using ict financing for strategic...

Copyright Quocirca © 2013

Clive Longbottom

Quocirca Ltd

Tel : +44118 9483360

Email: [email protected]

Rob Bamforth

Quocirca Ltd

Tel: +44 7802 175796

Email: [email protected]

Using ICT financing for strategic gain

Using managed financing for ICT equipment and software can help provide a more coherent IT strategy

January 2013

Many small and medium business (SMB) organisations are already using financing in their business, whether this is for company cars, coffee and snack vending machines or office printers, photocopiers and scanners. However, information and communications technology (ICT) financing and leasing has not had the same success, even though it can help to iron out peaks and troughs in ICT budgets and help to create a better, longer-term ICT strategy that is optimised to support a business. This report, covering new research with 102 SMBs in the UK, provides insights into views on various aspects of the use of financing and leasing of ICT hardware and software and comparisons with existing use for other areas such as vehicles and office equipment.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Using managed financing for ICT equipment and software can help provide a more coherent IT strategy

ICT budgets are shrinking for the majority

Nearly two thirds of respondents expect their ICT budgets to shrink in 2013. One quarter expect to see shrinkage of more than 5%. Only one in seven expect to see ICT budgets grow. SMBs need to focus on how they can best iron out variations in their budgets – and make the most out of what is available on a more strategic, rather than a tactical, basis.

ICT financing is only being used by a minority

Whereas over three quarters of respondents were using financing to acquire vehicles, and nearly half were for office equipment, less than one third were using financing for IT hardware or telephony systems, and hardly anyone for software. Further analysis indicates that this is down to lack of awareness of options and misperceptions over how ICT financing can work.

Off the page, ad hoc purchasing is normal

Although value added resellers (VARs) were the most strategically used channel for buying ICT hardware and software, direct purchasing through the internet on an ad hoc basis was also being used by nearly two thirds of respondents at a more tactical level. This reduces the chance of gaining effective deals through strategic purchasing, and can lead to a non-standardised ICT platform.

Larger organisations are more procedural

Smaller organisations tend to be less formal in their purchasing habits, with the managing or finance director having ultimate sign off. Larger organisations tend to have dedicated purchasing functions and the procedures to support them – and tend to buy via a VAR or direct from the manufacturer.

Larger organisations are less fleet of foot

Having procedures and purchasing departments does seem to slow down the effective procurement cycle for the larger organisations. Whereas over 60% of the smallest organisations have a procurement cycle of less than 2 months, three quarters of the largest organisations take more than 2 months.

TCO, predictability of costs and up front acquisition costs are front of mind

In the current financial climate, total cost of ownership (TCO) is top of mind for SMBs. However, up front acquisition costs are seen as being of critical or high concern by over half of respondents, and predictability of costs by over 40%. Financing can help in each of these cases – yet is rarely brought up as a topic for discussion by those sellers.

There is little focus on the overall lifecycle of ICT equipment

When looking at accounting priorities, any possible resale value and the cost of disposal were very low down on respondents’ priorities. However, with the WEEE requirements in place in the UK, the cost of non-compliance in how equipment is disposed of can be high – and poor disposal methods can also lead to major security issues where stored data is not dealt with properly.

ICT financing can be used to iron out budgets and provide a better strategic ICT platform for the business

By choosing the right finance partner, an SMB can aggregate its ICT budget over a longer period of time and so plan on a more strategic basis. Procurement can be more formalised, without adversely impacting delivery times. Greater standardisation of ICT equipment can be introduced, while managing a better refresh and update model.

Conclusions SMBs need to be able to operate far more effectively to compete in today’s global markets. With ICT underpinning the business, a better, more formalised approach to technology procurement is needed in many cases. IT financing and leasing offers a means for an SMB to better plan its ICT expenditure and to have a more manageable and predictable platform that is more suited to dealing with the dynamic needs of the business.


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Background

Few businesses do not use financing of some sort or another. Whether this is for company cars, for office equipment or even for leasing the office a business is situated in, financing is a commonly accepted means of raising the money required to fund a particular deal. However, there seems to be something stopping businesses from looking at the use of financing when it comes to Information and communications technology (ICT) equipment. Although many use leasing or financing deals for office printers, scanners and photocopiers (multi-function devices, or MFPs), along with the support and maintenance around these items, ICT is still seen by the majority as a case of pay up front and then deal with on-going costs along the way. This does raise issues at both the ICT and the business level, however. It is tempting for organisations to ‘sweat’ assets beyond the point where they are adequately supporting the business, as the cost of replacing them en masse is seen as being too high by the business. Even where a model of a rolling replacement of equipment is put in place, this can lead to a lack of impetus to change the technical architecture, as such a model is not conducive to major change. ICT financing seems to be viewed as not necessary: the perception is that technology can be procured on an ad hoc basis through the use of capital budgets or cash reserves or, where the cash is not available, through a standard bank loan or overdraft. However, each approach has its own problems and often leads to a lack of strategic thinking in how an ICT platform is put together. For small and medium businesses (for the purposes of this report, those with revenues between £5m and £50m per year), financing can provide a means of creating a more strategic approach to ICT. By spreading ICT expenditure across a longer period of time, large technology projects that add to a business’ capacity to innovate and deliver better customer value can be considered. Additionally, more standardisation can be built in through a faster, policy-driven procurement process. 102 UK-based small and medium businesses (SMBs) were interviewed in October 2012 to understand their views on financing and leasing overall, and on ICT financing in particular. This report provides the findings from the research, along with advice on how an SMB should look at financing or leasing as a means of providing a more long-term strategy for supporting ICT for the business.

Methods of financing

There are many options when it comes to financing an ICT project. The first is for self-financing through cash reserves. However, within the constraints of the current economic climate, few SMBs have the cash reserves required to fund larger ICT projects – yet could fail as businesses if these projects are not implemented in the short term. External finance is therefore the only viable option for many SMBs. Bank lending will often be the first port of call for many SMBs. However, the bank will require some form of security as protection against default. This will generally be some aspect of the business itself, such as buildings or other assets. Another option is to use the technology manufacturer’s own leasing programme where the equipment and finance solution is sourced direct from a manufacturer or via a channel partner. The equipment will remain the property of the manufacturer during the lease period, and if payments are not kept up, the equipment is recovered by the manufacturer. However, such leases can be prescriptive – they are often built around a single vendor’s products, meaning that a heterogeneous mix of equipment requirements may need multiple leasing contracts.


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Indirect or manufacturer independent leasing can be a more practical solution. Here an organisation’s preferred IT supplier is used for solution selection and the supplier partners with a third party leasing provider to secure finance for the equipment and/or software, on behalf of the client. The finance transaction is between the leasing provider and the customer – the supplier continues to own and manage the customer relationship, but responsibility for the administration of the lease, for example billing and collection of rentals, rests with the finance provider, not the supplier. The customer retains the benefit of technology choice from a known and trusted supplier who understands the business’ ICT infrastructure and continues to use the same purchasing mechanism as before. However, as the owner of the equipment during the lease term, the finance company has full recourse to the asset(s) if payments are not maintained. This approach allows for greater heterogeneity of equipment and software purchasing, and for flexibility in how projects are implemented and financed.

Research notes

The research was conducted via telephone interviews in October 2012. The research consisted of 102 completed interviews with individuals from UK businesses with revenues between £5m and £50m, where their job description included them being involved at a senior level in the negotiation and procurement of ICT systems. The research took the form of a series of questions and statements with a selection of associated responses that the interviewees could choose from as being closest to their own thoughts on the matter. Respondents could also provide their own responses, or could respond “Don’t know” to any of the questions or statements.

Figure 1: Research sample by revenues

£5-10m27%

£11-20m23%

£21-30m23%

£31-40m18%

£41-50m9%


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Figure 2: Research sample by sector

Existing buying habits

Interviewees were asked about the current ways that they procured their ICT equipment.

Figure 3: How do you currently source your ICT equipment?

42% stated that their main means of procurement was via a value added reseller (VAR), well ahead of the second-placed means, which was specialist computer store (one that is business-to-business focused, rather than a consumer computer retail store) at 21%. However, when the bigger picture is looked at, many SMBs still see off the page purchasing (through the internet or from catalogues) as a means of ad hoc ICT equipment purchasing with 81% using this as either a primary or secondary means of procurement ICT, with a local store then being the second most common option. This indicates that SMBs do not have strong policies and procedures around how to strategically

Charity1%

Leisure & Entertainment

15%

Manufacturing24%

Professional services

22%

Retail, Distribution &

Transport26%

Technology12%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Local store

Off the page

Direct from the vendor

Specialist computer store

Through a VAR

A supplier Main supplier


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purchase ICT. It is far more likely that they will buy opportunistically, for example when an existing piece of equipment breaks down, or a new employee requires specific equipment. When procurement types were broken down further by SMB revenue bands, it becomes apparent that there is a pattern within the bands.

Figure 4: How do you currently source your ICT equipment? (by revenues)

Smaller organisations are far more likely to procure ICT equipment in an ad hoc manner, such as off the page or from a local store, whereas larger organisations are more likely to buy direct from an ICT vendor or through a VAR. This is not surprising – smaller organisations tend not to have a formal purchasing department, and decisions are made by the business owner or a nominated individual, whereas larger organisations may have a more formal procurement process that passes through a specific procurement person or group. This lack of formal ICT procurement could well result in ineffective allocation of cash around ICT priorities, which can lead to harming smaller business’ capabilities to compete effectively in the market.

Figure 5: Purchasing sign-off by revenues

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

£5-10m

£11-20m

£21-30m

£31-40m

£41-50m

Local store Specialist computer store Off the page Channel Direct

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

£5-10m

£11-20m

£21-30m

£31-40m

£41-50m

Purchasing department IT department

Financial director/CFO Managing director/CEO


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Once it has been decided that a piece of equipment needs to be bought, it can take a long time for the equipment to be delivered to the business. Smaller organisations have a higher proportion of shorter delivery times, due to their preponderance to buy off the page or from a local shop. However, this trend for longer periods of time as revenues increase is not good for the organisations concerned, as this makes them less able to deal with rapidly changing market conditions. The largest SMBs seem to at least have more consistency in their delivery cycles, but having to wait between two and three months does not help when an issue needs dealing with immediately. For example, if an organisation identifies that it has issues with its prospect-to-customer conversion and identifies a technology solution that could improve the process involved, taking 3 months to deploy this could mean the difference between the company surviving or failing.

Figure 6: Equipment delivery time by revenues

Priorities and requirements

When considering only the most critical concerns from respondents when it came to buying ICT equipment, total cost of ownership (TCO) is the highest, closely followed by predictability of costs. However, if critical and high level priorities are combined, up front acquisition costs (55%) ranked more highly than predictability of costs (42%), indicating that a deal can still be won or lost on the amount of money that has to change hands at the outset. On the same basis, capital v. operating costs (45%) also ranks higher than predictability of costs.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

£5-10m

£11-20m

£21-30m

£31-40m

£41-50mLess than a week

Between a week and amonth

Between one and twomonths

Between two and threemonths

More than three months

Don’t know


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Figure 7: Procurement priorities

The cost of equipment disposal was very low on the lists of concern. This could lead to problems – old equipment will have data stored within it that may present security issues to an organisation (e.g. log files for firewalls and other equipment may contain usernames and passwords), or even have data of a legal nature, such as customer details held on hard disk drives. There are also legal requirements around how equipment should be disposed of, covered under the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive. Ensuring that equipment is suitably and legally end-of-lifed can be a high cost – and needs to be taken into account at the time of acquisition.

Figure 8: Accounting priorities

From an accounting point of view, the disposal costs of old equipment are still low. The highest priority is whether the ICT equipment should be funded and shown as an asset on the balance sheet, followed by the costs of depreciation. Favourable tax treatment, such as being able to write the asset value off over a shorter period of time, is relatively low on the list of priorities, with any resale value barely registering.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Cost of disposal

Capital v operating costs

Up front acquisition costs

Predictability of costs

TCO

Critical High Medium Low Very Low

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Disposal of old equipment

Resale value

Favourable tax treatment

Depreciation

On/off balance sheet funding



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Figure 9: ICT priorities

From an ICT point of view, the main requirement is to be able to shrink and grow the overall platform as the business requires. This is difficult when existing ICT architectures and purchasing processes are followed, as the lack of flexibility tends to push purchasing in certain directions. Also, overall costs are difficult to measure and monitor, particularly when disposal costs and any possible future residual values are not considered during the purchasing process. The need to refresh equipment on a regular basis is not a high priority yet, somewhat surprisingly, the need to ‘sweat’ equipment by using it for a longer period of time than planned is even less of a concern – although Quocirca believes that many SMBs are utilising ICT equipment well beyond its planned life. Again, this indicates a lack of strategic thinking and can end up with a chaotic mix of equipment at different ages and capabilities. This counters the main requirements of flexibility, easy patching and updating.

Using finance to level out budgets

ICT budgets are under pressure. Over 64% of respondents expect technology budgets to decrease in 2013; a further 21% expect them to stay level. Therefore, predictability of ICT costs is now a major concern, yet ad hoc buying counts against this. For a company with a £15m per year turnover spending 3% of its revenues on ICT, it will have an annual budget of £500,000. However, with an ad hoc procurement system leading to a mix of hardware of different ages, it is likely that a large proportion of this will be spent purely on maintaining existing equipment. Research from multiple organisations, including Quocirca, shows that this is generally around 70% of ICT budgets in such cases. This then leaves only £150,000 to be spent on investing in new ICT. In certain years, this may be all that is required. New requirements for a few servers here, new storage there or extending the network will probably be covered within this remnant of the budget. However, how about a strategic ICT project? Would £150,000 cover the full implementation of virtualisation, a move to a private cloud platform or the installation of a new voice over IP (VoIP) telephone system? This is doubtful, and the business will have to agree a ‘special’ ICT budget for the project. This can cause a spike in the accounts and is an unpredictable, unplanned expense.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Equipment 'sweating'

Refresh cycle

Dealing with problems

Patching/updating

Shrink/grow flexibily



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Figure 10: Expected 2013 ICT budgets

However, if ICT financing is used, it can enable the budgets to be levelled out. Firstly, putting in place a more process-driven procurement system can have a positive impact on the supportability of the resulting platform, as equipment will tend to be more standardised and a rolling replacement approach can be used to maintain equipment at a newer level. Even if this only moves the maintenance and support spend from 70% of ICT budgets to 60%, this frees up an extra £50,000 per year for ICT investment. The budgets now look different. If financing is viewed over a three year period, the total funds available from the business are now £1.5m, of which £600,000 is available for ICT investment. Through financing, the whole of that £600,000 can be made available at the beginning of the agreement, and called off as necessary. Therefore, a major project can be carried out, but paid for across the financing term. This leads to more strategic thinking and to technology platforms that are more fit for purpose, which can support the business in a more competitive manner.

Direct ICT budgeting Financing

Year 1

ICT budget £500,000 £1,500,000 (repayable over three years)

Maintenance budget (based on 60% of yearly budget)

£300,000 £ 300,000

Amount available for investment £200,000 £ 600,000 (available for immediate use, minus finance costs)

Year 2

ICT budget £500,000

Maintenance budget (60%) £300,000 £300,000

Amount available for investment £200,000

Year 3


Maintenance budget (60%) £300,000 £300,000


So, even without financing changing anything else, larger projects can be looked at than would be possible through direct ICT budgeting. However, if the use of financing leads to much better effectiveness of an implemented ICT platform, even greater changes can be seen. For example, if the cost of maintenance can be reduced to, say, 50%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Increase by more than 10%

Increase by 5-10%

Increase by between 1 and 5%

Roughly stay the same

Decrease by between 1 and 5%

Decrease by between 5-10%

Decrease by >10%


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through better standardisation and use of strategic project management and purchasing, the table then looks like this:

Direct ICT budgeting Financing

Year 1

ICT budget £500,000 £1,500,000 (repayable over three years)

Maintenance budget £300,000 (60%) £ 250,000 (50% over 3 years)

Amount available for investment £200,000 £ 750,000 (available for immediate use, minus finance costs)

Year 2


Maintenance budget £300,000 £250,000


Year 3


Maintenance budget £300,000 £250,000


Here, an extra £150,000 has been freed up for true ICT investment in the company – and it is all available from day one. This could really change how effective an organisation can be in its markets.

Barriers to adoption of financing

Figure 11: Current use of financing

Over 76% of respondents in the current research were using financing for company cars, with the rest having used it at some stage in the past. 45% are using financing for office equipment, and around 30% are using it for telephony and IT equipment already. However, a further 30% have considered using financing for IT equipment and not used it, and a further 7% have not even considered it. 43% have used it in the past for telephony equipment, but are no longer using it, with 25% having considered it but not used it.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Company cars

Telephony systems

Office equipment

IT software

IT hardware

Not considered Considered but not used

Considered and used in the past Currently using


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With software, it is worse – only 1% are already using financing, with over 40% not having considered it. The barriers to adoption are shown in Figure 12. Over 50% stated that they were unaware of the benefits of structured ICT financing over cash purchasing or the use of e.g. bank loans. Nearly 40% said that they were unaware of what ICT financing options were available to them, with the same number stating that they were cash-rich enough not to need ICT financing – although this does not seem to agree with the analysis of how they see their ICT budgets through 2013.

Figure 12: Barriers to the adoption of ICT financing

It is apparent that ICT financing just hasn’t made it onto the SMB’s radar. This is not surprising. The subject of how a deal is to be financed only comes up regularly from the vendor in around 30% of ICT purchasing negotiations.

Figure 13: ICT vendors' mentioning of financing

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

We’ve tried it in the past, but had a bad experience

It all appears too complicated

Culturally, we’ve always bought IT equipment and don’t see a need to change

We like to own and be in control of all our IT systemsgiven its strategic nature

We don’t need it – we have enough cash to cover IT purchases

Unaware of what IT financing options are available

Unaware of the benefits of IT finance in comparison to acash purchase or bank credit lines

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Never

Hardly ever – once or twice that I am aware of

Sometimes

In the majority of negotiations

All the time


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Figure 14: SMB's mentioning of financing

However, nearly 45% of buyers raise the issue during their discussions – it is apparent that the vendors are not listening well to the discussions or are not offering ICT financing where it would help close a deal.

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Never – it is irrelevant to the negotiations

Hardly ever

Sometimes, where it will have a bearing onthe deal

Often – we need the other party to understand our position

All the time – it is a standard negotiating ploy for us


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Business benefits of ICT financing

In order to survive, a business must invest in upgrading technology to improve efficiency, support remote teams with more productive mobile capabilities, develop customer-purchasing insight and differentiate from competitors. However, many businesses are struggling to secure alternative sources of finance given the enduring recession. Investment capital is being squeezed by conflicting demands, banks are reluctant to lend and businesses are keen to hold cash. Rather than ‘sit and wait’, ICT managers should actively seek alternative payment models as shown in the software as a service (SaaS) model. With leasing, the same concept can be mirrored, not just with software but also hardware and implementation costs, which can often be prohibitive. Sophisticated asset finance companies with deep, ICT sector knowledge can offer flexible leases that can include all elements of an ICT rollout as they have the experience of asset behaviour and usage by customers.

Leasing can help organisations to deploy a complete and integrated ICT platform today and not be constrained by an annual capital budget. By managing the technology roadmap from operating expense facilitated with a finance arrangement, the purchasing power of the budget can be radically enhanced.

Leasing can underpin a proactive technology asset management/refresh policy. As every asset type is leased based on its optimum lifespan and effective value to the business, organisations can plan their technology strategy accordingly. At any point in time, the latest and most productive technology can always be in situ. There is no question of ‘sweating’ assets beyond their useful life, and costly maintenance associated with ageing technology is eliminated.

Leasing presents an organisation with an easy upgrade path to scale up as and when business needs mandate. Deployment models such as ‘capacity on demand’ are possible, enabling organisations to use technology in line with business demand.

Using a ‘master’ agreement framework, the overall governance of the leasing arrangement can be agreed in advance, against which multiple lease schedules are drawn up. This gives an ICT buyer absolute flexibility to deploy and manage the entire ICT infrastructure under one agreement. New technology can be dropped in quickly – whether that’s the rollout of smart devices for the sales force, an upgrade to the ERP system or a new telephony system. Incremental upgrades can be accommodated with relative ease.

When approaching new ICT spend, the basic principle when deciding capital allocation has to be returns optimisation. Here, the question of whether scarce cash is better spent on purchasing ICT or invested in areas that yield long-term business sustainability and growth, such as in people, product development, acquisitions etc. Technology is a utility and should be treated as such, i.e. managed as an operational expense.

It is best to scrutinise the seemingly ‘too good to be true’ finance deals such as “better than 0% finance”, as these often carry stringent end-of-term return clauses, which, if not met, can levy heavy penalties. Using an established, credible and independent finance company can often provide a fairer and more transparent financial structure that does not present nasty surprises at the end of the lease term. Too often, ICT managers are put off from using leasing as a strategic enabler of higher business productivity and lowered costs because of a previous negative experience tied to unreasonable return clauses or fees. In many cases, this can be avoided by requesting the equipment or software reseller to source finance independent of the technology manufacturer.

In the current climate of reduced cash availability, slashed time and labour budgets, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) high on the management agenda, many organisations are looking to develop an integrated, green and cost-efficient ICT infrastructure. A unified infrastructure typically develops over a period of time and leasing can, and should be, viewed as an essential cog in the deployment roadmap because each phase of the roadmap can be associated to a known and predictable cost. This grants the IT budget holder better controls over expenditure and asset lifecycle management.


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Conclusions

Currently, ICT financing does not seem to be top of mind for many SMBs. However, the research presented in this report indicates that current procurement processes tend to be ad hoc, and Quocirca believes that this leads to problems with support and maintenance of existing ICT platforms. Furthermore, the lack of a capability to manage ICT projects with a longer-term view means that many SMBs will be faced with technology platforms that are being dealt with on a tactical basis. This will result in decisions being made that are only suitable for the short term, negating any real benefit an SMB can get from their ICT expenditure. Having access to larger sums of direct finance should mean that more strategic decisions can be made – ones which do not just keep the business going, but enable it to compete more effectively and to thrive and grow against its competitors. ICT financing is a means of gaining access to a larger sum of money in one lump sum, without the need to change the overall budgeting of the organisation. Three or five year agreements can free up the total budget in one go, enabling an organisation to choose when to spend the money – whether this be on sets of small projects, or a more major strategic project, such as a move to a private cloud computing platform or a transition from a plain old telephone systems (POTS) to a modern and flexible voice over IP (VoIP) telephony system. However, the use of ICT financing should not be regarded as just a means of raising the money to fund a specific need. With a structured financed-based technology roadmap in place, an SMB’s IT function can be made far more strategic, allowing the business to create and run a longer-term coherent platform that will better facilitate the business’ needs and enable greater competitiveness. ICT financing is different to sourcing and using a bank loan. Technology finance companies are focused on the needs of the business at the ICT level, whereas a standard bank loan or overdraft is viewed purely as a cash transaction between the bank and the business. Indeed, by using a finance company that has broad capabilities, it should be possible to combine the budgets for IT, telephony and office equipment to maximise the positive impact that can be obtained through the use of financing. In a world where there is strong convergence across these three areas, being able to consolidate budgets and aggregate them over a longer period of time will allow for more strategic decisions to be made on how the organisation moves forward in its use of newer systems.

About BNP Paribas About BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the six strongest banks in the world*. The Group has a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees, including 160,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail banking model across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia. * Rated AA by Standard & Poor's i.e. 3rd rating level on a scale of 22. About BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions in the UK works with its channel partners to offer leasing and rental solutions to corporate and SMB customers. It has over forty years’ experience providing tax-efficient financing solutions for thousands of different businesses across multiple sectors. With more than €20.9 billion of outstandings under management and 3,600 employees located worldwide, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions is the European leader in equipment leasing. For further information To learn how BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions can help accelerate your sales cycle, deliver superior client value and help with cash optimisation in your business, please contact: Lisa Mahoney T: 0117 9100 849 Jennifer Earp T: 0117 9100 836

About Quocirca Quocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Its analyst team is made up of real-world practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery who continuously research and track the industry and its real usage in the markets. Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption – the personal and political aspects of an organisation’s environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables Quocirca to provide advice on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises. Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocirca’s mission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time. Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly

surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of long-term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community. Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promise that ITC holds for business. Quocirca’s clients include Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, EMC, Symantec and Cisco, along with other large and medium-sized vendors, service providers and more specialist firms. Details of Quocirca’s work and the services it offers can be found at http://www.quocirca.com Disclaimer: This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd. During the preparation of this report, Quocirca has used a number of sources for the information and views provided. Although Quocirca has attempted wherever possible to validate the information received from each vendor, Quocirca cannot be held responsible for any errors in information received in this manner. Although Quocirca has taken what steps it can to ensure that the information provided in this report is true and reflects real market conditions, Quocirca cannot take any responsibility for the ultimate reliability of the details presented. Therefore, Quocirca expressly disclaims all warranties and claims as to the validity of the data presented here, including any and all consequential losses incurred by any organisation or individual taking any action based on such data and advice. All brand and product names are recognised and acknowledged as trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.

REPORT NOTE: This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd to provide an overview of the issues facing organisations seeking to maximise the effectiveness of today’s dynamic workforce. The report draws on Quocirca’s extensive knowledge of the technology and business arenas, and provides advice on the approach that organisations should take to create a more effective and efficient environment for future growth.

http://www.quocirca.com/

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