The only alternative to loans.

This statement may come as no surprise to anyone -- Banks are not lending money.  Banks have been slowly cutting down riskier lending divisions such as software leasing.  A lot of the financing options that were attainable in the past for Business Management Software are simply not available anymore.  It appears that the only way to purchase Business Management Software or ERP systems in today's market is to purchase it with cash.  However, making a large cash purchase negatively affects the cash flow position of a company. 

Cash flow is the primary means of survival for a business.  The majority of businesses fail because they run out of cash to support their business expenses.  In today's economy, businesses are watching their cash flow closely.  Since most businesses are concerned about their cash flow, most businesses will not risk outlaying cash for any major expense.  Cash flow to a business is like food supply for a person.  If this person is in an environment which others are starving to death, they will not give their food supply away lightly.  Even if they have plenty of food supply saved, they will hold on to it in case they come short in the following month. 

In Egypt, the traditional way of purchasing a property is by paying the owner of the property a discounted amount of the total value of the house and then paying a monthly fee to compensate for the difference.  For example, if an apartment in Egypt cost 100,000 Egyptian Pounds, the buyer would pay the developer/owner 30,000 Egyptian Pounds and an additional monthly fee of 3,000 Egyptian Pounds with NO INTEREST.  This monthly fee of 3,000 Egyptian Pounds may also include amenities such as common maintenance fees.  At the time which the new owner would want to resell the apartment, he would sell his contract to the new buyer.  So he or she may sell the contract for 33,000 Egyptian Pounds a year later.  However, the new buyer would have to continue paying the monthly fee of 3,000 Egyptian Pounds to the original developer/owner.  The reason that real estate was sold this way was because of the lack of bank lending within Egyptian history.  This method was a compromise between the seller and the buyer.  Since 100,000 Egyptian Pounds may take a long time to save, the seller would accept a lesser pay for the property with an expectation of a steady cash flow for the future.  It is quite interesting to note that many people in Egypt are paying the original monthly fee specified in the contract which has been passed down from generation to generation.  I have heard of people paying as little as 10 Egyptian Pounds a month, (equivalent to less than 2 dollars) because this was the inherited contractual agreement that their great grandfather had made when purchasing the property.

So since we see a lack of bank lending in today's economy, Orchestra has decided to sell Financial Management Software the same way Egyptians traditionally sold property.  Orchestra will be releasing an alternative to traditional leasing or traditional cash purchases known as "Live".   Orchestra's "Live" products allow Small and Midsized Enterprises to pay only a fraction of the total cost of the project while having a low monthly payment which would include support and hosting.  No more filling out tedious forms or giving away your private information to banks.  Our "Live" products are simply a compromise between us and our potential client in order to give them our products and services at a price which they can afford.

Orchestra, LLC will be releasing its "Live" products late summer 2009.

Reshad Kazimee
Director of Business Developement
Orchestra, LLC