The stability of flexible finance

Philip White is chief executive of Syscap

The lack of consumer confidence in banking witnessed over the past few weeks is bound to have a knock-on effect on businesses, particularly SMEs, which can feel vulnerable during times of economic unease.

So how can resellers, many of them small businesses themselves, help customers overcome concerns about IT investment when fears over borrowing are so high?

The important thing is to address SMEs’ economic priorities for IT investment: maintaining cashflow, demonstrable return on investment and payments over time in affordable amounts. Increasingly, these demands are shaping the way many within the IT industry are winning and retaining business, driving resellers towards offering more flexible pricing models, such as utility, ASP or pay as you go. But these can leave resellers with their own cashflow problems.

There is a way to avoid a financial shortfall, though. IT finance and leasing offers a straightforward way to develop new pricing structures that meet customer demand for pay-over-time or pay-per-use models.

Finance is not simply about offering SME customers the ability to pay over time. This often vulnerable sector needs ways to protect cashflow and create greater financial stability. By offering finance as an integral part of the sales process, resellers can help customers develop sound IT investment strategies. By enabling SMEs to enter into more financially beneficial leasing agreements, resellers will be able to create their own long-term stability, developing business relationships that have the strength to last.

Finally, it is important to realise that just as SMEs need to maintain confidence in IT investment, the reseller community needs to maintain its confidence in SMEs. So even if we do see a downturn in the economy, there will still be a thriving business for resellers with the right skills to meet the needs of this increasingly important group.