Cisco Launches New Financing Program
Deployment of Cisco’s Unified Communications Solutions—the next generation of the vendor’s IP phone platform that includes upgrades of its entire VoIP lineup—can be a complex and time-consuming process. Not only can it take up to four months for a partner to get a solution up and running for the customer, but the partner also must make an up-front investment that can lead to cash-flow problems, said Maryann Von Seggern, director of worldwide channel development at Cisco Capital.
Under the program, partners that have earned the Cisco IP Communications (IPC) specialization can have Cisco Capital make payments on their behalf for up to 80 percent of the total value of a Unified Communication solution over the course of a deal. To be eligible for the program, deals must be at least $50,000. Also, partners will get zero percent financing for 120 days, Von Seggern said.
John Harbour, financing coordinator at Berbee Information Networks, a solution provider in Madison, Wis., said IPC deals are generally long-term commitments that tend to change a lot over the course of deployment, making them difficult to handle from a leasing perspective.
The fact that San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco will make payments for a partner during the course of a project will make it much easier for partners to see the projects through to completion, he added. “I expect to do more business that I didn’t do as a result of the program,” Harbour said.
Cisco in March launched its new Unified Communications lineup, adding native SIP support to its IP telephony platform for the first time.