HP Expands Financing with Multivendor Model

In partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise Financial Services (HPEFS) and global finance company DLL Group, HP Integrated Financial Solutions on Wednesday announced it will offer channel partners and customers expanded options for financing and leasing solutions.

The formation of HP integrated Financial Solutions was announced at HP Reinvent: World Partner Forum in March 2019 as part of the company’s strategy to provide partners with more flexibility to fuel their services-based business and drive recurring revenue.

HP’s Deborah Baker

“We’re expanding that strategy and expanding our payment solutions including leasing and financing options for channel partners and end user customers,” Deborah Baker, head of worldwide leasing and financing at HP Inc., said during a news briefing. “Our two relationships (HPEFS and DLL) are going to help to continue to accelerate and enhance the financing experience for the channel.”

As the industry increasingly moves to everything-as-a-service (XaaS) models, leasing and financing underpins HP’s approach to contractual selling — helping the company accelerate and augment services and solutions. By moving to a multivendor financing model with both HPEFS and DLL, HP Integrated Financial Solutions will help channel partners secure recurring revenue from their client base and offer more competitive payment options resulting in stronger customer engagement and the ability to bundle products and maximize opportunities, the company said.

The pivot to expanded financial support for contractual selling and as-a-service is designed to help partners not only transition to a new business model but also to create customer stickiness, Baker said, referring to a minimum of 24 months to as long as an 84-month contractual relationship with the end-user customer.

“Statistically, when a payment solution is included in a solution, transaction size is higher, discount rates are lower and, therefore, overall margin in a transaction is higher for our channel partners,” she said. “It also gives us the ability to mind the installed base and to potentially, interrupt a transaction early or at end of lease and ensure that the next transaction or the next contractual engagement is more assured with the customer. And, it provides the partner with upfront payment in full for the products included in the solution.”

Partners will see more digital capabilities such as an enhanced partner portal, and digital capabilities such as e-signature and e-invoicing, as well as instant credit decision-making and instant quoting,

In 2020, HP plans to expand its multivendor model with additional local and regional financial partners to ensure that it has appropriate country coverage — in emerging markets in particular.

As HP continues with business as usual, it’s in talks with Xerox, which is bent on acquiring the multinational PC, printer, print supply and 3-D printing solutions company. Back in October, newly anointed CEO Enrique Lores announced a major restructuring of the company as it transforms into software and services vendor. At that time, the HP executives talked about eliminating as many as 9,000 jobs over the next three years.