Markets are dynamic. Business needs to be increasingly flexible and agile. These natural features of the business environment ensure that the strategic use of rental services for technology will continue to expand.
In former days – when businesses could rely on a five-year-plan, or even two-year-plan – investing in the hardware to deliver products and services over time made sense. Now work is mostly decentralised and digitized, run from mobile devices, and supported by technologies in constant evolution – becoming more powerful with each iteration.
Plus, businesses operate in a slow growth, high interest rate environment which makes cash flow more critical than ever.
Sloop tech rental for small business provides flexible electronics rental to build agility into your business planning. Whether you need to scale up for peak periods, set up a work team for a special project or plan to enter a new market, renting instead of buying offers a long list of advantages.
Question one: how long do you really need it?
The first question to ask as you consider the option of renting over buying is: how long will you need the device? For something you plan to use every day for years – where basic functionality will serve you well over the long-run – buying is the best option. For example, basic mobiles for communicating with and between staff.
However, for short-term or seasonal needs, for covering a surge in new business or setting up a team project on a specific strategic concept, tech rental will give you continuous access to the latest products over an agreed period of time at a set price.
Tech rental is a lead tactic in creating a circular economy. Rather than buying, using and disposing of every piece of technology we need, the circular use model aims to minimise waste by the efficient, long-term use of every device.
When renting makes sense, Sloop tech rental for small business can provide the product and support to help keep your business growing.
Cost-effective tech solutions for expansion
One of the top advantages of tech rental is cost savings. When you buy your tech, you have the investment, maintenance and depreciation costs. Upfront investment is a drain on cash flow and a weight on your balance sheet.
It can cost $4,000 - $6,000 to onboard a new employee, with half of that cost in the laptop, phone, additional licenses and other necessities. By renting what you need for the typical 12-month probation period, you avoid the capex and maintain staffing flexibility.
The Sloop tech rental option is a monthly operating expense that makes budgeting simple. The availability of tech when and where you need it and the capacity of upgrading regularly ensures you can be using the latest technology without bearing the lifecycle cost of high-value devices.
You can get the tech you need without the high capital expense and with ease of clear cash flow forecasting.
Access to the latest and best
Keeping up with the latest in technology can be a challenge – especially for start-ups and SMEs balancing limited resources with staffing, marketing, product and development priorities.
With Sloop tech rentals, you can smooth expenses over time and maintain your cash flow while staying competitive with the newest devices and the best functionality.
The pressure of competition means you need to be at your competent and efficient best. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to own the tech that helps get you there.
Hassle-free tech rental with repair support
When you own your tech you also own its maintenance and repair costs and the potential downtime necessary for repairs. When you rent cutting-edge tech with maintenance plans included it’s risk free. If something goes wrong, send it back and you’ll have a replacement ASAP. Maintenance is no longer your business – it’s someone else’s.
Replacement and repairs are a part of your rental contract. If a device needs to be replaced, the one you send back is repaired, refurbished, wiped of all data and put back into circulation again and again until it reaches the end of its useful life. It becomes an active participant in the circular use model.
Scalability and flexibility
Business plans and strategy documents are critical in the planning stage of a business. Once you’re in the marketplace, however, nothing ever looks so clean-cut and manageable again!
The constant churn of the business environment requires your ongoing reactivity – and the faster you can respond to a new opportunity or threat, the more your business prospers.
A software development company might need temporary high-performance laptops for intensive testing, for example. A marketing campaign may require cameras for creative development and tablets for the implementation phase of a program. Staff training for a new division may require laptops for short-term skills training. You may need equipment for a major event. There are infinite projects and campaigns and ideas created by dynamic businesses every day.
Sloop tech rentals supports your plans for growth. The tech you need is available for seasonal peaks and for special events such as trade shows or promotions. Tech rental gives you the flexibility to scale up with more devices or to upgrade existing equipment without the constraints of tying up your capital.
During the downside of a cycle – and it happens to every business – you can scale back and minimise unnecessary expenses.
Environmental and sustainability benefits
Sustainable business practices are critical to the way the businesses of the future continue to serve their stakeholders. And two major stakeholders are the community and the environment in which the business operates.
All United Nations member countries have signed on to 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 12 is “to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.” This requires circular use, where as many products as possible are not only manufactured using sustainable inputs and practices, but are refurbished, reused and repurposed through as many cycles as possible. It requires effort all the way through the value chain, ensuring what goes into a product and the waste produced in manufacturing it can be reused or disposed of safely.
Governments have already mandated some sustainability policies for business and the trend will continue as the UN’s 2030 deadline for sustainable development rushes towards us.
The Australian Government says a circular economy is “where environmental policy becomes tangible.” It also says that, for business, circularity “opens doors to practical, profitable ways to cut emissions and waste.”
By renting technology you can implement an important building block in your own company’s sustainability policies, ensuring products remain in circulation, reducing your environmental footprint, reducing your contribution to e-waste and sharing resources to lower demand for endless new devices.
Talk to us!
Tech rentals can be a powerful solution for small businesses that need to stay competitive without the financial drain of purchasing new assets. When you need tech for any short-term application, Sloop gives you access to the latest devices, cuts your maintenance costs, offers the scalability and flexibility you need to respond to market demands and helps you innovate, grow and thrive.
Through tech rentals, you can stay nimble in the changing physical and regulatory environment that must – and will – dictate stricter e-waste and sustainability laws in the coming years.
Want to talk further? Let us know at info@sloop-it.com.
