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Data VARs and Equipment Integrators:
Get Up Front Cash for Business Phone Systems
and Data Network Equipment
Posted 9/17/10 By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email
In a soft economy, the last thing a business
owner wants to do is invest scarce cash or
credit to upgrade their phone or computer
networking equipment if they don't have to. Fortunately, for those business owners where the
next computer or phone system crash means lost
customers, creative voice and data equipment
financing solutions exist to help sound
businesses "get cash" out of their monthly,
phone, data, Internet and cellular bills that
they can then use to acquire badly needed
technology equipment.
Some programs are called
Hardware-as-a-Service ("HaaS") while others
are called
Equipment-for-Service ("EFS"). Most all work
in similar fashions. In exchange for a somewhat
guaranteed stream of revenue, a business service
provider will provide their business customer
with the equipment needed to use the business
service that is being paid for monthly. An
example would be a business phone service
company that gave you a business phone system to
use in your office for free in exchange for you
paying $1 for every phone call your employees
make for the next five years.
There are generally four parties involved in
these hardware and equipment for services
transactions. The first is the business end-user
that needs to use the hardware to achieve some
business functionality. The second is the
finance or funding source, often a bank or
leasing company. The third and fourth are the
vendors or the hardware and network service.
The challenge with many HaaS or EFS programs is
they are not vendor neutral. Since the network
service vendor is primarily funding the HaaS or
EFS program, the network service vendor requires
that the customer use their network service -
not the best way to get the best price on
network service. Additionally, the challenge
with getting a normal equipment lease is the
lease uses up available credit for the business.
ATEL Communication solves these problems with
the
ExpenseRecoveryTM
Solution
("ERS").
Unlike vendor specific HaaS or EFS programs, the
ERS program allows a business customer to select
the network service vendors of their choice.
They can also purchase the equipment of their
choice. The funding is based not on the amount
of credit the customer has with their bank but
on the revenue stream they currently spend on
voice, Internet, data and cellular services.
Using the ERS program, ATEL Communications
extracts all margin from a business end-user's
ongoing network services and then monetizes the
stream to up-front cash that the business can
use to purchase needed technology hardware with
any vendor they desire. The program can also be
used to extract cash from an existing phone
system that has previously been purchased.
Data VARs and equipment integrators especially
like this program because it allows them to sell
their equipment to their clients at their full
normal markup.
ATEL Communication solves these problems with
the
To
learn more about how this program works I
interviewed ATEL Communications Vice-President
