Telecoms equipment (telephone switchboard, landline telephones, business smartphones etc.) are essential to running a company, whatever its size. For this type of equipment and others, the question is: is it smarter to buy or rent?
Here are the advantages offered by the latter, particularly in view of the specific features of telecommunications devices.
1. LIMITING THE INITIAL INVESTMENT
This is an advantage of renting in general: by renting your equipment, you significantly limit your initial investment. Purchasing all of the telecommunications devices that your company needs represents a high cost that can often be hard to afford. The purchase price of a telephone switchboard, for example, can reach up to several thousand GBP. If you exhaust your resources to purchase your Telecom equipment, you are liable to be caught short when maintenance or upgrade costs are added to the initial price tag.
2. STICKING TO YOUR BUDGET
Besides limiting your initial outlay, renting allows you to effortlessly keep your expenses low when it comes to Telecom equipment. This is because renting means paying a fixed monthly bill. In addition, your rental agreement covers all the services included with it (insurance, maintenance, etc.) With a rental and fleet management package, you get a full-service package including equipment financing and asset management. In other words, with rental you know exactly how much all of your Telecom assets cost each month. There will therefore be no unpleasant financial surprises.
3. BEING SURE OF HAVING UP-TO-DATE EQUIPMENT
Telecom equipment are affected by obsolescence too. Mobile phones are particularly hit hard. Users replace their phones on an average every 2-3 years, because they want new, more powerful models with greater storage capacity, but also sometimes because their old phones are simply worn out. With rental, you can upgrade your Telecom assets affordably, by replacing the rented devices when the agreements are up for renewal.
4. PLAYING A PART IN PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
The rapid obsolescence of Telecom equipment raises the issue of its recycling. Opting for renting ensures that you play a part in the protection of the environment, since once your agreement comes to an end your supplier can find a new use for your equipment. This approach allows a variety of options, including the reconditioning of some equipment and the recycling of other pieces.
5. KEEP UP WITH CHANGING REGULATIONS
Finally, a company may have to replace its Telecom equipment due to changing regulations or government rulings, which makes renting even more suitable. Example: the French authorities have decided to phase out the traditional copper wire-based telephone system by 2020. Consequence: companies using a PABX telephone switchboard, which runs on this existing communications system, will have to replace it with an IP PBX switchboard (which uses the same network as the Internet and VoIP technologies), convert it to an automatic IPBX switching unit or farm out their telephone systems onto IT (Centrex IP) servers.
Source: BNP Paribas