It’s entirely possible that you missed the announcement last year that we expanded our direct financing capabilities in Europe, but it caught my eye because I actually began my career here at Dell supporting communications for Dell Financial Services (DFS) when it was a joint venture with CIT in the U.S.
DFS is the dedicated financing arm of Dell that works with tens of thousands of customers and channel partners, financing billions of dollars of Dell and non-Dell IT equipment for Dell customers annually. Over the last three years, DFS has expanded beyond its U.S. roots to become a global financial services provider with the operational infrastructure to support customers’ financing needs in 17 countries in North America and, since August of last year, in Europe.
Many of our European customers took notice when we announced this alternative to bank financing, and they are enjoying the difference it can make in the flexibility of their budgets.
Educational institutions are often especially challenged to keep up with new trends such as Bring Your Own Device with technology budgets that don’t always keep up as well.
“[DFS] understands the financial pressures on colleges, and is proactive in finding solutions to help get the most out of a tight budget,” says Dr. Daniel Hidlebaugh, director of Information and Learning Technology (ILT), Milton Keynes College.
And teaching hospitals face similar budget challenges, but with the addition of the pressure to provide excellent patient care at the same time. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of around 440,000.
“Dell Financial Services financing allowed us to make this refresh programme happen. We reduced service level risks by installing the technology in one step, rather than piecemeal. We also delivered our new IT infrastructure to improve performance and clinical services, and we did it all within a tight budget,” said Balckpool IT Operations Manager Kevin Flaherty when discussing the replacement of the storage and servers underpinning its VMware virtualized environment.
Smaller organizations also find benefits to financing their IT solutions through the same vendor that is providing them.
“Their education about IT is better than any bankers,” says Rajesh Kumar Mishra, CFO of web hosting service Webzilla.
That understanding of the business of IT is something Hein Brat, CEO of cloud services provider Bitbrains also noticed. His company is helping customers comply with EU Directive Solvancy II with high-calculation engines requiring thousands of CPUs and needs to be able to deliver quickly – whether the revenue is in the bank or not.
Even charitable organizations can benefit from the partnership of IT solutions and IT financing. Brian Durrant, CEO of London Grid for Learning talks about it here:
And as everyone readies for the XX Commonwealth Games to kick off on 23 July, DFS can even say they are helping make that event possible.
The team worked closely with the Games to design a set of contract terms, with some installation periods as short a six months, all with a synchronized removal date at the end of the event. Financing will enable organizers to stay within budget while installing the technology they need.
We’re not just providing financing, though. Read more about how Dell will be helping to power Glasgow 2014. We wish our #TeamDell athlete ambassadors the best of luck!
