Leasing Options

Why Lease? What are the benefits?

• Budgetability - allows users to operate their entire IT infrastructure for an agreed monthly fee that will remain constant for the duration of the agreement. If your systems requirements change, the fee can be reviewed to reflect either an upgrading or downgrading of your IT asset.
• No assets - no depreciation just regular monthly expense.
• Easy cost-centre management - enhances the management of your entire IT cost-centre by enabling you to manage, change, optimise the use of all your asset, keep costs to a minimum, and improve decision making processes.
• Removes burden of disposal - gone are the days when worn out computers could be simply thrown away. Today companies must comply with a whole raft of regulations regarding the safe, environmentally friendly disposal of their IT assets. The logistical burden of disposal becomes our worry, not yours.
• Reduces TCO - all of the above enable you to reduce the total cost of ownership of your IT structure.

Government urged to promote leasing

There's a new revolution in the world of information technology; it's a revolution in the way we pay for IT. As former Education and Employment Secretary, David Blunkett, said, "Small firms need to embrace technology if they are not to lose out." We can help you!

We help businesses realise the benefits of IT by combining our technical customer and financial services.

We are independent, you have freedom of choice when it comes to any combination of hardware or software and selected financial providers.

Businesses still favour outmoded financing methods

A recent survey of over 1.000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has found that while most businesses are aware of IT leasing, nearly 90% of SMEs still prefer to purchase their IT systems outright. However, purchasing IT equipment outright does not always make good commercial sense. By leasing IT equipment, owners of SMEs can solve finance issues as well as provide their businesses with a more comprehensive and flexible IT infrastructure.

Leasing enables users to preserve hard-won cash, gain real tax advantages, preserve existing bank credit lines, and make a good match between income and spending patterns - all benefits particularly relevant to SMEs. Yet the key benefit of leasing is in its ability to give SMEs access to better IT systems. All too often the infrastructure in many businesses is extremely poor. Less than 25% of SMEs have e-mail access, let alone internet capabilities.

With e-commerce set to be the business issue of the new decade, it is vital that SMEs invest in IT if they are to remain competitive. Leasing enables smaller companies to acquire the systems they need right now. There needs to be a revolution in attitudes towards technology financing. By leasing IT equipment, SMEs can manage IT hardware, software, ongoing support costs and now even web sites as an expense rather than capital. In terms of tax, cash flow and the ability to upgrade easily, the benefits of leasing are clear. These are all key factors that both the Government and SMEs can no longer continue to ignore.

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IT Finance: 'One week to five years'

"There's a new revolution in the world of information that has nothing to do with software. Nothing to do with e-commerce. Nothing to do with applications, operating systems or connectivity. It's a revolution in the way we pay for our computers."

Ten years ago, almost all businesses paid for their hardware and software on the day it was delivered. Most still do. But a significant and growing minority do not. Instead, they rent or lease their IT equipment and services.

Why? Because, there are significant advantages to not owning your own computers. Shrewd business people - in organisations varying in size from sole proprietors to huge multi-nationals - have known this for years. Many more are joining the club. At Printware, we specialise in helping businesses realise the advantages of renting or leasing their IT.

Every time a business adds to its IT base, the question of funding arises. "Do we pay cash, do we ask the bank for funds, or do we look to third party finance?"

Increasingly, companies are choosing the third option. Not necessarily because they're short of capital, but because in today's business world, third party finance for IT makes perfect sense. Many of Europe's wealthiest organisations lease their computers rather than pay cash. Some even contract out the ownership and management of their entire IT infrastructure.

Thousands of MDs and FDs in business around Europe prefer to lease or rent than to purchase their computers outright.

Why? Here are some of the reasons:

• We increasingly regard computers as variable costs rather than fixed capital items. So it makes sense to pay for our IT as and when we use it.
• Equipment lifecycles are now so short that there is minimal attraction in having a fast depreciating asset on the balance sheet.
• We need total flexibility in the way we use and account for our IT.
• We don't want our cash or credit lines tied up in computer equipment when they could be working better for us elsewhere

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Further evidence of maturing leasing market

Computer leasing has really taken off - worldwide - as more companies recognise the benefits of leasing, and leasing companies respond to customer demands for more innovative finance solutions.

Leasing is a preferred means of funding because it:

• Reduces financial risk on equipment obsolescence
• Attraction of 'pay-as-you learn' financing
• Identifies 'Total Cost of Ownership'
• Reduces pressure on other credit lines (mainly banks)
• Can match company budget
• Attraction of value-added services

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SME survey highlights leasing misconceptions

Despite international evidence that the leasing market is maturing, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) remain largely ignorant of the considerable benefits of funding their IT needs via a lease.

That is the dramatic finding of a recent survey of over 1,000 SMEs in the UK. The survey, in conjunction with the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), also found that while three quarters of SMEs are aware of the leasing option, less than one in six finances their IT infrastructure in this way.

Senior SME decision makers seem determined to hold onto the traditional view that ownership of technology is the best solution for their business. But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of both leasing in general and the specifics of IT.

Leasing assists cash flow and leaves existing lines of borrowing unaffected. And since leased equipment is an expense rather than an asset, there are substantiall tax advantages to be gained from financing IT infrastructure in this way. But perhaps most importantly, leasing allows businesses to upgrade on a regular basis, and pay for modernisation incrementally. Given the cost and importance of IT equipment, and its rapid obsolescence, buying outright is becoming an increasingly redundant option.

Key findings point to widespread misunderstanding

• 25% of SMEs unaware that leasing option exists
• 53% of SMEs completely unaware of the benefits of leasing
• 70% of SMEs unaware that leasing offers the flexibility to expand infrastructure
• 98% of SMEs unaware that leasing can avoid obsolescence

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Total IT Lifecycle Management

Printware has harnessed its many areas of IT expertise - leasing, rental, technical services and remarketing - to create a fully integrated asset management service. The package represents a genuine milestone in customer service.

Picture this: You're the IT director of a large company with, say 500, 1000 or maybe 10,000 plus employees, each with a PC or laptop and access to a printer. Your core function is to implement an infrastructure strategy that enables the company to meet its commercial goals and maximise return on investment.

But that's not all. In the course of a year, at least 33% of the company's IT assets will need to be replaced. It's your department's job to specify and source this new equipment. You are also tasked with maintaining software licences and upgrades ... and organising repairs ... and disposing of old equipment in accordance with EC environmental regulations ... and managing hundreds of contracts ... and maintaining relationships with a large number of computer suppliers ... and working within tight budgets.

It's a busy department. And if that wasn't enough, your MD has begun asking difficult questions about the 'Total Cost of Ownership'. If any of this sounds familiar it may be time to contact Printware, to see what we can do for your business.

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IT Asset Management In Brief

IT assets management is a term used by finance companies to describe the full-service, life-cycle management of computers in client organisations.

As well as providing finance to purchase computers, we can also offer additional services including consultancy, asset tracking, insurance, disposal and remarketing. These are also known as value-added services.

The growth of value-added services has occurred alongside an acceptance by corporate computer users that owning IT assets nearly always generates unforeseen costs and headaches. These include the costs of administration and disposal of IT assets, as well as the costs of making poor decisions on purchasing and finance. The collective impact is known as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Our aim is to enable business customers to pay a regular, fixed fee so that they can concentrate on using their IT assets to generate profit.

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