In this interview Comms Business talks to James Gunson, Director & Co-Founder of Freedom Technology. Leasing is a great way to ease the financial pressures your business can come up against on a regular basis and Freedom think they have a great proposition for the Channel to get their teeth stuck into.
Comms Business Magazine (CBM): Take me through your proposition, what are you key USPs? What kind of problems are you resolving?
James Gunson (JG): Freedom Tech is proactively working with dealers and vendors to enable their business customers the ability to get the latest smartphone and rent it over a 24 month period, that is considerable more cost effective than paying for the device up front. We have a deep understanding of the smartphone market and when combining this with our ability to offer finance to business customers we have created an offering that is second to none in terms of upgrade path, flexibility, UK data wiping and recycling and sales coverage across the country. By setting up FlexIT Mobile we are allowing dealers to speed up their ability to churn the handsets whilst also using the customer’s balance sheet to fund the assets rather than gearing up their own.
CBM: UK Channel strategy, what is your plan to push your services through Channel?
JG: Using our national sales team we are working with Vendors and dealers to set up white label FlexIT mobile programmes that are tailored to each dealers individual needs and requirements. Our dedicated account management team are always on hand to provide training to the sales team, create bespoke quoting tools linking to the dealers sales methodology and answer any customer queries.
CBM: Do you consider yourself a Digital Transformation enabler, what does that term mean to you?
JG: Technology is at the heart of everything that we do, we are constantly looking at ways of utilising technology to enhance our offering and have also created programmes in partnership with Microsoft that give access to students to the latest devices to help create the digital leaders of the future.
CBM: What is currently the biggest threat for partners in your eyes?
JG: Having the ability to offer their business customers access to the most suitable SIM and smart phone package without having to use their own balance sheet to self-fund all of these transactions. Partners aren’t banks and are using their own cash flow to fund deals which puts a strain on their finances when money should be better invested in the day to day growth of the business.
CBM: What will we see from your Freedom over the next 12 months, how does that play into a fast moving/ diverse Channel landscape?
JG: Next 12 months are going to see us coming to market with a number of key partners offering highly flexible smartphone rental programmes and proactively working with our channel to offer upgrade and buyback options to help increase volume on profit for the partners that we are supporting.