There are several ways to get hardware into your business, and the right one depends on how you want to handle cost, control, and what happens to the equipment at the end of its life. Here’s a quick overview of the ownership models on the table, and where Cistor’s own Sustainable Hardware as a Service offering fits in.
Outright ownership
This is the traditional model: equipment is purchased directly from vendors like Cisco, and the organisation handles maintenance, upgrades, and decommissioning independently. From a financial perspective, hardware qualifies as capital expenditure and depreciates over time, becoming costlier to maintain as it ages. This approach suits businesses that want complete control over their hardware and have a dedicated IT team to manage it, though the upfront and ongoing maintenance costs can be substantial.
Hardware leasing
Leasing involves renting equipment from a leasing company rather than purchasing it outright. At the end of the agreement, the equipment typically returns to the lessor, though some arrangements offer a purchase option via a balloon payment. Support and maintenance may be included in the contract or handled in-house. While leasing spreads the cost across regular payments, it still carries capital expenditure implications because of the underlying financial transaction on a physical asset.
Hardware as a Service
Hardware as a Service (HaaS) works more like the way businesses already consume software-as-a-service. Organisations pay for access to hardware rather than owning it outright, with the supplier retaining ownership. There are no upfront costs, and the supplier manages upgrades, maintenance, support, and replacing broken equipment. The hardware received may be remanufactured. Financially, this is an operational cost rather than a capital one, which suits organisations looking to reduce fixed assets on the balance sheet.
Sustainable Hardware as a Service
Cistor’s own offering combines HaaS with sustainability built in. Cistor owns the assets and provides managed shipping and recovery services, with every solution backed by Cisco’s manufacturer warranty and Smartnet support. The approach blends Cisco Refresh remanufactured equipment alongside new gear, reducing carbon impact without sacrificing performance. Cisco Capital’s Green Pay financial solution ensures equipment is returned to Cisco at end of life, supporting Cisco’s own goal of 100% product takeback. Clients also receive comprehensive ESG and carbon impact metrics throughout the product’s lifecycle, not just at the point of purchase.
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