01732 759725
26
FINANCE
will become even less relevant. Instead,
companies are increasingly interested
in making a far stronger link between
the benefits of use of the technology
and actual cost over time, after any tax
benefits, and making far-sighted ‘value to
the business’ decisions.
“Financing solutions with the
transparency of total cost over time not
only help underpin this process but also
ease cash flow and free working capital
which can be more efficiently deployed in
other business activities. The possibility to
upgrade technology can also be included in
the financing contract, allowing businesses
to stay at the forefront of technology.
Experienced finance partners that benefit
from being a trusted brand with a
demonstrable long-term commitment to
the market, like SFS, will play a vital role
in helping resellers’ customers harness
technological innovations in an affordable
and cost-effective way.”
Andy Milsom:
“As far as the market is
concerned, it has been suggested that
future price rises driven by changes in
currencies might be a risk to continued
short-term growth.
“This might be a two-edged sword
because if sufficient notice of impending
price increases is provided, a market
stimulus will be in place and a leasing
option will enable users, without the
necessary budget, to take delivery of
equipment ahead of price increases and
spread the associated cost over a number
of years.”
...continued
It provides users with live management
information, complete pipeline visibility, full
password control for the user to administer
permissions for their personnel, as well
as multi-location operational and analysis
capabilities. Regular updates to SieSmart
are undertaken to further enhance its
functionality.
“By improving the number of
automated decisions for financing
proposals and refining underwriting
policies, SFS has continuously increased
auto decision rates for credit applications
and turnaround speed, enabling resellers
to close deals faster.”
Andy Milsom:
“We have a team of field
and office-based finance specialists who
support our reseller partners at every
step in the sales process. This starts by
ensuring that we develop our products in
a way that makes them an integral part of
any solution offered by a reseller to their
customer. In particular, we actively promote
the concept of managed services.
“Through our celebrated Vendor
Academy, we provide training to resellers
in general business finance, how to sell
equipment using point of sale finance
and the features and benefits of specific
finance products. We also recognise that IT
resellers now need to have the confidence
to offer leasing at point of sale rather
than simply leaving the customer to make
their own arrangements. To meet this
requirement we have developed training
seminars that look in some detail at all the
benefits leasing can offer, including the
latest tax implications.
“Next, when the deal is won we have
support staff charged with ensuring that
everything proceeds smoothly and the
reseller is paid as soon as the installation
has been completed.
“Last but not least, those resellers who
have introduced a portfolio of leases will
be helped to generate repeat business
through active database management and
flexible low-cost methods of upgrading or
adding to the solution originally supplied.
It is perhaps often forgotten that one of
the biggest benefits offered by leasing
is the ease with which a customer can
change equipment to take advantage of
new technology.”
What are your predictions for the
rest of this year?
Jo Harris:
“The rapid speed of
technological advancement is leading to
faster technological obsolescence. As a
result, the traditional ownership mindset
Visualise before you buy
Exaprint UK, an online print platform for
graphic designers, print professionals
and marketing agencies, has launched a
free ‘Mockup Collection’ so that resellers
can show clients what a finished product
will look like before it’s even printed.
The collection includes 160 high-resolution
mock-ups of booklets, folders, flyers, posters,
business cards, packaging and other Exaprint
products. The fully layered .PSD files have
been prepared with Smart Objects (for Adobe
Photoshop CS6 or higher), so Exaprint resellers
just need to drop in their own artwork, which
will appear on a representation of the product
in question.
For realism, dropped in images
automatically adapt to the curves and varying
perspective of the mock-ups.
Simon Cooper, Managing Director of
Exaprint UK, said: “The ability to demonstrate
how a design will look on a range of products
during a pitch and proposal presentation or
after a new branding process is invaluable.
That’s why we launched our Mockup Collection
as a free service to help our resellers win
over their customers and hopefully inspire
them to see the benefits of a greater range
of products than at first envisioned or just to
better demonstrate how the new designs will
look in situ.”
Access to mockups varies depending on
whether a reseller has Silver, Gold or Platinum
status, which is determined by how much they
spent the previous quarter. Platinum clients
are entitled to download the full Mockup
Collection (160 high res files); Gold clients can
access 80 designs; and Silver clients just 40.
