Siemens Financial Services courts IT channel

Availability of finance critical to reseller selection, according to IDC research cited by leasing firm

Siemens Financial Services (SFS) has become the latest leasing firm to launch a channel charm offensive with the creation of its IT Reseller programme.

SFS is urging resellers to get on board with the scheme, which is designed to unclog their pipelines by allowing customers to spread the cost of IT investments across regular payments.

It cited research from IDC which suggests that leasing IT systems and replacing them every three to four years can cut total cost of ownership by a quarter. According to the same research, availability of finance options such as leasing are critical in reseller selection in 70 per cent of cases.

SFS's programme gives resellers the choice of using SFS to deliver the whole financing process, or being trained up so they can lead the proposition themselves.

Any balance between hardware and software can be financed and SFS is also able to finance client project costs such as installation, maintenance and training.

SFS is not the first finance provider to court the channel in recent weeks to help resellers get deals flowing again – Syscap and BNP Paribas have also adopted this tactic.

SFS sales manager Jon Palmer said: "Our early partners in the SFS IT Reseller Programme are not only closing more business, but are also finding that they can include a far wider range of equipment into an overall financing package than they ever imagined possible."

SFS added that cash flow for resellers is also improved because SFS pays the reseller direct for the solution and then manages the financing agreement and customer payments.

According to this week's CRN poll, 55 per cent of respondents so far said they regularly push IT finance to customers with a further 26 per cent saying they didn't but would consider doing so.