An Ontario VAR is enthusiastic about a deal Synnex Canada has struck with General Electric’s financing arm to give its resellers more leasing options.
“”We’re fairly eager about it,”” said Frank Abate, president of Infinity Technologies of Mississauga, Ont.
Infinity does between
$30 million and $40 million a year in sales of IBM, HP and Symantec, Oracle and Microsoft products and services. Abate estimates 25 per cent of that is financed through customer-arranged leases, and predicts that will increase with the GE financing options.
Until now Abate has pointed customers to several leasing companies when they were looking for that option, and wait for the parties to sign a contract.
“”Now we’ll be able to collect all the information and contact them (the customer) when it’s approved.””
The Synnex deal means “”we’ve brought it (leasing) in-house rather than left it externally.””
The deal names GE Commercial Finance’s Vendor Financial Services wing as the distributor’s preferred financing partner, and is the first leasing alliance negotiated by Synnex, said Diane Maefs, its vice-president of financial services.
It’s aimed at helping VARs close business fast, she said, especially on big deals.
“”It gives them more buying power on their credit line for other deals,”” she added.
One option VARs may be interested in is “”floor planning,”” popular in the U.S., in which the finance company buys the inventory.
The move brings Synnex in line with Tech Data Canada, which has leasing partners, and Ingram Micro Canada, which has its own leasing program.
Among the features GE touts is its online LeaseConnect tool, which it says gives resellers the ability to match leasing solutions to customers’ needs, quote various leasing bundles and track leases throughout their terms.
“”We think it’s going to be very successful,”” said Maefs.