Westcon has introduced financing options to its reseller base in a bid to enable resellers to offer equipment on a lease basis rather than only a capex purchase basis.
Westcon Finance, says Westcon FD Peter Cowen, offers financing options on deals with a value of R50 000 and up, over periods from 12 months to four years. The company has partnered with PRD Finance, a registered credit provider, to provide these solutions.
PRD takes an investment in the underlying asset, which then becomes the property of PRD at the end of the lease term. "This enables us to offer reasonable instalment rates," says Cowen, "so clients don't end up paying three times as much on instalments as they would have on a capex purchase."
In addition to financing Westcon products, the division also offers financing deals on products sold by its resellers that do not form part of the Westcon stable.
"We have made the product extremely reseller-friendly with quick quoting tools and administration and sales support, and we believe this value-added product will provide resellers with an important marketing edge," says Cowen. The solutions are true operating leases, in that the customer rents the equipment and returns it after a fixed period, he adds.
While Westcon Finance has been operating since December, it was only formally launched in March, says Cowen. The division has signed at least four deals worth more than a million since its launch.
The March launch of Westcon Finance coincided with the launch of the company's Avaya products. "Avaya offers telephony products," says Cowen, "and a lot of the business in that space is done on a rental basis. So we set up Westcon Finance well in advance in order to be ready to take those products to market."
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