Hewlett-Packard Russia announced last month that it had won an $18m contract with the SBRF, Savings Bank of the Russian Federation. By the end of this year, the Cupertino, California company will deliver 10,000 HP Vectra personal computers, along with networking products, printers, scanners and network servers. SBRF is the largest bank in Russia, with 30,000 branches and 200,000 employees. It holds the personal savings of approximately 70% of the Russian population. The Hewlett equipment will be used throughout Russia for data entry by clerks servicing customers and for back-office processing – providing the giant savings bank with the information needed to run its business. According to Justin Lifflander, Hewlett-Packard Russia’s district manager for corporate account sales, Hewlett was chosen for the contract as it offered the best product at the best price. He says the company was also at an advantage because it has Hewlett-Packard-authorized service center in 20 Russian cities. Another factor was that Hewlett was able to finance the deal through its own in-house Technology Finance Division. SBRF will be leasing the equipment from its own leasing subsidiary, the Russian-German Leasing Co. Hewlett-Packard will be providing the equipment through this leasing company via a flexible financing package. We met the customer’s requirements best and provided them with what they really needed, says Martin Probst, manager for technology finance at Hewlett-Packard Russia. Hew lett-Packard was prepared to show its commitment to the Russian market by shouldering financial risk, he says. Hewlett-Packard says it was selected by the bank over a wide range of competitors, including IBM Corp, Compaq Computer Corp, Digital Equipment Corp, AST Research Inc, and Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG. SBRF had a very good experience with Hewlett-Packard for a similar contract in 1994, said Yuri Bobilov, vice-president of the savings bank. Our regional banks were quite satisfied with Hewlett-Packard’s quality and performance. This latest contract will bring the installed base of Hewlett-Packard Vectra personal computers at SBRF to over 25,000. In 1994 Hewlett-Packard delivered to the SBRF 9,000 Vectra personal computers in a deal worth $23m.
