Why CIOs Are Now Consuming IT Through Cloud Services

IT is fundamentally shifting from a build to consume model.

The anything-as-a-service (XaaS) model shifts the way IT is consumed by offering it in packages as predictable expenses with predictable outcomes. Traditional IT is about developing products that might or might not meet the mark, but will use resources regardless. The as-a-service world is about delivering applications that continually evolve and offer value in a concrete and guaranteed way by trusted third-party partners. Cloud as a service is a great example of this phenomenon.

In this as-a-service world, IT departments will no longer be caught up in maintaining and updating servers, storage, data centres, or other infrastructure and hardware. Most of these costs can just be offloaded onto a third-party XaaS.

This new IT model will profoundly change how technology is acquired and used, which will in turn, require organisational restructuring and cultural changes to be effective. We’ve already seen this happening in regard to cloud as a service. Organisations that are not already making this shift will be left in the dust. XaaS is likely a big factor in why Fortune 500 companies’ lifespans are less than 15 years now when enterprise lifespans used to be 75 years just a few decades ago.

As technology expands, so does our need to revolutionise our client services.

The world has thrived during the last few decades of rapid technological change and expansion. The Internet was an innovation that has irreversibly changed the course of human interactions and business relations. The difference today is the rapid rate at which we see change. Now we’re looking forward to a world with digital technologies like robotics, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cognitive applications, and advanced data science, not to mention the technology already on the scene like IT cloud services.

With this comes room for an immense amount of disruption in every single industry. Organisations that will survive this are going to not only adopt but embrace the XaaS model to become more nimble and resilient. Many organisations that will thrive in the coming decade will be startups build on the cloud and designed for seamless as-a-service solutions tailored to their customer base. These firms will be able to get to market faster and for a smaller initial investment compared to traditional organisations relying upon legacy software.

• XaaS offers flexibility on a greater scale than we’ve ever seen it.

XaaS allows organisations to make changes on demand within a matter of (literal) minutes. Scaling up or down is easy and built into these services so organisations only pay for what they use. Legacy systems, on the other hand, simply can’t keep up in the same way. They’re clunky and slow to make changes to whereas organisations will see that XaaS will continue to offer increasingly personalised services on a scale that can’t be replicated in-house.  These as-a-service solutions will offer easy rollouts with the need for less oversight and customer support, which can be delivered virtually and on demand. For example, cloud as a service offers a dynamic environment for computing that frees an organisation from the need to invest in expensive architecture like servers and data centres.

• XaaS offers greater cost effectiveness.

XaaS are small packages that tackle a specific pain point and are designed to be easily rolled out with little to no initial investment. XaaS are usually offered on a pay-as-you-go model, which reduces in-house capital expense costs and shifts to operating expenses.

Organisations that adopt XaaS will find their IT teams are suddenly free from daily infrastructure maintenance tasks through automation. These daily maintenance tasks cost time but merely maintain the status quo. This will allow organisations to leverage IT departments from cost to value centres. IT departments will be able to not only cut costs but drive profits.

Once again, with cloud as a service as an example, we see this in the comparably inexpensive service offered with a high level of performance for the price through cloud hosting.

• XaaS offers the ability to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

Technology is constantly being updated and then deigned obsolete. The race to have the newest, best infrastructure is a losing battle. For organisations that use XaaS, that race is over. Not only will the maintenance of constantly-changing infrastructure be left up to a third party for a fixed, subscription price, but organisations will be able to test, adopt, and deploy new applications to improve customer experience and stay competitive. And if the application isn’t the right fit? Cancel it within a matter of minutes and move on to the next solution.

XaaS will be a powerful force in the coming years allowing organisations to respond to the needs and desires of their client bases in real time by offering dynamic, scalable solutions without prohibitive initial investments.

If you’re interested in getting started in your XaaS journey, contact us today to learn how Macquarie Cloud Services can be your partner to support your innovation.