Dell Offers Canadian Channel Negative Lease Stream Rate Financing

Erik Reichman, VP and GM, Dell Financial Services

Erik Reichman, VP and GM, Dell Financial Services

Dell Financial Services has announced a lease offer that it says offers a less than zero percent lease steram rate for many of its products during the current quarter, and it’s making the leasing scheme available to its Canadian partners.

The company’s Power Up leasing program will give its partners access to 36-month lease terms with a -2 percent stream rate. Erik Reichman, vice president and general manager of the SMB business for Dell Financial Services, said the program was designed to “make sure partners’ end users have access to the same capital and flexibility that Dell direct customers enjoy.” The Power Up program is also available directly via the vendor.

The promotion covers a number of product lines, including its Latitude and OptiPlex computers, Precision workstations, and its Power line of servers and other infrastructure gear, and is clearly targeted at SMB customers. The goal is to get customers onto what Dell calls “a technology rotation strategy” of leased equipment which is ultimately beneficial for customers (who are more encouraged to stay current on their infrastructure and gear) and of course for partners and Dell itself, for whom customers coming off-lease and then doing a rotation of their leased gears become almost a form of recurring revenue.

“Whenever I go out and sit down with customers and talk about pain points, it always comes back to capital utilization,” Reichman said. “Power Up allows a payment point that’s very low, and actually comes out lower than the original equipment cost.”

The program has been offered before in the United States until this point, and is rolling out again at the same time as the Canadian introduction. The Power Up leasing scheme might be new to Canada, but Reichman notes that the company “gets better productivity” in terms of financing with its Canadian partners than its U.S.-based partners, likely a function of the SMB-heavy nature of the Canadian market. But with the high-profile introduction of Power Up, the company seems determined to make sure financing is always top-of-mind for its channel partners and customers alike.

The financing promo runs through the end of Dell’s quarter on August 2, though Richman hinted it may stick around longer if it’s successful in the Canadian marketplace.