IBM offers $1bn to SMEs
Ed Abrams, IBM's VP of global mid-market, said the financing will cover 29 IBM products and services tailored for SMEs, including analytics, cloud, security, collaboration, storage, and other technologies.
SMEs will need to undergo a credit qualification process by IBM Global Financing in order to be considered for financing, says ZDNet.
Andy Monshaw, GM of IBM mid-market business, would not share the details of what will qualify - or disqualify - a small or midsize business.
The leases and loans included as part of the programme will range from 0% to 12% over a period of 12 months, although that depends entirely on the business. Monshaw said a business could be qualified within a minute through an IBM business partner via an online financing tool, SmallBusinessComputing.com
“There is a gate on access to credit and capital, with small and medium-sized businesses finding traditional sources for credit and capital to be quite challenging now,” said Monshaw.
Ultimately, giving SMEs access to capital is critical for both the IT industry and the economy as a whole, because, as IBM notes, 90% of the workforce is employed at SMEs that account for 60% of the gross domestic product, reports ITBusinessEdge.
Unless these companies have ready access to capital to help fund IT projects that are the lynchpin for driving new business processes, it is unlikely that any fundamental improvements to the overall economy are going to happen any time soon.
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