Your laptop's 3-year leasing contract is a big scam

The three-year leasing model for laptops is a gimmick created solely for a business-minded market – one that disregards environmental concerns. It makes sense for leasing companies, but it is a poor solution for companies, writes Tuulia Virhiä, CEO of SwanIT.

My mission, and that of SwanIT, is to change the entire IT market. It means a change of mind, right in the management ranks of companies, and in all people who use IT. IT is still seen as a separate environmental issue that is not even considered. When was the last time your company thought about the responsibility of the IT industry? Exactly. It is human.

We do a lot of great things with IT that make other industries greener, for example, the green transition through IT and digitalisation. But we have completely forgotten that our IT industry itself is really environmentally heavy. We all have devices in our hands every day, and a disposable culture has developed around them.

The corporate world has created distorted processes

These processes for a disposable culture have been created in the corporate world. Meaning that devices are changed frequently and all the new goodies are wanted, even though the features no longer change much on an annual basis. We want to change this entire process in Finland and also worldwide.

It is of paramount importance that the company's IT management understands that we can no longer maintain the current disposable culture. Devices are our work tools, but we must keep them in use for as long as possible, just as production plants are used in industry.

Employees of companies also have a great opportunity to be changemakers. We would have done a really great environmental deed if we used our devices for, say, a year longer.

These things are wrong with equipment leasing contracts

1. The environment doesn't like it: To put it bluntly, everything is wrong with leasing agreements. When you buy something new to replace something old, the environment doesn't like it at all. It's the opposite of responsibility. Common sense says it all.

2. You waste time: It takes you an awful lot of time to replace new devices every two or three years. You have to transfer all your files to new devices, and then guess what will be left in the end. Think about your phone, which has all your family's photos, videos, and memories from a few years ago. You always have to guess whether the memories will transfer to the new phone.
   
   From an organisational perspective, it's a crazy and expensive hassle to replace a large number of intact devices. You have to negotiate with employees about which day each person will bring their device to the office, and when they now have to give those devices away because the leasing agreement says so. Just to mention one time-wasting thing.

3. You lose money: You buy new and expensive ones to replace the old ones. Why on earth? The three-year leasing model is a gimmick created for the market by a business mind. It makes sense for leasing companies, not for anyone else. It has nothing to do with the modern world anymore.
   
   The cost-benefit is absolutely huge, as the organisation does not have to buy new smartphones and laptops every couple of years. When talking about large organisations, it saves up to hundreds of thousands of euros per month! In smaller organisations, tons per month.

Book a free consultation meeting — and we'll tell you more

The financial benefits are therefore truly significant when a company switches to a responsible IT approach. At each of these stages, SwanIT is the expert who tells you directly when equipment becomes obsolete and which equipment is really worth replacing.

Contact us for a free assessment meeting with a low barrier to entry. Let's take your company to the most responsible and economically sensible equipment purchases.