David Buck, General Manager of Innovent South Africa. (Image: supplied)
As rising IT costs, supply chain instability and shrinking budget flexibility impact organizations, businesses are being forced to rethink how they fund technology.
Innovent South Africa, a specialist provider of IT leasing and asset management solutions, says traditional procurement models are placing increasing financial pressure on organizations as global hardware costs continue to rise and supply chain instability impacts technology availability in many regions.
According to Gartner, worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $6.15 trillion in 2026Represents year-over-year growth of 10.8%, driven by increased infrastructure and hardware-related spending rather than discretionary innovation spending. In South Africa, these pressures are being exacerbated by currency volatility and delayed refresh cycles, with many organizations now facing a backlog of aging infrastructure at a time when pricing remains unpredictable.
David Buck, general manager of Innovent South Africa, says many organizations are still relying on procurement approaches that no longer align with current market conditions.
“Businesses are under pressure from every direction, from rising OEM pricing, extended lead times, limited budgets and increasing operating demands. Yet many organizations are still financing technology through large upfront capital purchases that immediately tie up working capital, reducing balance sheet flexibility and limiting the organization's ability to respond to new opportunities or shocks,” he explains.
“As markets become more volatile, organizations need purchasing strategies that improve flexibility, preserve cash flow and create predictable financial planning. The biggest risk is no longer the technology itself, but the financial model used to purchase it, which can quietly destroy cash flow, increase total cost of ownership and reduce organizational flexibility over time.”
Innovent South Africa believes the shift from capital expenditure-heavy procurement towards more flexible opex-based consumption models is accelerating as organizations seek to reduce the risk of fluctuating pricing and supply chain disruption. Through structured technology financing and life cycle management frameworks, organizations are able to spread technology costs over fixed monthly terms while aligning payments more closely with operational needs and business growth.
Buck says this approach is becoming increasingly important as businesses prioritize financial agility and operational continuity. “The conversation is no longer just about acquiring technology, it's about how businesses fund technology in a way that protects working capital and enables long-term sustainability.”
In addition to funding flexibility, ongoing stock shortages and inconsistent hardware availability are creating greater complexity across Africa, where supply constraints, import dependence and fragmented distribution channels create greater complexity than in more mature markets.
To mitigate this, Innovent South Africa operates an OEM-agnostic sourcing model between multiple distributors and OEM partners, helping organizations reduce reliance on single supply channels while improving purchasing flexibility. This allows Innovent to structure hybrid solutions, combining new, refurbished and bridging assets while traditional procurement channels cannot, optimizing both cost and availability.
Where lead times for new hardware become impractical, refurbished bridging solutions can provide short-term operational continuity while businesses wait for preferred stock availability.
He emphasized that organizations waiting for pricing or supply chains to stabilize may increasingly expose themselves to unnecessary financial and operational risk. “Innovent is seeing increasing demand from clients who are looking to shift more than 60% of their technology spend to OPEX-aligned models, a trend that reflects a fundamental rethinking of how technology investments are structured.
He concluded, “The market has fundamentally changed. Organizations that adapt their procurement and funding models now will put themselves in a far stronger position to manage volatility, protect cash flow, and scale more effectively in the future.”