Progression
Missing Piece is continually investing in new technologies and service strategies to keep their customers progressing and growing as they face new challenges. Large players, like Microsoft and Google, are offering similar IT outsourcing solutions on a large scale. This is increasing the demand for more data center capacity, which is driving up prices. In the financial sector specifically, companies are converging and growing, meaning their IT systems have to converge and scale up as well. In 2018, Missing Piece was ready to take the next step in performance and efficiency by moving to the new Cisco HyperFlex data center technology. It unifies compute, storage and networking in a single compact system that takes up a fraction of the space of separate components in a data center. It provides strong performance and scalability to enable higher user productivity and less downtime, and support business expansion. Missing Piece asked DLL to help them finance a considerable sum for the equipment required to make the shift.
“The amount they were asking for was quite large compared to their balance total, so DLL did not feel comfortable taking on the full risk for this contract. At the same time, we believed fully in Missing Piece’s vision and business solidity,” says Van Beek. “DLL partnered with Cisco Capital, Cisco’s financing captive, to meet the customer’s needs. We all came together to discuss the possibilities. I’ve never been in this situation before, but we knew Missing Piece well enough to consider such an approach.” Van Dam: “We sat down with the credit analysts from Cisco Capital and DLL and had a very open discussion with them about our financials and vision for our company and services. This helped them understand the story behind the facts and figures. It’s amazing that we could have this conversation.” Ultimately, DLL and Cisco Capital both funded approximately 50% of the deal to share the financial risk. “This is true evidence of DLL’s focus on the customer. They do everything they can to make it work for the customer. This really exemplifies how strong the relationships are between all three parties. I also think it represents the direction of financial solutions in the future,” says Van Dam.
The new solution has been up and running for about a year with 60%-70% of the equipment funded in production. Van Dam: “This is a much better environment that raises performance for our systems. They are running faster and more dependably, and that’s the most important thing for our customers. It also gives us the scalability we need for customers that are converging with other companies and growing. We can now scale up a system from 100 to 200 users without blinking an eye. That’s huge for us!” The move has been economically beneficial as well. “This system takes up much less space so our operational costs are down. We are earning back our investment and a bit more,” says Van Dam. By taking a collaborative approach to equipment leasing, DLL has helped Missing Piece establish a forward-looking platform that makes financial sense and will help them continue to improve their services to customers and innovate their business going ahead.