Bull Finance Services designed for Higher Education

Bull Financial Services (BFS) has designed a financial arrangement to support our portfolio of solutions and associated services, with particular reference to the requirements of our Higher Education customers.

Background to Development of Storage Finance Plan

Bull solutions and services are designed to deliver a flexible architecture with the ability to accommodate the future changes and growth within institutions. The objective of BFS is to allow Higher Education customers to take advantage of this, and make payments to suit their own requirements regarding capital versus revenue expenditure.

Technology Refresh

One of the key objectives of financing infrastructure is to enable institutions adopt new technology which is appropriate for their requirements as they evolve and as and when new technology emerges. By carefully managing and designing the finance plan, new technology can be accommodated bearing in mind the requirements of:

• Change management
• SLA improvement
• Cost reduction
• Risk mitigation
• Environmental sustainability strategies

The BFS Finance Plan can take account of change, and be designed to accommodate increases or decreases in requirement during the period of the plan.

Residual Value Management

BFS can assign a guaranteed future value to technology - thus enabling its customers to finance equipment at reduced rates, and to offer an arrangement for the disposal of equipment, if required, at the end of the plan.

This approach means that where appropriate Bull's customers can benefit from:

• Equipment that can be leased at rates below those under normal finance leases
• The option for payments to be made from Revenue budget rather than Capital expenditure

In order to assist in the problem of 'Funding and sustainable resourcing of IT' some institutions require financing approaches that allow them to treat all the payments that are necessary under the plan as Capital Expenditure. This often benefits those customers who have access to capital, but may have limited or no future operating revenue from which to pay ongoing costs. In this way BFS can adapt the plan to suit an institution's specific requirement regarding the balance sheet treatment of the plan.

Payment Flexibility and Cashflow Management

Matching Cashflows:

Where a business case for a project relies upon future benefits to justify the upfront investment, it is possible to develop a series of payments where the amounts and timings are matched to the benefits as they are achieved. Bull Financial Services has the expertise to assist its customers to include Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return analyses in order to validate and justify investment decisions.

Budget Management:

Where an institution has a need to meet pre-determined budget figures, or when allocation of budget in any particular period is fixed, then it is possible to ensure that the payment profiles required by the Finance Plan are designed to adhere to this pattern of expenditure. In this way, institutions can implement a project, and derive the anticipated benefits from it, whilst ensuring that payments are matched to budgets as and when they become available.

Sale and Leaseback of Existing Equipment

Where an institution has a significant investment in existing equipment, Bull can include the option to buy back the equipment and include the amount realised from this exercise in the Finance Plan. This can allow its customers to take advantage of newer technology (with associated lower costs of ownership and reduced carbon emissions) and also overcomes any problems that might be associated with integrating newer technology with existing older technology.

Summary

By contracting with Bull under the BFS Finance Plan, Higher Educational customers can achieve some or all of the following benefits:

• New infrastructure can be implemented as and when the requirement emerges.
• Technology requirements can be planned and refreshed on an ongoing basis.
• BFS can include product, professional services, and support under one package.
• Reduced costs are possible through Bull residual value investment.
• The ability to treat payments according to balance sheet requirements, and to structure payments to meet budgetary or cashflow considerations.
• Older technology can be replaced under a sale and leaseback arrangement.