BMW Group Financial Services Continues to Embrace Cutting Edge Technology for Dealers – Partnership with Silanis Creates “Full Solution” to Process End-of-Lease Contracts Electronically

BMW Customer Signatures to be Captured with Silanis’ e-Signature and Apple iPad --Integration Takes Paperless Processing One Step Further

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - September 13, 2010… BMW Financial Services, in an effort to consistently provide integrated advanced technologies to its dealers, today announces its newest entry into paperless processing – the capturing of customer signatures electronically for end-of-lease documentation.  Through its long-term partnership with Montreal-based Silanis Technology, BMW Financial Services will be entering a new phase in e-Signatures, incorporating the latest trend in cutting edge technology and utilizing the Apple iPad.

Partnering for nearly eight years, BMW Financial Services and Silanis Technology, together have developed opportunities for BMW dealers to earn consistently high-ranked customer service levels by incorporating leading edge technology that strengthens BMW’s leadership position and retains a competitive position.  According to Shaun Bugbee, vice president of sales and marketing for BMW Financial Services, the newest Silanis integration with the iPad for an electronic signature broadens BMW’s reputation as an innovative auto maker.

“We are a company that has always embraced technology,” said Bugbee.  “While continuing to look forward and enhance our dealers’ business, we are mindful to draw upon new ways to always place the customer first.”  The company’s partnership with Silanis has allowed BMW Financial Services to create a real-time full solution, where dealers and customers together can perform a final inspection on lease vehicles, utilizing the iPad screen to document any vehicle damage and immediately generate exact notations and proper paperwork.

With newly integrated iPad support, electronic transactions can now be displayed on the iPad versus the sales representative’s computer screen. Silanis’ solution continues to execute the electronic process by presenting all documents and disclosures to customers within a web browser for review, acceptance and e-signing, thereby reducing processing cycle times and costs.

“The agility provided by Silanis’ enterprise, e-signature platform enabled support for the iPad to be quickly added to BMW’s end-of-lease process without ever having to touch the core application that was deployed five years ago,” said Tommy Petrogiannis, CEO and co-founder of Silanis. “This enabled iPad integration to be up and running in under two weeks. No other electronic signature solution on the market provides this level of enterprise flexibility and scalability.”

Silanis’ solution ensures that the correct documents and disclosures are presented to customers in the right order, and that customers sign and initial in all the right places in order to minimize processing errors and downstream risks.  Most important, the Silanis solution guarantees:
•     The end of lease contract is displayed within a web browser for review and signing.  Visual cues guide customers to e-sign in all the right places within the document. 
•     The document cannot be submitted if it is missing a signature, initial or piece of data. This reduces processing errors and need to contact the customer at a later date to fix the error / omission.
•     The document review and signing process is recorded and can be re-played to prove exactly what web pages and documents were presented to customers, and what they agreed to by e-signing.

BMW Financial Services continues to invest in advanced technology on behalf of its dealer network and for this program will additionally be providing iPads to pilot dealers throughout the country.  The preliminary program will launch in California, Boston and New Jersey.

About BMW Group Financial Services

BMW Group Financial Services was established in the U.S. in 1992 to support the sales and marketing efforts of BMW of North America.   Since then, the group has expanded to provide eservice to markets in multiple countries and continues to evolve beyond its role as a captive finance unit. 

BMW Group Financial Services offers a wide range of leasing, retail and commercial financing and banking products tailored to meet the needs of the BMW customer. The group also provides financing to BMW dealers for expanding dealership capabilities and enhancing overall operations. With more than $30 billion in serviced assets and 900,000 automotive lending customers, BMW Group Financial Services finances about half of the BMWs sold or leased in the United States and Canada.  

BMW Group Financial Services employs more than 800 people, including consultants and temporary workers, most of whom are located in the Hilliard, Regional Service Center.

In 2001, the MINI Financial Services division was established to provide support for the brand’s dealer and customer networks by offering various financing and leasing options.   Alphera Financial Services was established in 2006 to provide financial services to dealers who are not part of the BMW and MINI networks.

BMW Group Financial Services also offers credit card products through its subsidiary, the BMW Bank of North America.  up2drive.com is a division of BMW Bank of North America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW Financial Services NA, LLC.  BMW Insurance Agency, Inc., a property and casualty producer, is also part of BMW Group Financial Services.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:

www.bmwgroupna.com 
www.bmwusa.com 
www.bmwmotorradusa.com
www.miniusa.com
www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

About Silanis (www.silanis.com)

Silanis Technology Inc. is the leading provider of Electronic Signature Process Management solutions.  The world’s largest insurance and financial services companies, major government agencies, integrators and service providers depend on Silanis to accelerate business transactions and reduce costs while improving compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.  The company’s electronic signature platform, ApproveIt®, is an enterprise-class e-signature process management solution that transforms paper-based business transactions to all-electronic, Web-based processes for e-commerce and e-government.  Visit us on the web at http: www.silanis.com .

###

For media inquiries, please contact:

Tom Stepanchak
General Manager, Marketing
BMW Group Financial Services
(201) 307- 4124
Tom.Stepanchak@bmwfs.com