As our modern world changes and evolves, more and more businesses are relying on fully mobile working environments and the tools to support a mobile office.
As our modern world changes and evolves, more and more businesses are relying on fully mobile working environments and the tools to support a mobile office. In the past, this option was only available to large corporations who had the budget for costly network infrastructure and software, enabled and supported by an entire IT department.
But as times have changed, technology has evolved, and necessity has dictated businesses of all sizes to pivot and revise their business models to accommodate changing work environments and reduced budgets. Here are three ways to enable your agile business and empower your employees in the new world of work.
1. Make sure your remote workers have the equipment they need
The last two years have defined the need for businesses to be agile and for employees to be empowered to work efficiently from their home offices. This involves being able to access their work remotely and continuing to deliver seamlessly from anywhere in the world. Now, more than ever, businesses need to have contingency plans to support their employees – and ultimately protect their bottom line.
2. Invest in business technology and partner with the right service provider
Business technology (otherwise known as business tech) is designed to guide companies in their use and application of Information Technology across all business areas. It delivers best practice guidance to IT functions and, importantly, it ensures that other business areas continue to get the most of technological advances.
Growth-focussed business owners have learned very quickly that the only way to remain relevant is to harness the power of rapidly evolving business tech by partnering with IT specialists who know how to capitalise on it.
3. Use leased equipment, rather than buying it
When considering cost containment strategies, more and more chief technology officers (CTO) are successfully reducing their annual IT spend by assessing alternatives for technology finance. One of the growing trends in this space over the past two years is that of IT leasing – as opposed to buying IT equipment which will only ever be a depreciating asset. This cost-effective solution enables companies of all sizes to lease equipment, as opposed to purchasing it with a business loan, allowing them greater flexibility in scaling their needs up and down, as required – both now and in the future.
So, what are the benefits of IT leasing?
Increase your bottom line
By investing a residual value in your equipment, your leasing costs reduce significantly and results in a lower cost of finance that reduces the total cost of ownership; ultimately equating to real savings.
Enjoy a fixed interest rate instead of a floating rate
Unlike a bank loan where repayments and interest rates fluctuate, leasing equipment gives you a fixed rate for the term of the lease. You pay nothing upfront and with predetermined monthly payments, you can budget better too.
Keep your equipment up to date
Leasing ensures that you always have the best equipment, be it desktops, laptops, or other hardware, without running the risk of investing fortunes in machines that will become obsolete in a few years. At the end of the leasing contract, you can keep pace with technology and upgrade to the latest models.
Reduced downtime
Sweating assets might save capital or reduce cash demands, but support costs and failure rates are inevitable. As equipment ages, internal components progressively wear out, leading to slower performance. Productivity suffers, and maintenance costs rise. If you are on a lease, you will have the opportunity to trade in slow and outdated equipment.
InnoVent is fast emerging as a specialist in IT leasing and life cycle management solutions of IT equipment, by providing effective and sustainable leasing solutions to help companies finance and purchase the technology they need to run their businesses efficiently.
These solutions range from assisting businesses to avoid hefty IT equipment loans; enabling companies to create a seamless remote working environment by renting laptops and other IT-related equipment; and helping big businesses to outsource their asset management and disposal solutions.
InnoVent’s unique IT leasing business model and related services can be summed up under four pillars, offering an end-to-end solution: Acquire, Manage, Refresh, and Dispose.
Asset leasing (Acquire)
The problem of superfluous or outdated infrastructure no longer exists when opting to lease IT equipment. By going this route, business owners are essentially freeing themselves from the burden of ownership, costly hardware upgrades to meet increasing demands, and maintenance expenses, in favour of a proven end-to-end cost-saving solution. This helps organisations to preserve their working capital and redirect their cash reserves to core profit-generating business activities. At the same time, their employees get the benefit of using the latest technology to produce better quality work.
Asset management (Manage)
Leaders can focus their attention on running and growing the business to remain profitable, instead of having to dilute their time and efforts by worrying about daily asset management. InnoVent has efficient lifecycle management tools and a team of professionals to assist with the administration of company assets while they are in the business’ environment.
Asset removal (Refresh)
At the end of the lease agreement, InnoVent makes the renewal/refreshing or storing/disposing of obsolete equipment seamless and hassle-free while businesses rest assured, knowing that the certified data destruction process adheres to the stringent standards of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). This is followed with a carefully planned upgrade to move the company onto a new equipment cycle.
Asset disposal (Dispose)
InnoVent is changing the old 'produce, use and discard' philosophy to 'produce, use, reuse and recycle' equipment. Mindful of the e-waste hazard due to lack of recycling, InnoVent is committed to a circular economy strategy of responsible disposal. Access to equipment vs. ownership promotes a business model that focuses on using equipment during its useful life in your environment and when that period is over, it can be returned and utilised again. This move from a linear to a circular approach involves resource efficiency and reduced emissions. In this way, IT leasing can also contribute to the achievement of businesses’ sustainability goals.
InnoVent is a proudly South African company offering an IT leasing solution to empower businesses and communities with a uniquely African product: sustainable IT.