Together we can weather the COVID-19 storm and emerge stronger in the European Construction, Transportation and Industrial sector.

Europe is in the grip of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We all know someone who has been affected by this disease. Despite differences per country and sector, the overall social and economic impact is dramatic. The U.K. and South of Europe are going through a fairly strict lock-down, while many countries in Northern Europe are slowly easing lock-down measures. Many companies have had to close completely, shift to remote operations or drastically ramp-down operations. Despite the challenges we are all facing, we believe that, now more than ever, it is true partnership that will enable us to weather this storm and emerge stronger in the world after the Coronavirus.

DLL is here to help you in whatever way we can
Should you feel that the next few months are going to be tough, we firmly believe that when we work together, we can move mountains and become more resilient. Across Europe, DLL is helping with access to finance and wider support. We are proactively contacting partners and customers to help them navigate the challenges and uncertainty created by the Coronavirus. We are marshalling our pan-European footprint and in-depth industry knowledge to help you through this challenging time in whatever way we can. In this article we share some of the ways DLL can support you during this time. We also share some examples from the European Construction, Transportation & Industrial (CT&I) industry that we hope will give you faith that by teaming up we can get through this difficult period.

Focusing on local needs and long-term perspective
"These days our partners and customers are experiencing a range of difficulties, whether that’s cash flow, meeting operational expenses or ensuring that end-customers have enough liquidity to pay for their purchases. They are dealing with uncertainty at every level and are pre-occupied with how they are going to get through this crisis in the short-term," says Neal Garnett, President of CT&I Global Business Unit at DLL. "We are taking a local approach and a long-term view towards this situation, meaning our decisions are not based on the next quarter or year. At the same time, we are acting very quickly to address short-term challenges."

"We are addressing current challenges consistent with our partnership approach from the past 50 years. In good times and bad times, we have continued to make funds available, honored our credit approvals and found creative ways to keep our partners and customers moving forward and that is also true in this situation."

Securing financing transactions through digital solutions
Cesar Alonso, VP Sales & Program Management CT&I Europe at DLL adds, “At the beginning of the crisis, we faced the same challenge as our partners and customers. We had to shift to remote working and we had to enable a digital transaction process for our partners and customers. Our previous investments in automation and digital tools have become a lifeline for ourselves and the companies we serve.”

“Italy was one of the hardest hit countries by the Coronavirus, and due to the lock-down our standard approach with the postal system and express couriers was impacted almost immediately,” says Gianluca Menni, DLL Country Sales Manager Italy. “Fortunately, we were able to quickly revert to working with scanned documents and storing them securely for later submission. This allowed us to keep all estimates, contracts and credit checks moving to provide financing solutions for dealers who needed to keep supplying critical equipment, such as forklifts and semi-trailers, at a time when many other financial institutions were simply frozen.”

There are many other examples of how our digital solutions are helping companies across Europe keep their financing transactions moving at a time when the normal ways of working are not functioning, including:

• Electronic signature solutions
• A mobile application for performing equipment audits
• PDF workflows for estimates, contracts and credit checks

Finding creative solutions
Cesar Alonso adds, “This crisis has also brought positive surprising developments. We are proud to be able to support our partners and customers as they find creative ways to keep people’s lives moving during these tough times.”

For example, when Russia first faced the COVID-19 situation, a major dealer of aerial work platforms offered to provide 40% of their rental fleet to the government for free, to assist in the construction of modern medical centers to prevent the spread of the virus. To support them, DLL helped restructure their leasing portfolio.

Other examples of creative partnerships where DLL provided financing include:

• Transportation companies that provide home delivery for supermarket chains, for instance in Germany, to meet the exponential increase in demand
• Automated robots that enable machines to spread the ozone in the air and kills viruses in Italy
• Industrial cleaning machines used to disinfect hospital and commercial environments in Poland

Combining global focus with local solutions
“For each of these examples, there are hundreds more across Europe. During this crisis, we have relied heavily on our experience across industry sectors and cultural borders,” says Neal Garnett. “Food transport specialists are facing different challenges than retail industry transporters, for example. At the same time, regulations in response to the pandemic differ significantly from country to country. Thanks to our global approach, we deliver a consistent customer experience around the globe. At the same time, we can tailor it to the needs and regulations of each specific country. That approach has really shown its value during this period and has enabled us to effectively support our customers during these uncertain and challenging times.”

Together we emerge stronger
We have one clear message for all our partners and customers in the Construction, Transportation and Industrial areas: you are not alone. We have been there for you through past challenges and will continue to be there for you now. Together we can partner for a better world and become stronger and more resilient for the future.