The Allure of Leasing

Compaq Financial Services (CFS), Compaq's wholly owned leasing and financial services subsidiary, recently conducted a survey of nearly 700 IT managers that each support more than 100 desktops or laptops. In the survey, 60 percent of respondents said the current economic downturn will affect their decision to lease more equipment in 2002.

"Given the current economic circumstances, customers continue to use IT leasing as an important part of what they do to help manage their IT infrastructures," says Irv Rothman, president and CEO at CFS.

In the second quarter of last year, CFS also found that companies are extending the life cycles of their equipment more than they have in the past 10 to 15 years. While possibly a short-term trend, it brings opportunity to leasing companies because they can provide the latest equipment without raising the monthly fee.

"Leasing companies can offer new equipment and increased capacity at the same price as the original lease," Rothman says. "That's advantageous for [end users and advantageous for us because we get more parent-company equipment out there."

According to Rothman, Compaq works hard to meet solution providers' needs, including its current offer of a 0-percent leasing program. "Solution providers can do business with anyone. It's incumbent upon us to make sure we are meeting their needs, providing them with competitive rates, good products and Web-enabled capabilities that will help differentiate us from another vendor partner," he says.