New opportunities from old IT kit: Asset Realisation unlocks financial agility

Supporting global growth for the mid-market business

It’s truly inspiring to find that old adage, ‘there are no problems, only opportunities’, coming to life every day among the customers I meet. When you encounter people with a positive attitude, it’s contagious; you raise your own game, you want to achieve more and, working in a global managed services and solutions provider like Viadex, it’s a constant injection of dedication to deliver more to our customers, in helping them achieve their goals.

What does ‘more’ really mean? To me, it’s not just about hard work and effort, it’s about looking at problems from all angles to find out where the opportunities are concealed, or the potential is hidden away, waiting to be prised out. One area this potential is often hidden in is ageing IT infrastructure.

If ever there was an area within the modern, globally-expanding, growth-focussed mid-market business – facing limitless opportunities to access new markets, serve customers better, and streamline its IT architecture – that requires lateral thinking, it’s here in the ageing IT estate; buried in the machine. Something has to give in the challenging equation between limitless opportunities and limited funds. This is what delivering more is all about – solving that equation.

A deal structure has to reflect each company’s situation and goals

Through our strategic partnership with Ingram Micro, Viadex are able to customise highly effective deal structures around your current situation – depending, of course, on the normal financial checks and due diligence – that open up access to finance in ways that many mid-market businesses are unaware of.

The important part of our approach is in the tailoring. It’s not about responding to customer requests for finance solutions by hoisting one of a half-dozen standard solutions on each customer and then squeezing in the fit between the problem (or opportunity) they have and the off-the-shelf deal we ‘personalise’ by whacking the customer’s name and logo on the first slide of a PowerPoint deck (it happens; you’ve seen it).

If you’ve got it, flaunt it: The business value of Asset Realisation

A tailored financial solution should be designed, above all, to put cash back into the business. This is an opportunity that stems directly from a problem. When cash is tied up in the business through old IT equipment, it’s also further squeezed by service contracts supporting that equipment. These can cost a lot of money. They can also constitute an opportunity cost. Money when needed just isn’t there, and very possibly the scale and efficiency required to serve new business, or growing business, might not be there either when the time comes. Effectively, good money is being thrown after bad.

Viadex have solved the equation with a significant amount of help from the global finance experts at Ingram Micro. Ingram brings the backing of some of the world’s largest and most flexible banking partners, ensuring that any deal is robust. There is also a network of similarly reputable financial institutions that Ingram brings into play depending on the nature of each individual deal; once again, we don’t have shelves in our offices. Our solutions are organic, not mass produced.

IT Asset Disposition (ITAD)

If your business is running on aged architecture, you’d do well to consider IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) enabling you to sell or recycle the assets, and generate a cash on entry type of facility. We can also use Ingram ITAD to guarantee the future value of the new equipment that Viadex supply, to give you the flexibility of a Fair Market Value (FMV) lease with the option of continued use if required, renting back at or near book value. This approach enables a business both to optimise equity and to avoid book value loss.

No matter where in the world the assets are located, we can evaluate the potential you have locked up in them and find ways of enabling you to increase your buying power and extend your credit. What this approach delivers is further operational agility, the four pillars of which – people, technology, agile thinking, and clever financing – you can find discussed in ‘Money-making machines’, my previous blog.

Punch above your weight

This is how Viadex are delivering more to our customers, backing up their positive thinking with even more positive and creative ways of driving global growth. What I’d really like to emphasise is the enormous flexibility that opens up when you sit down and explore new options and new ways of doing things. The world of finance, as we all know, is tightly (and rightly) governed by stringent rules and regulations. Operating with these frameworks, on a global basis, doesn’t mean you’re constrained. In a world of rules, the best way to look at it is that there are no rules.

What I mean by that is that regulators don’t exist to stifle innovation, they simply want to ensure that laws aren’t violated and people aren’t duped. It’s like a boxing ring. There are strict codes of conduct that govern the sport but once in the ring, contestants do all they can within the rules to floor their opponents. Just like the fierce world of commercial competition. Just like any market. Count on Viadex. We’re in your corner.

On a final note, Viadex can also help you securely dispose of end of life equipment in compliance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE). This service includes monetisation and subsidisation of solution costs, refurbishment, resale, and recycling.

If you want to explore options for realising the value of your assets in just the way that suits your business, get in touch anytime. Email us at marketing@viadex.com

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