Customers want to lease, not own, products.

Henrik Romilson, DLL (left) and Erik Karlander, Office Management (right)

Three broad trends dominate the worldwide business climate: digitalisation; customer experiences – not products – create value; and customers want to lease, not own, products. Office Management works with all three of these in close collaboration with DLL.

It’s a Tuesday morning at the Office Management headquarters in Kista, Stockholm. The smell of freshly ground coffee beans fill the room as an espresso machine whirrs into action in the lobby café. Company Vice President Erik Karlander greets us welcome and leads us on a guided tour of this fast-growing company.

Office Management was founded in 1993 by IT contractor Johan Tilander, among others. Today, the company is one of the leading Nordic providers of IT, telephony, visual communication, document management and facility management services.

Office Management’s business idea is to tailor comprehensive solutions for small and medium sized companies at a fixed price per employee per month.

DLL delivers simplicity
In order to offer solutions where everything is included in the monthly cost – from hardware to services – Office Management collaborates with the financial solutions provider DLL, De Lage Landen Finans AB.

"Our business philosophy is to deliver simplicity to our customers which is what DLL does for us. They offer customer financing solutions, such as hardware investments. And we provide the service for a monthly fee. Combined, this creates a good end product for the customer," says Karlander.

A popular solution
In 2016, Office Management supplied corporate services and solutions to over 8,000 Nordic customers and posted sales of SEK 1.1 billion, a 27 percent spike over 2015.

"Our customers want to focus on their core business, yet IT has increasingly become a key issue that permeates all business developments and demands attention. Many companies hesitate with digitalisation, but we have lots of experience and can help to implement these solutions for them," says Karlander.

Choosing a financial solutions provider is also important in relation to the end customer.

“100 SEK is the same whether we get them from DLL or another company. It's the relationships around the money that makes us choose to work with DLL,” continues Karlander.

What makes the relationship special?
"We take over central and business-sensitive features for our customers. They must feel that they can depend on us throughout the deal. Therefore, it is important to collaborate with a financial solutions provider that treats our customers with the same care as we do. DLL understands this well," says Karlander.

But DLL also offers practical features that simplify daily work for Office Management sales reps and others.

Henrik Romilson is DLL’s Key Account Manager for Office Management in the Stockholm region and spends five days a week in their offices, a testament to how close the two companies are.

"Being familiar with our partners' industries and understanding their business is part of how DLL works. We need to be close to our customers, get to know them, so that we can offer good support," says Romilson.

Tight relations
In addition to those who have daily contact with Office Management's sales staff, credit managers or business support staff at DLL, or with Henrik Romilson in particular, Office Management and DLL hold regular meetings to discuss current credit requests and billing issues.

"To get paid quickly is important from a cash management perspective," says Karlander.

Top management at Office Management and DLL meet regularly to jointly develop the collaboration and offering to Office Management's customers, something Erik Karlander appreciates.

“DLL is responsive to our needs and is at the forefront of the market. They offer, for example, e-signature services, have a well-developed web interface for our staff, and a mobile app that gives sales staff an overview of credit inquiries and agreements when they are out on customer sites. But above all, DLL has good routines. This allows them to handle the cases safely and quickly. Things never go wrong,” says Karlander.

"And then it's the people. DLL has amazing employees, not least in support functions. Credits is an area that is surrounded by legislation, and it is not always easy. At the same time, many of our sales staff are young so it is very important for us that they can turn to DLL's support to quickly get answers to any questions they may have.”

Erik Karlander has one last word before ending the interview:
"DLL’s Nordic heritage has been good for our growth in the region and enabled us to offer the same financial solutions in all the Nordic countries. And DLL can just as easily help us expand outside the Nordic region. There are few financial companies in the Swedish market which are as global as DLL. It is worth considering a financial solutions partner with long-term growth potential.”