Cisco survey reveals role of vendor financing across Indian Businesses

To identify trends and gain insights into the technology purchase strategies adopted by businesses across the region, Cisco has conducted a survey which has indicated that vendor financiers were one of the preferred sources of external funding for information and communications technology (ICT) purchases in India, China and Australia.

The survey revealed the diversity in technology purchase strategies across the region and also highlighted the major technology transitions expected to propel growth in the use of vendor financing. The top three transitions were the proliferation of end-user devices and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, workplace collaboration enabled by unified communication solutions, and the growing uptake of online video as well as Web conferencing and telepresence.
 
Rajiv Menon, MD of APAC, Japan & Greater China, Cisco Capital, said, The Forrester survey indicates that vendor financing is playing an increasingly important role in the financing strategies of businesses across India. The need to constantly deliver shareholder value while maintaining growth and profitability is prompting business decision-makers to closely examine their technology purchase strategies in order to gain maximum value from the use of the technology, rather than through ownership.
 
The survey responses from India showed that 30 per cent of Indian businesses plan to use external financing to fund technology purchases, 79% of all Indian organisations agreed that the ability of a vendor to provide financing for their products and services was a factor in the technology purchase decision-making process. A majority of Indian organizations (59 per cent) prefer to deal with a combination of technology vendor and the channel partner when sourcing external financing.