Finance tool gets green light at Syscap

Resellers can get instant decision on whether finance is available on a deal via traffic light-based system

Resellers can get a snap decision on whether an end user qualifies for finance using a new online tool from independent IT finance provider Syscap.

Available to Syscap's 1,500 Option One partners, Syscap Online gives resellers an instant decision in principle on whether finance is available on any deal via a traffic light-based system.

The immediate response also includes a ready-to-print finance quote and analysis of the cost of the lease compared with a cash purchase.

Syscap chief executive Philip White (pictured) said IT finance can help resellers unlock sales among cash-strapped customers and that the new tool would save channel sales staff time and effort.

He told CRN: "Sales staff are having to run twice as fast to stand still. This will help them better qualify their pipelines by identifying the deals that are most likely to get finance."

The tool uses a risk engine to analyse information from public sources such as Equifax, Dun and Brad­street and Companies House, White added.

Getting a green light means the deal has a 98 per cent chance of being approved, White estimated.

White said mainstream finance providers such as Lombard and Barclays take a "middle England" approach in that they are interested only in mid-sized, average-risk deals. Syscap, in contrast, provides a single point of access to multiple funding sources.

"We have to be all things to all people and offer a broad spread in transactional values and credit risk," said White. "I might not like it myself but I'll know someone who does."

Unlike vendor finance arms, Syscap is also technology agnostic, which White argued was a big plus for resellers offering multiple brands in a deal. "We are a channel-based organisations and [Syscap Online] was driven by channel feedback," said White.

Eddie Pacey, managing director of EP Credit Management and Consultancy, said these kind of tools were useful, but often go unused.

"All these tools are useful but the biggest challenge is getting resellers to sell finance as they often do not see it as their function," he added.

"If you asked 100 resellers if they regularly use finance to seal the deal, probably only 10 would say yes, and this stems from indifference and a reluctance to get their staff trained up to sell it."