SAP has launched an interest-free leasing offer aimed at
helping mid-sized enterprises finance investments in IT products
and services.
The offer, which is being rolled out in Germany first, allows
small and medium-sized business customers to lease software and
hardware as well as implementation and consulting services for a
three-year period, interest free.
"Although this financing programme will initially target
companies in Germany, we aim to extend it to other countries
because we see a need to provide financial support," said SAP
spokesman Ralf Nitsch. "But we can't announce any other countries
and launch times today because we have to examine the legal
situation in each country.
"Some countries may have restrictions on interest-free leasing
offers altogether," he said. "This is something that our
subsidiaries and their partners will review."
Many companies in Germany are struggling to retain existing
credit lines or new ones with banks amid sustained economic gloom,
SAP said.
In charge of the initiative in Germany is De Lage Landen
Technology Finance, which, in addition to SAP, is collaborating
with Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hewlett-Packard and IBM as well as
SAP distribution partners.
The leasing initiative, which was inspired by SAP, is not
limited to software products developed by the company, said
Nitsch.
"It includes operating system software and other software
products needed to run SAP systems," he added.
As global SAP partners, Fujitsu Siemens, HP and IBM will be
involved in similar leasing programmes in other countries.
The all-in-one programme, targeting mid-market companies, is
based on a scaled-down version of mySAP Business Suite, the
company's line of enterprise software products designed for large
corporations.
The programme, which runs on a variety of operating systems, has
around 4,200 customers of which 1,700 are in Germany.
The business one programme, focuses on small firms and includes
modules for sales force automation, financial management and
inventory management. The programme runs on Microsoft's Windows
operating systems, has 1,600 customers of which150 are in
Germany.
John Blau writes for IDG News Service