Fueling SMB digital transformation

[ComputeExperts]

Discover how HPE Financial Services helps SMBs reinvent the way they work by providing predictable low monthly payments for needed products and solutions such as remote desktop or VDI solutions.

By Compute Experts guest blogger Ed Tittel, technology wrtier/consultant

For small to midsized businesses, digital transformation usually comes with promises of enhanced efficiency and improved productivity. Increased innovation also means new revenue streams from new markets and new ways of working. The reality is digital transformation requires money, time, and effort. HPE Financial Services (HPEFS) is ready to help SMBs manage costs, and get through front-loaded deployment, test, and initial product ramp-up phases.

Modern businesses of all sizes are under considerable pressure to grow and improve. Digital transformation offers to pave the way through adoption and implementation of new technologies. But dealing with the financial side of things means careful planning to finance and manage IT while transformation is underway.

Surmounting SMB financial barriers

HPEFS helps SMBs achieve digital transformation sooner rather than later and helps them control costs. For SMBs, preserving cash flow can be vital. Ditto for ways to defer or reduce expenses, or to relieve capacity strains and delivery delays. So SMBs can stay afloat yet increase technology spending, HPEFS offers SMBs a variety of financing, subscription, and asset lifecycle management programs.

SMBs willing to align technical assets with business objectives can turn to HPEFS to do some or all of the following:

• Conserve cash and obtain predictable pricing via a technology subscription program
• Manage budget across all company goals and priorities
• Extract value from legacy assets to fund replacement technologies
• Ensure business continuity, viability, and growth by tackling new technology financing
• Manage assets cost effectively across initiatives through the entire technology lifecycle

In fact, HPEFS has a long history of technical and financial understanding that combine to create an IT playbook so SMBs can explore and understand financing options available. Such an IT playbook lets SMBs make sure they’ve got the best financing, and they can stay agile and meet their business goals.

5 SMB-friendly programs from HPEFS

Above and beyond typical, industry-standard IT financing options, HPEFS tailors specific finance programs to help SMBs cover costs of upgrade, technology refresh, or a full-blown digital transformation without endangering cash flow or hampering business productivity. HPEFS offers creative ways to bridge the gap between finance and technology, especially when internal funding from SMB reserves, or straining cash flow, are challenging.

HPEFS offers five programs specifically focused on removing barriers to acquiring new technology, managing IT assets to support growth and boost operational efficiency, and providing the means to remain competitive:

1. Generate cash from existing assets—HPEFS buys back current SMB technology assets to free up funding for new or upgraded technology. HPEFS even buys back newer-gen technology that an SMB no longer needs or wants
2. Subscribe to complete IT solutions—HPEFS offers subscription plans for new technology purchase. Delivery and installation occur a short time after the subscription begins, so SMBs put new capabilities to work quickly. Subscription entails seamless upgrades and refreshes, so SMBs who buy into the program are covered for upgrades and updates for the life of their subscriptions.
3. Match payments to production—HPEFS offers SMBs a phased deployment program for new compute and storage capability. The company can take time to configure, test, and deploy new systems before making payments. Thus, SMBs can keep essential business humming along, without impacting budget cycles and implementation timelines. Deferrals can last up to 12 months.
4. Optimize legacy environments—HPEFS offers certified, pre-owned HPE technologies to address specific SMB IT environments at reduced cost. These are useful for SMBs that must support legacy apps, ensure business continuity, or add capacity and capability to meet seasonal demands for IT resources.
5. Short-term rentals fill technology gaps—HPEFS offers short-term rentals of 3-to-12 months for pre-owned HPE technology, or up to 12 months for new HPE PCs. Thus, SMBs can fill gaps caused by migrations, upgrades, or changed working circumstances (like near-universal WFH for employees during the COVID-19 pandemic). Rental units come factory configured to SMB specifications, and include standard warranty coverage.

SMBs have other options too

Beyond the programs already described, HPEFS has other financing and technology delivery programs of potential interest to SMBs. Very briefly, these include:

• HPE adaptable use models—Adjust payments up or down to match pre-planned needs or contingencies as an option with monthly payment plans
• HPE subscription plan for servers—Select a complete technology plan from a set of predefined options for server, storage, and networking hardware, software, accessories, and HPE Pointnext Services for a predictable monthly fee
• HPE upcycling services—Make sure that any trade-ins can’t inadvertently disclose inside or sensitive information through secure media overwriting and erasure
• Payment deferral and pay-as-grow—Add flexibility in holding off or even graduating payments, as you decide which payment plan options make sense for your SMB
• HPE pre-provisioning—Gain quick access to pre-configured, ready-to-run IT assets over a broad range of hardware and services

Greasing the wheels of business

HPEFS stands ready to assist and enable SMB customers to achieve the improvements in efficiency, productivity, and profitability that digital transformation can bring. As you interact with HPE, be sure to ask about HPEFS solutions and how they can help your business do and be its best through careful and considered acquisition of IT tools and technologies. HPEFS can help you find the best way for your business to do what it needs to, at an affordable price, on comfortable terms.

For more information, please visit HPE’s IT Financing Solutions for Small and Midsize Businesses today.

Further reading:

• The essential SMB guide for technology financing via HPE's Enterprise.nxt

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Meet our Compute Experts guest blogger Ed Tittel, technology writer/consultant.

Ed is a 30-plus year veteran of the IT industry who writes regularly about cloud computing, networking, security and Windows topics. Perhaps best known as the creator of the Exam Cram series of certification prep books in the late 1990s, Ed writes and blogs regularly for GoCertify.com, Win10.Guru, ComputerWorld and other sites. 

Compute Experts
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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