Leasing to Save Costs, Increase Productivity

Q: In which areas do you provide asset management solutions?

A: At CHG Meridian, we offer four asset leasing solutions. The first is IT solutions for IT-related infrastructure and assets, such as laptops, mobile phones, computers and workstations. In the 27 countries where we are present, this is the biggest segment. The second solution we offer is fleet management. This means all kinds of vehicles, such as cargo and executive vehicles. The third segment is healthcare, where we lease medical equipment. Currently, many healthcare institutions are making investments due to the COVID-19 crisis. The last solution is industrial equipment. This includes all kinds of machinery, such as forklifts. Mexico is a strong manufacturing country, which creates high demand in this area. Overall, there are many companies in the country that are benefiting from our leasing solutions to access the assets they need and manage them in a good way. Many of our clients are very large companies, leasing between 10,000 to 20,000 assets with us.

Q: Do you work with particular suppliers for your leasing solutions?

A: One of our strengths is that we can integrate any supplier and brand from Asia, the US, Europe and Latin America. Our leasing solutions do not just include the hardware but also services to facilitate roll out and installation, maintenance, transportation, deinstallation and replacement. In addition, there are multiple components we can integrate depending on clients’ needs. We see ourselves as a solution provider; we are not a bank. Yes, we provide financial solutions, but we also consult on asset management. We have experts who have been in the market for many years and they consult on the project timeline, models of assets that are most suitable and more. The goal is to be a single point of contact for our client. There is no need to lease with one company and contract services with another. 

Q: How do companies manage assets in Mexico today?

A: Some companies are still using excel spreadsheets to manage their assets. Everything is handled manually. You can imagine this is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. Many companies do not have a good overview of all their assets. CHG Meridian has designed a software solution called Tesma that is specifically designed for asset management. Everything that is part of the leasing contract is automatically uploaded to this platform and the client has access to it. As a result, they have full visibility of their assets. They can see the models, the serial numbers of each asset, their locations, the monthly rent and the expiration date of the contract. Leasing equipment is very attractive because our contracts allow a renewal of equipment every three to four years.

There are significant additional costs that come with owning old assets. We conducted studies with clients and found that after a few years, laptops, for example, begin to cost exponentially more due to maintenance and service costs. By leasing through us, a company can see a massive reduction in their costs related to assets. This can be as high as up to 20 percent. In addition, because they have continuous access to new equipment, productivity is also increased.

Q: How can Mexico speed up its digital transformation?

A: COVID-19 is speeding up this process. Many companies in Mexico still do not really believe in digital transformation, such as the modern workplace concept where employees can be connected anywhere and anytime. We provide consulting on these modern solutions, so companies can speed up this shift. What we often see is that there is a budget problem for companies when it comes to investing in new IT infrastructure. However, leasing can provide a solution for that, because it does not require a one-time big investment. During this crisis, our company at a global level has seen more demand from companies for mobile assets, such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones. We expect this segment to grow much more. In Mexico, we probably will not see a wide-scale shift to full home office mode but definitely there will be more flexibility in work location.

Q: What new niches of products might you start leasing to companies?

A: We are always following the new technology trends in the market. Mobile phone leasing is growing very fast in Europe. Forklifts continue to be in demand. Another trend is 3D-computers, which we expect will start growing soon as well.

Q: What are your growth expectations for the Mexican market in the next two years?

A: We expect the economy to pick up in 3Q20. Next year, we should see double-digit growth again. Mexico is one of the fastest-growing markets for leasing. There is still a lot of potential for growth. For IT infrastructure and healthcare there are many opportunities, as there are in the other verticals where we are present, including automotive, aerospace, food and beverages, retail and pharmaceuticals. Our solutions are particularly well-suited for managing very large numbers of assets, but we can work with medium to smaller-sized companies, too.

CHG Meridian is a German company that provides leasing solutions in 27 countries. It offers a digital software platform called Tesma specifically for asset management