Everything Is Moving to “As-a-Service" and Why You Should Care

 The case for As-a-Service models in driving IT modernization is getting increasingly compelling. From software-as-a-Service (SaaS), platform as-a-Service (PaaS) to infrastructure-as a-service (IaaS) and even experience-as-a-service (XaaS), organizations are considering these mechanisms for increased flexibility, convenience, and affordability. At the same time, suppliers can enjoy financial predictability, lower unit costs from aggregation, and enhanced customer relationships.  

In Iron Bow’s 2023 Engineering Summit, Wade Lehrschall, Senior Strategic Sales Architect, shared why the market is shifting to “as-a-Service" when it comes to IT modernization. 

Why all the fuss about “as-a-Service"? 

With as-a-Service, stakeholders can shift their focus to higher value mission outcomes and initiatives, rather than direct control of granular details, such as asset or contract logistics. Additionally, customers enjoy the advantage of cost visibility and the enduring value of contract leverage. 

Overall, there are five important reasons why as-a-Service isn’t going anywhere: 

1. Mobility reigns. Society is moving further toward a mobile-first, cloud-focused environment, prompting businesses to follow suit. 

2. Democracy is still king. Allowing for the “democratization of infrastructure” is key. Anyone can choose the services they want with little to no technical skills or knowledge. 

3. Flexibility is essential. Flexibility and agility are must-haves for any company’s digital transformation. Legacy systems can’t change fast enough to keep up with evolving business needs.

4. Cost effectiveness is crucial. As-a-Service allows businesses a quicker ROI through a OPEX financial model. This liberates IT teams from mundane daily tasks like management and monitoring.

5. Latest and greatest are easily accessible. Digital transformation has created a business climate where no one wants to fall behind, which is a difficult task in an environment where tech changes daily. 

Example: Organizations Demand Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) 

What is NaaS? NaaS consolidates networking hardware, software, licensing, and outcome driven services into a single contract with a subscription-based financial model. This gives organizations flexibility, agility, and actionable insights to: 

• Meet dynamic business requirements 

• Keep pace with the rapidly changing IT environment 
• Access and adopt the latest technologies 
• Modernize faster with quicker adoption of new technologies and features 
• Alleviate supply chain concerns and warehousing issues 
• Optimize performance and spend to drive more value out of the network 

According to IDC’s Network as a State: State of the Market for 2022, the following has triggered or will trigger the use of NaaS within organizations: 

The Benefits of “as-a-Service" 

Ultimately, there are many benefits and IT modernization outcomes that as-a-Service models like NaaS can drive, including: 

• Speed to innovation: Access and adopt the latest technology from the start. Stay up to date with proactive tech refreshes and automated software updates.  
• Cybersecurity and Zero Trust: Leverage enhanced security and threat detection. 
• Centrally managed: Unify policy and operations, automation, and visibility for proactive network management.  
• Visibility and insight: AI/ML deliver actionable insights, optimize the network minimize risk, and manage consumption. 

• Defined SLAs and reliability: Maintain peace of mind with a reliable network along with customer-defined SLAs, resiliency, and uptime metrics.  
• Free up staff/resources: Shift to value-producing tasks, proactive management, and driving business outcomes.  
• Network agility and financial flexibility: Enhance cost efficiencies with flex network and spend up/down without supply chain delays, warehouse issues, or budget constraints.  
• Predictable and reduced costs: Use a single monthly subscription for hardware, software, and services. No unplanned CapEx for network adds or changes.  

Ready to shift to “as-a-Service"? Reach out to our technical experts at CTOteam@ironbow.com.