Hey, have you heard about this new AI thing?
I’m kidding – of course you have. You can’t watch or read the news today without hearing about AI, and if you follow the stock market even a little bit, it’s been front and center for nearly two years now.
AI is pretty amazing so far, and it will only get bigger, better, and more useful. While it’s difficult to predict any kind of definitive applications, I feel comfortable saying it will be an essential part of our lives, especially in a business sense.
One thing I do feel will happen is that many industries will see a definitive AI software application introduced in the next few years. It’ll be one of those industry-specific applications that will become the gold standard. Either you get it, or you’re on the outside looking in.
While I cannot predict what industries this will happen to or what the applications will actually do, I can tell you that Crest Capital will likely finance it.
Software financing is something I don’t talk about a lot. This is because equipment financing is traditionally thought about in the tangible equipment sense – machinery, vehicles, fixtures, trailers, heavy equipment, office machines, computers and servers, and many others. Software usually doesn’t spring to mind.
However, it should, because there’s a lot of industry-specific software out there that’s quite expensive and a great candidate for financing. That Point of Sale (POS) system that only your industry uses can be quite costly.
For example, take an auto parts store – they use software specifically tailored to their services. However, it likely costs as much to develop as common business applications used everywhere. But there’s a massive difference in potential sales. Where every office in town might use a common business application, how many auto parts stores are in your town? One? Two at most? Maybe none? That drives the price waaaay up. That’s why the specific software your company probably uses costs so much.
Heck, staying on the auto theme, I knew a guy who developed an application specifically for tire retreading (I helped him write the manual for it.) Since his customer base was so small, he had to charge a premium for this piece of software (a finance-worthy premium). But it made operations so much easier that it was worth it for his clients.
Yup, software financing is something we definitely do, and I feel the need for it will be growing in the next few years as well. We’re here if you need us!