Lilly Authorized to Offer IBM Financing
Lilly Software Associates Inc. (Hampton, N.H.), makers of several enterprise-level manufacturing software packages, have announced the signing of an agreement with IBM Global Financing (IGF) whereby Lilly is authorized to offer IGF services to Lilly customers.
IGF, which includes IBM Credit Corp. in the United States, was created to provide flexible financing and leasing solutions, with the goal of facilitating customer acquisition of IT hardware, software and services.
"This new partnership with IGF will allow our future customers to work with a financier that offers complete 'one stop' financing for hardware, software and services," says Jeff Holway, IBM Alliance Manager with Lilly Software. "Plus, IGF offers the highest customer satisfaction rating in the industry."
The key benefit of IGF financing, according to an IBM spokesperson, is that it "can help customers begin to reap the benefits of new IT solutions without having to make a large payment up front." According to published reports, this is especially important to small and midrange manufacturers for whom the purchase of software, maintenance and new hardware to support the system is a significant budget item.
This financing agreement marks the second Lilly Software/IBM joint announcement since the beginning of the year. Lilly announced in January that customers can purchase IBM's AS/400e servers preloaded with VISUAL Manufacturing, Lilly's flagship enterprise resource planning (ERP) and advanced planning and scheduling (APS) solution. Lilly's VISUAL Manufacturing solution also includes a manufacturing execution system (MES) component.
--L. Greenemeier