Evaluating Device as a Service (DaaS)

As IT Departments face continued pressure on maintaining productivity, security and support in a newly hybrid world, interest in new ways of delivering these outcomes is driving momentum in Device as a Service (DaaS) solutions. The promise of buying the desired outcomes on a per user, per month cost can sound attractive to many parts of the business but how do you know if DaaS really is a good fit for your organisation?

In this article we unpack the DaaS value proposition, examining the circumstances where it could be a suitable option and those where something more traditional in terms of procurement might be better. DaaS won’t necessarily be right for every organisation but exploring the approach in more detail can help give you a better understanding of your current situation and might uncover sensible ways to improve.

We’ll also share a business evaluation template for you to download at the end of the article that might help you to assess whether DaaS is right for you and to then make the business case to your key stakeholders.

What is DaaS?

For any organisation, refreshing a fleet of End User Devices (EUDs) every 3-4 years can involve substantial effort and significant costs, especially when considering peripheral expenditures for procurement, deployment, training, support, recovery and asset management.

Device as a Service (DaaS) can help organisations mitigate these costs by taking a typical hardware device (such as a laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile phone), bundling it with a variety of software and services then offering it to a customer for a predictable, regular fee. It gives customers one contract and just one provider to hold accountable.

Some of the common value-add services that might be included in a DaaS solution are:

• Warehousing, delivery logistics and asset tracking
• Configuration, installation, imaging and deployment
• Backups, updates and analytics
• Security
• Support
• Procurement and end of life disposal/recycling

Of course, you can choose as many or as few of these as you want but it probably does make some sense to include at least some part of the deployment or management of the devices in the solution as part of your bespoke DaaS ‘Service Catalogue’.

You could also consider bundling software solutions with DaaS to deliver specific business or IT outcomes (like improved security or data protection, for example) in the same per user, per month cost profile. Doing things this way can help to focus the discussion on these outcomes rather than individual products.

Isn’t DaaS just equipment leasing or rental by another name?

In a way, yes. But it can also be something much more.

All DaaS solutions will have some sort of finance component behind them somewhere, even if the customer only has a service agreement to sign. So why might we look at DaaS as being something different?

The best DaaS solutions focus much more on the total personal, IT and business outcomes that are fed by the EUD platform rather than just the potential op-ex benefits of the traditional equipment finance approach that many organisations use. Considering the wider requirements around deployment, management, security, support, asset recovery and even analytics and end user experience, is part of every IT leader’s role and DaaS might have a unique part to play here.

Is DaaS right for my organisation?

The best answer is – maybe!

To effectively assess whether DaaS is a good fit for your organisation, it’s important to consider the following:

• The state of your current device fleet
• How you procure and deploy your devices
• The ongoing costs of managing and supporting your fleet
• The quality of your end user experiences; and
• The challenges that you are facing within IT, and within the organisation, in relation to end user devices

A detailed analysis of the above will enable you to establish a baseline for your current approach to managing EUD with estimated costs, challenges and opportunities.

Your current approach

For the purposes of establishing your baseline, it is important to consider the state of your current fleet along with all the internal and external resources that are currently being used on EUD, to estimate how much this is costing you. This includes everything from EUD procurement through to configuration and deployment, ongoing management, security, support and end of life/asset recovery.

Start with assessing the current state of your endpoints:

• How many and what brands and models of devices do you have on your network?
• How many of those devices have passed or are nearing manufacturer warranty expiration?

In general, when it comes to DaaS, the larger the number of devices being managed, and the higher percentage of these devices nearing their end of life, the greater the savings that could possibly be achieved.

The state of your current fleet will also determine the amount of any costs you can recover through an asset buyback agreement. The amount you receive for the buyback of your current fleet can contribute to reducing the cost of your DaaS solution in the first year.

Next, consider the current cost of managing your fleet throughout the entire lifecycle.

• How much time per week does your IT department spend managing and supporting your fleet? What does this equate to in terms of staff costs?
• How long does it take and how much does it cost to deploy a new device?
• What happens to devices at the end of their lifecycle?
• Are there any activities or projects you would prefer your IT department to be working on, as opposed to EUD management?

Consider the potential risks and associated costs of a security breach. A recent study of 1,200 IT leaders around the globe found that 65% of organisations have seen a measurable increase in cyber-attacks over the last year.[i] This is thought to have been accelerated by the increase in remote work.

• Do you have complete visibility and control over your endpoints?
• What measures do you have in place for endpoint security?
• What are the current costs for endpoint security?
• Are you confident that your EUDs are all up to date and protected?

Finally, consider the cost of end user productivity. Research has shown that around 60% of employees feel they would be more productive if they had better IT resources.[ii] Additionally, 72% of CEO’s agree that modern technology makes it easier to retain highly skilled employees.[iii]

• Do your end users have modern devices that are appropriate to their requirements and that enable them to be efficient and productive?

As devices fall behind the processing curve, latency and interoperability become more of a challenge. Users on older machines will experience more delays and interruptions to their work because of unreliable and poorly performing devices.

User experience and productivity improvements can be a hard thing to estimate a cost/loss against. Think about it this way, your employees are going to be paid the same hourly rate regardless of whether they are working on a high-performing new machine or on an older, slower machine.

[i] Splunk & ESG: The State of Security 2022

[ii] World Economic Forum Research, 10 Jobs that did not exist 10 years ago

[iii] Intel, Dell Study, The Evolving Workforce Report

Why choose DaaS?

Organisations often decide to adopt DaaS to help overcome one or more of the challenges that they are facing around the procurement, deployment, management, support, security and retirement of the EUD’s. For example:

• Users may be complaining that they do not have suitable devices to enable optimal efficiency and productivity, this may also be accompanied by a poor internal perception of IT and a high-turnover rate of staff
• The organisation may not have the required upfront investment to carry out their planned device refresh schedule or would prefer to utilise the upfront investment to develop another part of their strategy
• The IT team may be spending too much time supporting and managing EUD, meaning that they do not have the time to focus on strategic technology projects that drive growth and development; or
• The organisation may need to support a new hybrid way of working that requires end users to have high-performance, secure devices that enable seamless user experiences from anywhere

In each of the above cases, DaaS could be a suitable solution to improve, centralise and streamline the organisations EUD strategy.

By leveraging DaaS, organisations can reduce the upfront investment required to equip more users with the latest modern technology. As highlighted in the below table, the impact this has is really felt across the whole organisation, from operations to finance and IT.

Making the case for DaaS

To help you assess your current environment and determine if DaaS could be right for you, we have developed an EUD cost analysis template that you can use to:

• Analyse your current fleet and associated services;
• Establish an estimated cost baseline for your current approach to EUD; and,
• Identify any challenges that you are experiencing around EUD.

Enter the details about your fleet into the table on the right, and the overview and estimates on the left will update based on these details.

We have entered some sample data into the template to demonstrate the format you should use to enter your information.

What if DaaS isn’t right for me?

Don’t worry! DaaS isn’t necessarily right for everyone, but we think that taking time to understand more about your users, device fleet, processes and business requirements can highlight specific areas where you might be able to add value to your EUD solution.

A full DaaS solution might not be necessary but certain aspects of the approach might be relevant along with a slightly different perspective on the procurement process.

Summary

To summarise, DaaS offers a flexible approach to IT procurement and consumption that, in the right circumstances, has the potential to help reduce costs, optimise resource allocation, streamline business processes and improve user experiences.

If you think DaaS could be right for you, contact us to connect with a consultant and explore how we can help.

Our DaaS solutions are designed to accommodate your unique IT requirements, from employees getting the right hardware and collaboration devices, to providing zero-touch deployment, cloud-based management, and support services with flexible financing options.