Posts by The Godfather

Shift to cloud computing puts squeeze on resellers' finance

Reseller business cash flow

My point centres on the growing issue Resellers have of not getting the fullest support of banks to fund their own growth. This is quite aside from the on-premises capex model that will change faster than many imagine.

There are new, growing, profitable managed service businesses that need to recruit, find suitable premises and generally invest in people and infra-structure first in order to see yield and growth. Banks, the traditional providers through either direct loans/overdrafts or asset funding (both fixed and current) now consider the services model higher risk and therefore less palatable. This is despite the undoubted quality at times of the Reseller client or the management and integrity of he Reseller.

Many do not invoice in advance but in arrears and yet still face obstacles as funders view this asset as less secure than traditional book debts for product and sevices supplied.

Vendor finance arms will not jump in and finance Reseller businesses; their focus is funding the end user purchase and this is a quite separate exercise. Bank lending to SME clients and Resellers separately is "as tight as a Gnats arse" despite government "initiatives". One generally has to seek funders outside of the main high street lenders with less hang-ups and greater risk appetite.

Insurance giant: IT dealers will survive the downturn

A little optimism

Those that are agile are not as many as suggested and while ever-changing technology allows for greater mobility and business switching, it also creates an equal pressure point in managing change.

The role banks play in the next 12-18 months will determine how insolvency rates in this sector accelerate, as will the amount of money in the consumers pockets.

Acer to murder Gateway brand

They paid far more than they should have done for Gateway. I would have buried the name on day one.

Dixons knocks £200 off laptops before Xmas...

Looks plainly obvious to me..

Am I the only one that sees this as a tpyical retail style marketing approach that suggests you get something at a knockdown price when in effect, you're not?

Europe is computer biz disaster zone, says Avnet

EMEA hiccup

Certainly in Q1, EMEA did not perform well. This could have been a consequence of integration of EMEA acquisitions and a more general slowing down of activity in some sectors. While GAAP operating income for the Group was up 14.7%, adjusted operating income was relatively flat at 0.2%. Rick Hamada makes reference to the relative strength of computer business in Q1 outside EMEA. My gut feel is that majors will find it more difficult to grow consistently across all geographies and fewer still will be able to achieve this without further acquisition.

Skye IT goes titsup

Inevitable end..

Business threads will no doubt be picked up by associated business activity. It's this constitution that in many ways gave the business it's unexpected longevity of 7 years. I expected it to fail within 4 years. An associated business was sold a while back.