When thinking of equipment financing, most business owners imagine things such as heavy machinery for construction or production equipment for manufacturing. And it’s true that you can use an equipment loan to purchase this type of heavy equipment, from excavators and backhoes to restaurant food prep surfaces and ovens. However, the benefits of getting an equipment loan don’t stop there. You can also use this versatile financing to upgrade your business operations and bring them into the 21st century. Here are several financing ideas to inspire your entrepreneurial creativity.
Using Equipment Financing To Improve Energy Efficiency
Why not choose to save tons of money on electricity costs with energy-efficient systems for your business? Reducing energy usage can cut overhead significantly. You can take advantage of an equipment loan to upgrade many different systems:
- Energy-efficient air conditioners
- Smart thermostats
- Green heating and cooling systems
With a smart thermostat, your HVAC unit adapts automatically to temperature changes. Why should you continue heating your business at full power when no one is inside? Smart thermostats allow you to create presets that keep every space at ideal temperature during different parts of the day. They adapt temps to spend less energy on cooling when the sunlight isn’t very intense.
Green HVAC systems also include ground heat units and water heating systems, as well as dual fuel heating systems. All of these can save you a lot in total heating and cooling costs in addition to helping your business qualify for credits. Best of all, these options reduce the amount of time your personnel needs to worry about temperature control.
Upgrading Payment Systems for Modern Customers
With a high-tech point of sale system, you can take payment processing directly to your customers. This provides advantages to virtually every business, but especially hospitality businesses such as coffee shops and restaurants. Some restaurants equip every table with an attractive tablet, allowing customers to place their orders directly from the table. They can also request upgrades and entertainment.
Many coffee shops provide servers with armband tablets that allow for processing payments directly at the table. This has two advantages: it makes customers feel happy since they don’t have to get up and wait in line to pay, and it streamlines your operations, increasing the total amount of clients you can serve.
Modern POS equipment is great for retail businesses too. It allows you to adapt to multiple payment types, including credit cards, mobile payments and digital wallets. POS systems can keep track of other items your customers have purchased and coordinate inventory controls almost automatically. It’s clear that equipment financing can take your business into the future.
