With reduced company revenues on account of South Africa’s extended lockdown, businesses are focusing on saving costs and rethinking the relationship with their equipment.
Leasing, rather than buying, essential hardware offers a quick solution for cash-strapped companies.
YBuy, a startup owned by JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms Group, provides corporate South Africa with delivered-to-the-door mobile and hardware rentals, such as cell phones, laptops, tablets and routers, with cost savings averaging 25% compared with purchasing.
In addition to cost savings, YBuy offers the convenience of a one-stop solution for the sourcing, repairs, insurance and replacement of the hardware and SIMs – a process usually fraught with complexity.
Through its innovative integrated mobility solutions, YBuy also facilitates the control of employee data usage.
By stopping data abuse, it solves a serious business challenge. Company-wide or employee-specific limits can be set on data, leading to predictable costs and the ability to track staff productivity.
The risks of theft and breakage are seamlessly handled by YBuy, so your business is not inconvenienced and device replacement is immediate as YBuy provides additional swap stock units.
Grant Defries, CEO of YBuy, says: “Leasing is a very popular model overseas but South Africans have preferred to rather own their tech. There’s no need to own expensive hardware that depreciates the moment you take off the packaging and too many of us have old devices gathering dust in our drawers. That’s tangible value you could be putting into your business.
“We started YBuy just before lockdown, but our service is even more necessary now. The YBuy rental model allows you to manage your business instead of your devices and you get better prices, shorter contracts, insurance, repairs, surplus stock to negate any downtime as well as on-demand upgrades even during the contract,” Defries explains.
One of YBuy’s clients is Aura, a platform that aggregates private armed response services.
Yaron Herr, operations manager of Aura, says: “Our rental agreement with YBuy allowed us to equip our entire network of security response agents with robust devices that ensure constant connectivity, which is essential in our field. The benefits of not having to worry about repairs, insurance or downtime make an already financially attractive model that much more valuable to our business.”
YBuy buys out existing network contracts for the residual value of the mobile device, in line with the bespoke contract terms it has with its customers.
Because of YBuy’s relationship with Blue Label Telecoms, customers benefit from discounts on products such as airtime and data bundles.
Rather than just putting your phone in a drawer at the end of a contract, YBuy will be able to sell it and you will get an upgrade.
YBuy was started by a team with extensive corporate experience and a deep understanding of what is needed to remove the hassle of necessary IT equipment. YBuy does a full device requirement analysis for each business unit and customises proposals relevant for each customer. This offering is available nationwide for businesses.
For a 12-month contract, the premium decreases by 40% in month 13 with the option of upgrading to a new contract with a new phone, purchasing the device at market value or exiting the contract at no charge. Alternatively, a 24-month contract comes with a 50% premium reduction in month 25.