Navigating payment solutions – the consequences of standing still

Quite often organisations believe that doing nothing for their IT investments is the most cost effective thing to do during challenging times.

The answer is, it’s not – and here’s what really happens:

• An asset may be marked as fully written off on the balance sheet, however the additional ongoing expense for extended support keeps it limping on, in turn affecting your business efficiency
• Your energy costs increase as ageing assets consume more power, compounding additional costs as well as hindering environmental goals
• At some point this asset will inevitably fail, leading to the possibility of a desperate and hasty purchase of a not-fit-for-use, and potentially more expensive solution, to address the imminent crisis
• The replacement machine, which you should have purchased two years ago, now comes with a 20-30% price hike due to inflationary pressures
  

If this sounds familiar, know that there’s a better way forward…

Digital transformation is an area that countless businesses and public-sector organisations are struggling with at present. Without being able to upgrade and enhance their technology and IT environments, their operations are frequently held back by inefficiency, extra expense, and difficulty in innovation. That’s why it’s so important to embrace all the possibilities that transformation can deliver, and shift IT frameworks strategically for resilience, relevance and success in dynamic marketplaces.

Much of the difficulty in pursuing digital transformation arises from outdated legacy technology, because organisations are concerned about the cost of investing in newer technology, even if they can deliver efficiencies. This can do more harm than good in the long run, not only operationally, but financially as well: operating and maintaining legacy infrastructure will require additional budgetary support across their extended lifecycle, and that’s before the added vulnerability to downtime is taken into account.

Making the most of your enterprise devices

As well as the support and maintenance costs, legacy enterprise devices also consume more power, which leads to higher energy bills as well as a larger carbon footprint. These can easily outweigh the cost of using newer devices in the long run.

Of course, procuring those devices often means a significant, upfront capital expense, which is why so many companies prefer to stick with old hardware and delay upgrading to a later date due to budget constraints. However, this tactic can often be the worst of both worlds: increased maintenance and support costs for existing kit, and then inflated overall cost when eventually upgrading.
All of the above can make it easy to feel like there’s no ideal solution for approaching digital transformation in a cost-effective way. But more flexible, business-friendly solutions are available.

Flexible payment plans, better device estates

At SCC, our decades of working with business IT means we understand the cost pressures that can affect enterprise device refreshing. And it’s for that reason that we offer a range of flexible payment solutions to ease that pressure and provide the springboard into the latest hardware and technology.

For example, we can purchase your ageing enterprise devices from you, and then provide you with newer, higher-performance and more energy-efficient alternatives through monthly payment plans. The benefits of this flexibility can quickly spread throughout your organisation, including:

• Cost: shifting device investment from CapEx to OpEx removes the burden of committing substantial funds up front, and eases the process of planning device refreshes in the long term

• Efficiency: a newer device estate allows work to be done quicker, more consistently and with less disruption from downtime, maximising day-to-day productivity and service delivery

• Flexible working: newer devices make it more practical to support flexible working models, such as hybrid work or fully remote work, without compromising productivity, efficiency or security. This can drive further cost savings by enabling office space reduction

• Sustainability: not only will using newer devices reduce your energy use and emissions, but your old devices sold back to us can be recycled and securely repurposed through SCC Recyclea. This helps you make a meaningful contribution to sustainability and the circular economy

• Continuous improvement: breaking free from the cycle of perpetual support costs and sudden bills for new tech enables a culture of continuous improvement, where technology and infrastructure is constantly developed and enhanced over time

Flexible device refresh in practice

The SCC approach to enterprise device refreshing is suitable for all industries, across both private and public sectors, and for businesses big and small. Examples of how we’ve deployed this service include:

• Infrastructure as a Service: a healthcare provider wanted to upgrade its data centre, professional services and managed services by moving into the cloud, but was struggling to prepare financially for the transition. We were able to provide a full cloud service through a single contract, with quarterly payments fixed for five years to support cash flow requirements

In summary

Flexibility is vital to make digital transformation possible for many organisations. Whether your challenges relate to costs, efficiency, new ways of working, sustainability or a pressing need to innovate, being able to upgrade your enterprise estate through monthly payments can be a key driver of your success. Find out more on SCC’s range of payment options here.

Do something now, or risk getting left behind.