IBM Romania: Financing solutions and services raised the company’s business at the beginning of the year

“We believe that there has been an increase and acceleration in opportunities in the service area since the beginning of the year. This is obviously connected to the fact that more companies have less money to invest, but more funds for operating activities. Moreover, it is obvious that you can no longer provide products and services, especially in the current context, and must think about the competitive edge you can present to your clients for the business processes they unfold,” Mihai Tudor, Country Manager for IBM Romania, told Business Standard.

The increasingly restrictive access of companies to financing, which is affecting the software and service market, has raised client interest in financing solutions provided by IBM. Tudor added that in a situation in which the priority of every financial manager is to ensure and preserve the company’s necessary cash-flow, and considering that in the project implementation period costs are usually higher than benefits which will appear later, “it is obvious that we may have clients asking to make the payment of such projects in installments.” IBM provides such an option, for both software and acquired services, with clients being able to pay in fixed installments for the duration of the contract.

Company officials said that the growth rate registered on emerging markets, including Romania, amounted to some 10 percent in 2008, down from the 20 percent rise in 2007.