asmag.com spoke to to i-PRO Americas about the launch of i-PRO FlexPay Financing to learn more about the program and how it can benefit end users and channel players in the security industry.
asmag.com spoke to to i-PRO Americas about the launch of i-PRO FlexPay Financing to learn more about the program and how it can benefit end users and channel players in the security industry.
What is i-PRO FlexPay Financing?
According to the original press release, i-PRO FlexPay Financing is a new scheme that offers deferred payments, step or flex payments, and multi-vendor bundling to help organizations upgrade their security technology while maintaining budget control.
“New AI analytics technology is critical to strengthening physical security and situational awareness,” said Bill Brennan, CEO of i-PRO Americas. “As a responsible vendor, we’re committed to helping organizations build the best possible solutions for their specific needs – with products from i-PRO along with other providers – and fit into their available funding levels and schedules. We believe that giving people more options helps them make better competitive evaluations and procurement decisions. We know it gives them better return on investment than proprietary models over the long term.”
The FlexPay Financing eliminates up-front acquisition costs, gives organizations a path to ownership, and reduces their future debt.
Payment options include:
- Deferred Payments - Initial payments may be deferred for 60, 90, 120, 180 days or up to one year to accommodate the annual budget cycle of any type of organization.
- STEP or FLEX Payments - These options allow for lower payments in the early term or flex payments to match revenue flow. For example, a rural county may need to modernize the security camera system for its jail and courts projected to cost more than $300K. The county auditor can certify only $75K for the fiscal year, but forecasts fluctuating revenue collections for the next few years. With i-PRO FLEX payments, the county could match payments to cash flow projections and proceed with adjustable annual payments.
- Everything-as-a-Bundle - Customers can purchase i-PRO products along with 3rd party products and services as a single solution bundle, with monthly, quarterly or annual invoice options.
While i-PRO FlexPay Financing is an end-user program, it also benefits i-PRO integration and distribution partners, as they are paid for the full amount of the customer purchase up front.
asmag.com speaks to i-PRO
asmag.com spoke to Dave Ovesny, Senior Manager for Contracts & Bids for i-PRO Americas to learn more about the i-PRO FlexPay Financing scheme.
asmag: Currently, buyers with a tight budget either opt for lower-cost brands (e.g., mass-market Chinese brands) or "leasing models" like cloud video surveillance where the costs are more operating costs and not capital costs. Which type of users do you think would be more suitable for i-PRO's new financing plan?
Ovesny: The new i-PRO FlexPay program was designed to offer a non-proprietary, high-quality yet budget-friendly alternative to both low-cost brands and proprietary VSaaS models.
i-PRO’s FlexPay programs help any size organization keep current with security technology modernization and stay within budget without disrupting procurement and other business processes while always providing our customers with a path to ownership that will significantly reduce ongoing perpetual recurring costs associated with proprietary VsaaS cloud video surveillance models.
At i-PRO, we understand that new technology acquisition is mission-critical to strengthen physical security and situational awareness for any type of organization. It is not enough to ensure that organizations have the best possible security technology that fits their specific needs to increase safety, we must also help make it fit into their available funding levels.
asmag: How can a buyer become eligible for this program (e.g., minimum spend requirements)? Will they have to undergo any type of credit check? Is this limited to only a certain client type (e.g., only schools and government, but not the private sector)?
Ovesny: This program is open to any US and Canadian organization in any sector excluding the federal government. As with any FDIC financing program, FlexPay programs are subject to a standard credit approval by our third-party leasing and financing providers.
asmag: How does i- PRO hedge the risk of offering financing to clients, especially in a rising interest rate environment?
Ovesny: The i-PRO FlexPay Program utilizes third-party financing and leasing with preferred partners that specialize in OEM technology financing that are structured to support our channel partner ecosystem. To ensure the i-PRO FlexPay offers competitive rates in the marketplace, our third-party financing and leasing partner’s rates are indexed against the U.S. Like-Term Treasury Swap Rates.
asmag: Multi-vendor bundling – which types of vendors are covered? Does this include access control vendors?
Ovesny: One of the biggest challenges faced by both purchasing officials and reseller partners is having to manage the exhaustive process of purchasing multiple brands or from various resellers who may be teaming up for a single project. Typically, this would require multiple leasing or financing contracts.
Unlike most VSaaS competitors that are closed-loop and limit third-party products, i-PRO products are based on an open platform and can work with multiple other vendors. i-PRO’s FlexPay Everything-as-a-Bundle option helps consolidate single-source purchasing: all elements of the security project, from multiple security technology vendors, can be included in the multi-vendor bundling option.
As an example, a K12 school district needs to add new cameras, access door control as well as metal detectors and parking lot barriers with electronic gates which will be financed. Typically, the K-12 school district would need separate quotes and separate financing for the cameras/ access control, the metal detectors, and the parking lot barriers with electronic gates. With the i-PRO FlexPay option, they will be able to include all elements of their projects under a single financing agreement.
i-PRO offers tools to simplify the process of preparing requests for proposals (RFPs) with its FlexPay Financing.
This informational page includes getting-started guidance for procurement officers, while the
i-PRO EZ-2 Portal provides FlexPay monthly payments for individual product SKUs as well as an i-PRO FlexPay calculator tool to provide Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates for preliminary budgetary planning for reseller partners and key integrators.
asmag comments
Economic uncertainty is on the rise, and many end users are anticipating or already facing budget cuts. We have seen other companies rolling out initiatives mean to help customers lower costs or utilize their budgets more efficiently.
Earlier this year in April, VSaaS provider Eagle Eye Networks introduced a new pricing option suitable for small-scale installations (under 4 cameras) where the
camera is included as part of the VMS subscription. Cameras are connected directly to the cloud without the need for an Eagle Eye Bridge thus lowering upfront investment costs.
Genetec, adopted a different approach by setting up the
Genetec Grants Support Team to help potential clients in the US public sector research, select, and apply for grant funding. Genetec’s goal is to help bridge a gap for public sector teams that may not have the resources available to research and apply for available grant opportunities.