New Lease on IT Life: Ingram Micro Offers Financing Help
With more programs in place, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor now turns its efforts toward educating solution providers on the different options available, Carter said. Leasing is still a small percentage of overall financing at Ingram Micro. More customers are interested in it, but they are unsure if it makes sense for them, she said.
"We can really go into an SMB customer and give them a wide variety of options. We have expanded our field credit to support with total financing, not just leasing," Carter said. "The one thing [SMB solution providers] didn't know was how to work with a distributor and they didn't understand all the financing solutions available to them. With additional field support, it allows us spend time with them."
In August, Ingram Micro introduced its first formal financing initiative for hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) solutions offered through its Seismic managed services program.
Seismic Solution Financing allows customers to finance hardware along with Seismic managed service offerings into one bill to the customer. The program allows solution providers to be paid up front for the hardware but accrue monthly recurring revenue for the services portion of the deal.
Now, under Ingram Micro Preferred Leasing, the distributor can help solution providers determine which form of financing makes the most sense for customers, Carter said.
Carter said a tightening of credit at the macroeconomic level has not affected Ingram's ability to provide credit. "We feel having more solutions is a benefit to the reseller. When they go out and present a sale to an end user, now they can represent the financing solution too. We have had people tell us they feel they won business with presenting financing at the same time as the sales quote. Getting the two pieces together is key. End users are looking for financing solutions and lookking to refresh technology on a regular basis. This helps [VARs] lock up that sale."