Unipalm urges investment

Security distributor to offer finance packages to resellers

Security distributor Unipalm is offering finance packages to resellers in the SME market, aimed at encouraging customers to overcome financial constraints and invest in security.

The company's Uni-Finance package, offered in conjunction with financial services provider CF Finance, can be used for security hardware, software and services.

Unipalm has claimed that the flexible leasing options can help reduce customer concerns surrounding high-value products, and help resellers boost their sales to smaller companies.

"SME customers are used to buying office products such as fax machines and printers through financial agreements, and they now want to buy security in the same way," said David Ellis, director of e-security at Unipalm.

The package will offer greater financial flexibility and shorter sales cycles, the firm claimed.

"Resellers can up-sell more easily, increasing their margins and improving customer retention," Ellis added. "It will also help them to increase sales in the SME sector, where financial constraints can be a sales barrier."

Ellis said that finance packages would help VARs with no security track record to break into the market. The package is aimed at VARs and service providers looking to invest in managed service infrastructure to generate monthly income.

Steve Salmon, head of security at reseller Logical, said that the move made sense because security installations can often put companies over budget.

"Bringing down the capital expenditure associated with security products will enable the mid-market and SME sector to use the same products as enterprise businesses," he said.

"This is a logical move for the SME market, where customers prefer to break payments up."