Cisco has announced the launch of '0 Percent Financing for Cisco Multi-year Services Programme' in India to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) meet the rising demand for technology to succeed in business. With this innovative financing programme, Cisco aims to help SMBs transform their businesses with technology while lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) and enhancing the value of technology investments with flexible payment options.

Today, SMBs, like multinational companies, are looking to technology to improve business agility, operating efficiency and staff productivity. However, one of the biggest challenges for SMBs is their budget constraint, which hinders timely decisions on technology procurement and deployment, and as a result affects their business development.

"As part of our commitment to the SMB market, Cisco Services strives to bring to SMBs services and solutions that have long been affordable only to larger enterprises. With the introduction of these competitive offerings, we expect to see considerable growth in the SMB market," said G B Kumar, senior vice president, Customer Advocacy, Cisco India and SAARC.

"Most SMBs have realised that technology is critical to enhancing their competitiveness in the market, but on the other hand, many of them see technology as an expense that puts pressure on their company cash flow. The '0 Percent Financing for Cisco Multi-Year Services Programme' has been specially designed and introduced for SMBs to help them deal with this dilemma", said Gautam Munish, vice president, Cisco Capital, India and SAARC.

The above scheme will be offered by Cisco Services and Cisco Capital. It will provide an interest-free financing package for multi-year contracts for Technical Services, SMARTnet and Advanced Services programmes, to address the budget concerns SMBs face.

The programme provides SMBs with immediate return on investment (RoI) by allowing them to align their expenses with monthly revenue. It also helps lower TCO for a company, enabling effective management of cash flow and resources. With multi-year service contracts, SMBs can lock in current services pricing for years and eliminate the hassle of contract renewal.

Cisco Services finance offerings are available for SMBs purchasing Technical Services, SMARTnet and the Advanced Services Programme with a minimum deal size of $50,000 net per annum in India.