Everything as a Service (XaaS) – The Game Changer!

Written by: Mr. Mubarak A R, Technical Solutions Leader – Hi-Tech vertical at QuEST Global

What and why XaaS?

According to IMARC, a leading market research company, “Global Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) market value is projected to reach US$ 344.3 Billion by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 24% during 2019-2024.” So, what is XaaS? Why so much buzz around it!

No second-guessing the fact that the cloud-powered megatrend ‘Everything as a Service’ (XaaS) has emerged as a popular delivery model in recent times. The ‘X’ in XaaS refers to anything that falls under the large technology spectrum that impacts the bottom-line and revenue of large, medium and small enterprises. Providing a wider user base, bringing in the opportunity to explore new markets that were off-limits with conventional business models & cross-selling prospects, encouraging innovation and delivering more customer-focused solutions, XaaS serves in myriad ways for any enterprise. The rise of cloud technology and XaaS has impacted not just the online connected services but also the B2B and B2C buyers and sellers. Comprising of cloud, infrastructure, security, business processes, and applications and varied platforms, XaaS holds the potential of being a game-changing business model.

What the Future Looks Like with XaaS?

Not just operational efficiencies and improved cost savings, XaaS also offers the possibility of real-time accessibility for all leading technical capabilities and innovations. Enterprises now see that to sustain in the cutthroat competition, they need to incorporate pretty robust operating models that are more efficient business processes that are capable of generating transformative advantages in the long run. XaaS holds the key to transforming the very enterprise landscape and that too to the point where you name any business functionality and it can be provided “as a service”. This phenomenon is bringing in a paradigm shift in the conventional form where on-premise business service delivery was prominent.

The XaaS model, however, redefines the very concept of business and services offered by a third-party that leads to reduced capital expenditures, on both hardware and software. It also offers impeccable agility to avoid economic meltdown by virtualizing people, platforms, and processes. Taking it to an all-new level, XaaS promises to deliver a consumption and revenue-based ‘pay-as-you-go’ model that meets the ever-changing organizational, industry and market needs. Along with that, the all-pervasive combination of cloud computing and high bandwidth global internet access with an aware consumer makes it highly conducive for XaaS.

How XaaS Helps the Enterprises and Consumers

With the start of cloud computing, XaaS broke peripheral boundaries and offered a ubiquitous environment to help enterprises meet growing demands and to focus on innovation, moving away from monotonous day to day activities. This altogether changed the mind-set of consumers who came to rejoice the fact that they no longer have to make a commitment in terms of money or time to be able to enjoy a service. Understanding that XaaS comes with a hoard of benefits, the most prominent ones are:

• Time and Cost Factor – XaaS offers undeniably the most effective ways to save both time and money, as there is no need for prerequisites in terms of infrastructure or resources and there is no worry for downtime or additional maintenance issues.
• Highly Scalable – XaaS offers unlimited computing capabilities and scalable storage space to allow ease of data processing.
• Fast-Paced Innovation – Since there is no need for investing time and effort on infrastructure, along with improved access to the latest technologies enterprises can move towards experimentation and agility.
• Focus on Core Skills – XaaS provides enterprises more time to focus on core capabilities that directly impact their bottom-line rather than setting up training or upgrading infrastructure. 
• Enhancing Customer Experience – XaaS extends better possibilities to ensure higher customer experience. It also allows engaging with users in a regular manner to understand their experience with a particular product. 
• Better predictability – With the insights that XaaS can offer, it becomes easy to understand the customer and the collective mind-set to help provide more viable solutions and services for both B2B and B2C customers. 
• Improved Analytics and Insights – XaaS also offers more detailed insights on how a particular device is used to enable users to understand what and how they can optimize their device performance using analytics received through the XaaS model.

Who Can Help You with XaaS?

Most enterprises, today, are wary of investing huge capital into computing, be it a utility software or business application or the very traditional data centers. At the same time, they do not want to invest on training and further upgrading of infrastructure to meet the market needs yet, the possibility to find a potential new market is still exciting. This is where the need for a XaaS provider comes in.

The XaaS business model is no doubt tricky and requires a more tactical and strategic approach that assures security and compliance-related aspects while also offering choices to provide both the traditional and modern approach to the customers. Any enterprise that hopes to acquire a XaaS based model for its business processes need to ensure the organizational structure is prominently aligned for the same. With the right blend of technology & talent along with the shift in thought processes from more traditional approaches to one that is more customer-focused and is more service-oriented, the intricate adoption of XaaS models becomes easy to deploy as well as support various services.

Today, identifying predicting and addressing potential issues is one of the most genuine concerns of many enterprises, and finding the right XaaS partner also plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between concepts to consumers in a much proactive manner. Issues like resilience as well as internet reliability also pose as a threat for XaaS deployment. Many enterprises would like to have some visibility on their XaaS partner’s infrastructure and environment to gauge the overall service health to get a fair idea on what to expect.

Getting the Best Out of XaaS

An organizational restructuring that includes changing the very basic approach to business may be appropriate to adopt XaaS services to its fullest advantages. Today, every single thought goes to finding the best way to serve a consumer, and more so for B2C enterprises and it is evident that predictive analytics is the key to winning consumer hearts. Be it the need to reduce downtime and avoid costly maintenance activities or spotting problems before they arise to allow enterprises to focus on core business areas, an expert XaaS service provider is decidedly essential.

Machine learning, preconfigured logic as well as contextual data are key to delivering device, application & usage insights that can optimize total spend as major challenges still remain as aligning the right talent with the right services. Picking the most suitable strategic partners can ensure success for critical XaaS adoption.

Not just that by using analytics, the XaaS platform can be built for customers to enable upselling of devices. This also means if the CPU usage and memory usage of the laptop is more than 80% during usage, a system can be made to alert the user to understand that the laptop needs an upgrade. This can be achieved through a systematic upgrade model.

The need of the hour is to create a comprehensive XaaS platform which monitors the data from the connected devices, which secures the privacy of the end-user. The platform should be robust enough to provide services like chatbots (for 24X7 support), secure blockchain-based maintenance (for transparency and trust of maintenance), NLP based search (for accurate and quick answers to questions), FOTA (Firmware Over the Air) updates, edge computing (to respond in real-time for emergencies), etc.

Leveraging the Agile or DevOps principles can help deliver technology services in a more faster and efficient manner. XaaS services are making their presence felt in the smart devices market that connects technology to the user and many enterprises now need to find that connection through a partner who can help them scale up and upgrade to penetrate that competitive market.