Ocean Basket on track with finance solution

06.02.2006
Ocean Basket, a South Africa seafood franchise restaurant, has signed a 36-month Finance Rental IT Solution contract with Enterprise Connection (EC) to keep up to date with changing technology needs.

Ocean Basket approached EC three years ago, and the EC system has been operational since then. EC is contracted to supply all the new shops, as well as existing ones.

The rental solution works as follows: EC buys back the existing equipment from the company, relieving the company's balance sheet of all its technology equipment, including hardware, software, copiers, fax machines, and, in some cases, even maintenance and support. Once EC owns the equipment, the company rents it from EC at a highly competitive rate.

EC will upgrade the equipment on a time-to-time basis. The company is guaranteed at least one platform jump in technology. At upgrade point, on month 26, the effective interest rate paid will be between 3 percent and 8 percent.

According to Richard Sutherland, account manager at EC: "We have developed a template for Ocean Basket. All the company has to do is place the order for a new shop to be fitted, and we deliver and install the product on time. Testing is done at the EC offices beforehand, which reduces installation time and the possibility of failure on site."

It takes approximately two weeks for a product to be assembled, tested and installed. Each franchise has a separate contract with EC, which is overseen by the Ocean Basket head office. EC is contacted directly if an upgrade is required.