Option One


With many of its long term client relationships stretching back ten years or more, Syscap has helped finance become an integral part of the sales process for many of its partners, offering on-site support, training, dedicated account management and instant quotations. Syscap's partner programme - Option One – brings together a complete range of these strategic finance support services, so that all its customers can enjoy the benefits of making Syscap a member of the sales team.
Syscap has created Option One to mirror the strategic partnerships it enjoys with companies such as Viglen, a leading public sector IT supplier and Syscap client for the past ten years. Over time, finance has become an increasingly important part of the sales process at Viglen, and this year is expected to support business in excess of £5 million. What began as an ad hoc finance service has developed to become an integral and exclusive agreement that includes Syscap on-site support several times a week, Syscap attendance at client and tender meetings, finance training, regular pipeline reviews with sales staff, support for sales opportunities from the outset and an integrated leasing calculator built into the Viglen sales system.
Presented as Viglen Finance, Syscap’s input is largely invisible to customers, but it is anything but that to the sales team: “I work at Viglen about two or three days a week, and attend client meetings whenever necessary,” says Viglen’s account manager at Syscap, Lewis Roper. “I am treated as a member of the sales team, identifying market trends and sales opportunities, creating marketing initiatives, re-marketing existing customers and helping to close business.” In addition, Roper is on hand to offer advice and support about the best finance options available to existing and potential customers and even to offer training about how and why to make finance a more integrated part of the sales process.

New business

One of the major benefits of Viglen’s close relationship with Syscap is helping to close larger business opportunities. Last year, for example, Roper was involved from the outset in the preparation of a tender for The University of Plymouth, for business worth over £3 million. “Having a finance specialist involved from the outset in large scale projects like this is invaluable,” explains Viglen CEO, Bordan Tkachuk. “In this instance Syscap was integral to the process from responding to the tender and presenting to the client, all the way to post-tender negotiations and final roll-out.”
Similarly, Viglen recently won a large contract with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, supplying and installing over 1,000 PCs. Involved from the start, Syscap was able to create a finance proposition to support the project, including a range of services and intangibles such as delivery and on-site installation and support. “Being able to offer finance as an integral part of our overall proposition – and having someone on hand to explain the financial benefits to potential clients ¬¬– helps us deliver a more comprehensive service which in turn means we can close more business, even in new markets,” says Tkachuk.

Existing clients

Having a finance partner closely integrated with the sales team isn’t just good for new business. Finance agreements with existing clients provide a good opportunity for re-marketing, and Syscap has been working with Viglen to identify real business leads through its Technology Refresh scheme (which enables customers to upgrade their technology, often without increasing their monthly payments). “We identified about 100 mutual customers who had built up enough of an allowance to benefit from the scheme,” says Roper. “We were then able to create a dedicated re-marketing programme for those specific customers, explaining how they could upgrade to new equipment and services from Viglen without increasing their payments.”
This ability to use finance agreements to identify business leads gives a new dimension to the sales cycle, enabling the sales team to approach customers with genuinely useful information and ideas about renewing technology at just the right time. “Looking after our existing customers is of paramount importance to us,” says Tkachuk. “Through our finance programme we can approach them with a compelling proposition that offers real benefits to them, and it enables us to develop and manage these relationships into the longer term.”

Option One

Syscap has now created a service that features all the elements of expertise and support enjoyed by companies such as Viglen – with a bit more besides. Option One is a complete finance service that includes a training programme and dedicated account management to help partners identify how and where finance can fit most effectively (and profitably) into their existing business models. Jointly agreed objectives and goals help to develop an account plan which reflects each individual business’s needs. In addition, Syscap helps to identify key technologies, sectors, legacy on non-profitable elements of the installed and market trends that might offer the best business development opportunities, then gives support for lead generating activities and the production of sales support materials.
At the heart of Option One lies a tailor-made online finance portal offering real-time quotes, complete data visibility and immediate finance decisions. This next generation finance tool enables IT suppliers to embed finance into their sales proposition. The system comprises a complete range of business tools that not only automate much of the finance process, but also include support and marketing resources to make the business case for finance and to strengthen and differentiate the finance offering. Like Viglen Finance, Option One sales, marketing and online tools can be branded and tailored to suit a company’s individual requirements and embedded into any existing online presence as a seamless part of the business.

Competitive advantage

Pioneers of Syscap’s integrated approach to IT finance, including Viglen, have been able to evaluate over time the positive financial impact such an approach can have. With Syscap supporting business of £4.5 million in 2007, expected to rise to over £5 million in 2008, Viglen has certainly witnessed a huge increase in financed deals since its relationship with Syscap began, and the launch of Option One will enable more of Syscap’s partners to realise the same benefits.
“Having witnessed first hand what dedicated account management and integrated finance can offer companies like ours, the launch of Option One is an obvious step forward,” says Tkachuk. “Finance has gone from being an afterthought to a core part of our sales proposition – and the financial and operational rewards are evident: helping sales teams make immediate, informed decisions; giving them the confidence to embed finance into their processes; enabling them to close more business, more quickly and delivering real competitive advantage.”