There can be no organization in the IT industry from vendor to IT department who has not at one point or other had an issue with excess, redundant or ‘end of life’ stock. Stock Issues turning a problem into an opportunity.
The cause of this excess stock is often not caused by poor stock management, it could be that a project has changed direction mid implementation, the client changes the goal posts or goods have been miss ordered. In fact the reasons are legion but what characterises them all is that the person holding the stock is losing money every minute that they are unable to sell it. Often organisations try to hide the issue for months or even years keeping the stock on the books at the original cost price, just putting off the day when they have to take the hit and scrap the stock or offload it at a significant loss. If only they realised that there is an organisation that can help them turn this problem into a business opportunity they could save themselves great heartache, reduce their losses and improve their cash flow. Mathew Archer, Managing Director of International Computer Purchasing Ltd, explains how his company is used by many IT organisations to turn their problem stock into pots of gold, every day we come up against situations where vendors, distributors, resellers and even IT departments have a stock problem that they have been agonising over for ages. What we are able to do is look at each situation individually and come up with a tailored solution for the client. In fact our experience shows that there are no two situations that are identical. The stock issue may be similar but the business environment and pressures are almost always very different. What are needed are specialist solutions to meet each organisation s individual needs. ICP has been involved in deals which vary massively from major systems integrators who are stuck
With thousands of IT devices from a project that has gone bad or where the wrong stock was ordered to small IT resellers who have returned goods that are now outside the distributors’ returns policy. Across Europe they have helped service providers and major enterprises clear datacentres ready for new architectures and distributors clear their shelves of end of life products or products past their rotation period with the vendor.
The important issue for all our clients is to turn viable stock into working capital before it has festered and hit their bottom line, explains Mathew Archer. “Every month they ignore the issue the harder it becomes to realise a decent return.
However when we negotiate a deal with our channel partners we take into consideration the value of the stock on their balance sheet. In this mature IT market we understand that margins are tight and that they can’t just write-off stock. Our long term partners know that they can tell us what they want to achieve and we will make it happen. We have built up a great deal of trust across the IT channel over the years by having empathy with their business issues.
For an industry that moves so fast and with so many changes in technology, stock will continue to be an issue. Even the best planning and foresight cannot always make companies immune from a potential stock nightmare. It is important therefore to have a business partner who understands and can take away the pain.
Our role is buying and selling IT equipment and we scrap less than 2% of the stock we buy in or exchange. This means that we can put a real value against an organisations stock liability and structure a deal that suits both parties, claims Mathew Archer. If you have a stock issue and would like to discuss how we can help you then just give me a call on 01625 856 480 or drop me an email at sales@icpnetworks.co.uk