ePlus: how an equipment-finance business became a services-led technology provider

ePlus spent most of its history helping customers buy technology and finance it at the same time. That combination made sense when enterprise IT revolved around large purchases of servers, networking equipment and other assets that companies wanted to spread over several years.

The technology market eventually changed. Cloud subscriptions, cybersecurity, managed services and artificial intelligence pushed customers toward more flexible consumption models and deeper technical support. ePlus changed with them, expanding from financing and procurement into a broad technology-solutions business.

Then, in 2025, the company made a decisive break with its origins: it sold its US financing business. By 2026, ePlus was positioning itself as a more focused technology and services provider, with networking, cloud, security, professional services and managed services at the centre of the company.

Bruce Bowen founded ePlus from a leasing background

Bruce Bowen founded ePlus in 1990 after building a career in equipment leasing and finance.

The original opportunity was straightforward. Businesses needed expensive technology equipment, but many preferred to finance those assets rather than pay the full cost upfront.

Leasing also created a lifecycle-management problem. Customers needed to track equipment, understand contract terms and decide what to do when a lease ended.

ePlus developed around both sides of that need: arranging financing and helping organisations manage technology assets over time.

The 1996 IPO gave the company room to expand

ePlus completed its initial public offering in November 1996 and began building beyond its original leasing focus.

The company used acquisitions and internal expansion to deepen its technology-sales capabilities and broaden its geographic footprint.

That changed the role ePlus played with customers. Instead of appearing only when a company needed financing, ePlus increasingly participated in selecting, procuring and deploying the technology itself.

Financing remained an advantage because the company could connect the commercial structure of a project with the underlying hardware and software purchase.

Enterprise IT became more complex than a hardware order

As data centres, networks and security systems became more complicated, enterprise customers needed more than access to equipment.

A networking project might require architecture work, installation, software, security controls and ongoing support. Cloud adoption then added another layer because customers were mixing owned infrastructure with subscription services and public-cloud resources.

ePlus responded by building professional and managed services around its product business.

The company increasingly described itself as a technology adviser rather than a reseller. The distinction matters because hardware can be bought from many suppliers, while design expertise and ongoing operations can create a longer customer relationship.

Security became one of the most important solution areas

Cybersecurity grew into a major part of the ePlus portfolio as customers added cloud services, remote work and more connected systems.

Security projects often involve several technology layers at once: identity, network controls, endpoint protection, cloud configuration and monitoring. That complexity fits the ePlus model because the company works across multiple vendors rather than selling one proprietary security product.

The same multi-vendor approach extends to networking, collaboration, data-centre infrastructure and cloud.

ePlus therefore makes money not by inventing most of the underlying products, but by combining technologies from different suppliers into systems that work together for the customer.

Acquisitions helped ePlus build service capacity

ePlus has used acquisitions for decades to add customer relationships, expertise and geographic reach.

One of the most significant recent deals came in August 2024 when ePlus acquired Bailiwick Services.

Bailiwick specialises in large-scale technology integration and deployment across store, branch and campus networks. Its customers are concentrated in industries such as retail, financial services, restaurants and hospitality, where technology has to be rolled out consistently across many physical locations.

The transaction added hundreds of employees and strengthened ePlus in areas including edge computing, physical security, audio-visual systems and logistics.

That capability is increasingly useful as customer-facing businesses deploy more sensors, digital displays, network equipment and AI-enabled systems outside the traditional data centre.

The financing business stopped fitting the long-term strategy

Financing had been part of ePlus since the company’s foundation, but by the middle of the 2020s it no longer sat at the centre of the growth plan.

The technology business was becoming more services-led, while management wanted capital for acquisitions and expansion in higher-growth areas.

In June 2025, ePlus agreed to sell its US financing subsidiaries to PEAC Solutions. The transaction closed on 30 June.

ePlus received approximately US$180 million in cash proceeds, along with a post-closing receivable and contingent consideration.

The sale was a genuine strategic break. A company founded by an equipment-leasing executive was choosing to become a more focused technology-solutions provider without the domestic financing operation that had shaped its original identity.

The post-financing company grew quickly in fiscal 2026

ePlus reported strong results for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2026.

Net sales from continuing operations reached US$2.44 billion, up 22.1% from the previous year. Gross billings increased 17% to US$3.84 billion.

Services revenue rose 15.6% to US$462.9 million. Professional services contributed US$273.4 million, while managed services generated US$189.4 million.

Net earnings from continuing operations increased 62.4% to US$124.1 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose nearly 50% to US$204.8 million.

The figures showed that ePlus could grow after removing the financing business from continuing operations rather than depending on that legacy segment to support profitability.

Networking, cloud and security drove product growth

Product sales remained the largest part of ePlus in fiscal 2026, reaching almost US$2 billion.

Growth came particularly from networking, cloud and security products. These areas reflect where enterprise infrastructure spending has shifted as organisations modernise data centres, support distributed work and strengthen cyber defences.

Hardware and third-party software remain important to the business, but the margin structure differs from services. Product sales generate large revenue numbers, while professional and managed services can create deeper relationships and higher recurring value.

ePlus is therefore trying to use product projects as entry points into consulting and long-term operational work rather than treating the sale as the end of the customer relationship.

Managed services create a more recurring business

Managed services revenue increased 10.6% during fiscal 2026, helped by cloud services and enhanced maintenance support.

This business is strategically important because customers pay ePlus to keep operating or supporting technology after the original deployment.

A managed service can include monitoring, support, cloud operations or other recurring work. These relationships are usually harder to replace than a one-time hardware order because the provider becomes part of daily IT operations.

The model also makes ePlus less dependent on the timing of large equipment refreshes.

AI is becoming both a customer project and a managed infrastructure problem

Artificial intelligence has created another infrastructure cycle for ePlus customers.

Companies experimenting with AI need processors, storage, networking, data platforms, security and governance. Some workloads can run in public clouds, while others require private infrastructure because of cost, performance or data sensitivity.

ePlus has expanded consulting around AI and in May 2026 launched a private AI infrastructure managed service.

The service is designed to help organisations move from assessment through deployment and ongoing operation of private AI environments.

This fits ePlus’s current strategy better than developing its own foundation model would. The company specialises in bringing together technology from multiple vendors and operating it for customers.

Selling the financing business made the company easier to understand

For decades, ePlus combined two distinct activities: technology solutions and equipment finance.

The combination had historical logic because companies often financed the same technology ePlus helped them procure. But cloud subscriptions and services changed the economics of enterprise IT, while the technology side of ePlus became larger and more complex.

The 2025 sale of the domestic financing business therefore simplified the investment story. ePlus is now more directly exposed to enterprise technology spending, consulting and managed services rather than carrying a separate leasing operation alongside them.

The company still understands lifecycle economics because of its financing heritage, but capital is now being directed toward technology capabilities and acquisitions rather than maintaining the old structure.

ePlus has moved from financing technology to operating it

Bruce Bowen founded ePlus because organisations needed better ways to finance and manage expensive technology assets.

Thirty-six years later, customers increasingly consume software and infrastructure as subscriptions and services. The financing problem has not disappeared, but it is no longer the defining challenge for ePlus.

The modern company sells networking, cloud and cybersecurity products, designs systems, deploys them across complex environments and increasingly stays involved through managed services.

The Bailiwick acquisition widened that deployment capability, while the financing divestiture removed the business that had once been the company’s foundation.

That makes ePlus’s history a useful example of how an IT reseller can evolve. The company did not stop selling technology. It kept moving closer to the work customers need before, during and after the sale — until the service surrounding the equipment became more strategically important than the financing that helped buy it.