, deriving actionable insights, or driving business modernisation. Your chosen partner should be capable of addressing all these needs.
Cloud-Based Platform: On-premises solutions are outdated. Cloud platforms offer superior security, agility, and efficiency. Ensure the provider’s software is built on a Tier-1 platform with essential security protocols like multi-geo backups and two-factor authentication. The platform must also have the ability to expand and grow, be flexible and have an easy integration process.
Flexibility and Depth of Functionality: The software should offer deep functionality across all business areas, including contract management, finance, legal, and technical operations. Flexibility is essential; the system must adapt to the changing needs and requirements of your business. As a functionality priority I would always suggest that your system has the ability to produce a technical specification and lease summary that meets your specific needs and can be tailored to the audience. In addition, deep contract management functionality that caters for all types of lease and rental scenarios, the ability to set up and issue all invoice types, management of sub systems and link into the key technical areas are also vital.
The End User Experience: The system should have an intuitive interface that minimises the need for extensive training. A logical, user-friendly design ensures that both regular and occasional users can navigate it easily is a must. The system development should be based on a bake and repeat process, so user journeys are similar in the various sections of the software.
Insights and Reporting: A good software solution not only supports operational tasks but also generates key data for strategic decision-making. It should offer comprehensive reporting for lease, technical, financial, and operational management. Data should be easy to extract onto multiple formats such as excel, word or pdf. Additionally, it should seamlessly integrate with your organisations specialised reporting tools.
Integration Capabilities: Integration with other systems is vital for maintaining a single source of truth. Identify integration needs early in your migration process and map out a strategy to connect the software with finance, data warehousing, pricing, and forecasting tools. Typically, the asset management software should serve as the primary data source.
Future-Proof Technology: In our everchanging asset management landscape, AI is becoming indispensable. Choose a partner with a forward-looking approach and a recognised AI platform embedded in their architecture. This ensures access to emerging opportunities as technology advances.
Key Considerations for Choosing a Records Management System
Accurate, up-to-date asset records are critical, especially during redelivery, sales, or major checks. Delayed or inaccurate records can lead to costly penalties and delays. Additional key requirements from having a purpose-built system to flexibility on folder structures that align with asset types and Spec 2500, and high quality OCR Are critical. More detailed areas to consider when choosing a records management system are:
Industry-Specific Design: The system should be tailored to aviation, with functionality to manage asset-specific records and features such as Spec 2500 compliance. Any provider of a record’s management system should have a profound understanding of the technical side of aviation and have a deep understanding of the records themselves.
Advanced OCR and AI: Aviation records are complex, often involving multiple languages, handwritten notes, and microtext. Advanced optical character recognition (OCR) and AI capabilities are essential for extracting and indexing this data. Intelligent search allows for a detailed search string to be included is required to allow the user to build a back to birth trace.
Third-Party Access: Allowing third parties to have access to the system to review a sale or lease is essential, however this needs to be done in a controlled manner. It is advisable to implement options that include secure links or direct login access that are time based.
Project Management Features: Best-in-class systems will incorporate redelivery project management. Included in this should be open item list tracking. Mobile app integration has the ability to drive significant efficiencies for your business as it ensures engineers can work efficiently on-site on or offline.
Connectivity: Your chosen document management system should have the ability to connect with the main Asset Management platform to ensure that data flows seamlessly.
Once you have chosen your preferred asset management and/or document management system, adequate preparation for the migration process is critical to ensure success. Similar to the system decision process there are a number of areas that you need to consider preparing and manage the migration process.
Allocate Key Resources: Assign dedicated personnel from contracts, finance, and technical teams to oversee the migration.
Ensure Data Accuracy: Clean and update existing data to resolve issues such as inaccuracies, naming inconsistencies, or structural problems.
Choose a Partner with Experience: Select a software provider with robust back-office support to shoulder much of the migration workload and provide daily feedback and advice.
Automate Migration: Leverage automation to streamline the migration process wherever possible.
Validate Data: Thoroughly validate lease summaries, technical specifications, and invoices for each asset.
Parallel System Runs: Operate the new and old systems concurrently for 1-2 months to ensure a smooth transition.
Post-Go-Live Support: Maintain regular project calls and prioritise issue resolution in the months following implementation.
About Cloudcards
Cloudcards is a leading player in the aviation software market. Cloudcards is an Irish based company that was established in 2013 and has a suite of software solutions for the Aviation and Financial services market. Cloudcards primary solution is a comprehensive asset and contract management system that offers a deep layer of functionality to all asset owners and servicers across finance, contracts, legal and technical. In addition, cloudcards offer a purpose-built records management solution. All software services are on one unified Microsoft Azure platform, which allows for seamless integration and access via a single login.
Cloudcards have a hugely experienced team with inhouse expertise across finance, contracts and technical areas of asset management. With a dedicated back-office team, cloudcards has successfully migrated Lessor data from multiple platforms, ensuring smooth and accurate transitions for both asset and records management.
For more information, contact sales@cloudcards.ie, visit www.cloudcards.ie, or meet us at our stand at the Shelbourne Hotel from January 12-15th.
