HP Now Offers Leasing Rebates

Beginning Oct. 1, HP will provide a 1 percent rebate on a total lease to solution providers selling to commercial accounts, said Michael Haley, vice president of Arrow Electronics' SBM division, its HP-focused unit, at its first Alliance Summit for elite HP partners last week. "Leasing has been around a long time, but it can be convoluted and have inconsistencies. We have worked with HP to help streamline the process, make it easier," Haley said.

There is no cap on the rebate and it can include non-HP products, Haley said. SBM has a dedicated leasing champion to assist solution providers, and it plans to develop education programs on leasing options, he said.

Solution providers say extra margin from manufacturers always sends a strong message.

"That is huge. If they finance the whole solution, not just the HP stuff, that would really help," said Gary Van Vranken, sales manager at Integrated Business Solutions, Salt Lake City. "We use HP financing, but many times we have to go out to third parties if it's part of a bundle with non-HP products. Those companies are not as easy to work with."

Robert Callaghan, director of sales operations at TotalTec Systems, Edison, N.J., said, "We use [HP Financial Services] almost exclusively, but getting an extra 1 percent is certainly nice."

The program is about driving more profitability to solution providers, said Charlie McPherson, vice president of marketing at Arrow's SBM. "Resellers always had opportunities to find leasing. What's new is the recognition of the value of the channel in driving revenue. In order to incent resellers, it had to have a financial component to it. There had to be something in it for the resellers."

The program is also available through HP enterprise distributors Avnet Partner Solutions and Agilysys.