Multi-Billion Dollar Market is Featured in ELFA Panel Discussion with Melisa Carter
Webinar Registration – Cloud Computing >
Financing for cloud computing represents a sizeable opportunity for the nimble as the new market is estimated to grow to $32.3 billion by 2015, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation which issued “Financing the Cloud—a Market Study.” However, it will require a level of flexibility that goes beyond common financing programs in the marketplace today. Contracts will need to change, portfolios will behave differently, and the risk profile will be unique, said Melisa Carter, a consultant with The Alta Group. She is a panelist in the ELFA webinar on this subject Nov. 2.
Cloud computing is a service that involves offering information technology applications via the Intranet or Internet and may or may not include equipment. It is equipment agnostic said Carter.
She suggested that technology and office leasing companies may be the most comfortable with this entirely new area of business because the financing model could, in part, be structured like the pay-per-copy model used in copy machine financing. The difference is that there is little or no underlying equipment for collateral, Carter explained.
Carter also noted that captives are already preparing for this new area of business as well.
The webinar panel also features two presenters from Key Equipment Finance: Warren Edris, vice president of IT Asset Management and Mic Mount, senior vice president/chief credit officer. Attendees will learn about the differences between private and public clouds, the legal, tax, and accounting considerations, and how financing is likely to be structured.
