Tech Data expands credit services 12 February, 2009 By Liam Lahey

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"Resellers are already experts when it comes to educating their customers on the ROI potential of the latest IT solutions," said Scott Tillesen, director, credit, SMB accounts, Tech Data in Clearwater, Fla. "Given the current state of the economy, however, resellers also need to familiarize themselves with all the financing options available to them and their customers -- including leasing and floor-planning -- to help overcome cautious spending behavior. A solid proposal that demonstrates real ROI and makes sound financial sense is hard to ignore in any economic situation."

Through third-party financing partners GE Capital Solutions, IBM Global Financing, Castle Pines Capital, and De Lage Landen Financial Services, Tech Data and participating vendor partners offer resellers free, extended financing. These floor-planning opportunities provide resellers with more time to pay for purchases that offers greater flexibility when it comes to collecting payment from customers or leveraging their own capital for other critical business needs, officials said.

For example, Cisco resellers now can partner with Castle Pines and TDCreditServices to secure 60-day terms on all Cisco hardware and services purchased through Tech Data. This provides resellers with the financing they need to pursue new and larger Cisco deals, while preserving their net-terms account with Tech Data to support other IT purchasing needs.

Fujitsu and Kaspersky recently partnered with TDCreditServices and GE Capital Solutions to provide resellers 60-day terms for their products. Other vendors offering 60-day terms through Tech Data and GE Capital Solutions include: Fortinet, HP, Lexmark, Lucent, SonicWALL, Sony, Symantec and VMware.

Michelle Warren, principal analyst, MW Consulting, said customers are going to push out their payment terms by a couple of extra days or weeks. For resellers, that creates a cash tight situation.

"At that point -- this point really -- resellers are going to require extended terms from the distributors," she said. "Tech Data is being proactive in anticipating and responding to this need. It gives them an opportunity to differentiate themselves, albeit briefly, from the competition. I would expect and hope the other major distributors will follow suit."

Sixty days is a good time frame for resellers, Warren added, as it raises the bar industry-wide quite high. She reiterated it would be interesting to see if the other major distributors match that same time frame.

"I suspect they will have to do so to compete with Tech Data," she said.

Tech Data expanded its leasing services by establishing a partnership with CIT Technology Financing Services Inc. Through CIT, resellers could offer monthly billing as an alternative form of payment for IT products and services instead of presenting customers with a single, large purchase order. CIT enables resellers to build leasing agreements consisting of hardware, software and services from any Tech Data vendor partner. With CIT, resellers also could create lease payments for service-only agreements, including offerings from Tech Data's managed services partners and TDOnCall technical services providers.

Tech Data also announced resellers have access to zero percent financing options from HP through TDCreditServices. The programs can be used to finance select HP hardware, including desktops, notebooks, servers, storage, HP ProCurve networking, printers, scanners and MFPs. Now through April 30, resellers could offer their customers an array of HP solutions with 12-month or 36-month zero percent lease rates for deals ranging from $1,500 to $150,000. The program enables resellers to offer their customers compelling incentive to purchase HP solutions at an attractive rate, while they obtain full payment from HP Financial Services within 30 days.

Resellers interested in learning more about TDCreditServices should call 800-237-8931, ext. 77470, or email financialservices@techdata.com or visit www.techdata.com/credit.