Johannesburg, 18 Aug 2022
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) recently reported that the South African business confidence index fell in May, hitting its lowest level since September 2020 due to factors such as lower trade volumes, higher financing costs and load-shedding.
The rising cost of fuel and a series of consecutive interest rate hikes have eaten into profits and increased the cost of doing business for South African organisations. It's a challenging and uncertain environment for business, so now is not the time for companies to over-extend themselves in terms of expenditure, says Kwirirai Rukowo, General Manager of Qrent.
ICT rental firm Qrent is seeing solid growth across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia as organisations move to free up capital and cut the costs of doing business. Rukowo says business owners are discovering that reducing owned assets and renting key assets such as IT equipment reduces their cashflow restraints and supports growth and new projects.
“Cashflow has always been a problem for business and more so now. Good cashflow keeps a business afloat and poor cashflow can sink it. Procuring new IT equipment such as desktops, laptops, servers, switches and printers – investing in a huge capital outlay upfront – can account for a significant chunk of the available funds,” he says.
“Renting this equipment instead puts good quality refurbished IT equipment into the hands of employees at a lower overall cost, with little or no upfront costs and predictable monthly expenditure that isn’t subject to fluctuating interest rates or exchange rates.”
Renting IT equipment from a reputable service provider also eliminates many of the maintenance and asset management costs associated with owning IT equipment, he says.
Qrent’s flexible IT rental services allow organisations to procure the equipment they need for long- or short-term projects such as events or training. With in-country warehouses and support teams, the company can deliver to any location and offers after sales support across all locations. With insurance and warranty included in the cost, Qrent equipment offers a realistic solution to equipping employees with the high-quality tools they need to be productive, but at a lower cost.
“Technology assets depreciate in value over time and organisations now prefer to allocate budget where it can increase in value and drive business growth. Since the total cost of ownership (TCO) on new equipment typically includes the purchase cost, cost of delivery and annually increasing support costs as the device ages, the TCO on purchased equipment can be unnecessarily high,” he says. “In a rental agreement with full on-site support and replacement, these hidden costs are minimised, making renting a compelling proposition.”
Rukowo says the pandemic helped change perceptions about rented, refurbished IT: “In the past, many organisations were resistant to using refurbished IT equipment, believing erroneously that it was somehow inferior. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic when the supply chain was impacted and a global chip shortage occurred, organisations turned to Qrent for fully sanitised, expertly refurbished equipment to equip their employees to work from home. Qrent supplied over 6 000 units in under two weeks. Once the global supply chain backlogs had cleared, our customers opted to retain their rental units and, two years later, they have no intention of going back to the days of buying new devices.”
Rukowo notes that renting IT equipment not only saves money, it’s a more sustainable approach too. “Qrent helps organisations meet their ESG objectives and become part of the circular economy. Our refurbished and reconditioned machines double or even triple the lifespan of IT equipment. As a Blancco authorised ITAD partner and a member of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (EWASA), Qrent then takes care of the responsible wiping, sanitising and disposal of end-of-life machines,” he concludes.
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