Looking to ease concerns over technology
financing availability and make credit available for IT purchases at a time
when companies are tightening their budgets, IBM
Global Financing was set to announce a lease financing program on Thursday.
The captive finance arm of IBM will announce
its "Why Wait?" technology financing offer, which provides 90-day
interest-free payment deferral followed by a 36-month fair market value lease
with competitive rates on IBM Power Systems
and storage either directly from IBM or
through IBM business partners to
"well-qualified business owners," IBM
Global Financing said in a prepared statement on Oct. 23.
The financing offer comes in the midst of a global financial crisis that has
dried up some types of credit and caused growing concern among those who
control corporate IT budgets.
Click
here for a list of sources for technology credit and financing.
IBM said the program is designed to
facilitate the fast acquisition of technology today so that business owners can
position their companies for success once the economy turns around.
“In this current economic climate, it is still important for businesses to
invest in new processes and technology to be successful,” said Daniel Ransdell,
general manager for client financing at IGF, in a prepared statement.
“Investing in innovation, even in difficult economic times, should be part of a
company’s long-term strategic play for the future. Market uncertainty should
not be an excuse for inertia, rather an opportunity to examine new ways to fund
innovation that would put businesses on good footing once the economy rebounds.”
IGF is not the only technology company to introduce a credit offer since the
Wall Street meltdown. D&H Distributing recently
increased the total amount of credit it will offer to its resellers by
another $15 million.
Captive financing arms of technology vendors, including IGF, and technology
distributors have not been affected by the credit crunch and financial crisis
so far. They point to their understanding of technology financing and risk.
Click
here to read why technology lenders say credit is still available for
technology purchases.
IBM recently provided
a window into its IBM Global Financing
arm in its quarterly earnings report, illuminating some moves the company has
made to ensure its IGF organization stays healthy during the crisis.
"IBM Global Financing has had a
consistent record of performance dating back to 1981, and during that time has
developed its own cache of state-of-the-art credit scoring tools to get cash
quickly to the most qualified clients," IGF said in its formal statement.
IGF has $34 billion in assets worldwide and provides project financing,
commercial financing and asset-recovery services to 125,000 clients in more
than 55 countries.
