Business Transformation

XaaS - Transforming the digital landscape

Introduction

Digital transformation is happening at a very fast pace. In these last twenty-five years, we have witnessed the progression of computer storage devices from floppy disks to CDs to USB drives to cloud storage. Development is not limited to storage devices alone. Technologies, products, services, and the way of doing things are continuously evolving. The most recent and significant such change possibly is cloud computing.

Origins of cloud computing

Can you recall buying an MS Office CD to install its applications? A thing of the past that Gen X reminisces, and the millennials may laugh about. But that was before cloud computing which perhaps Gen Y considers as something belonging to its generation – a mistaken thought.

The cornerstone of non-local computing was laid way back in 1950 when computing was an expensive thing. Therefore, as a cost-saving measure, computer terminals were connected across an internal military matrix to make technology accessible to multiple people in a distributed environment.

What was then a military mainframe advanced quickly, and by 1996, a term was coined by Compaq to describe the concept of distributed computing - cloud computing.

‘As a service’ models

As the technology became more affordable, more and more personal computers started getting connected. In 1999, Salesforce offered its applications online, flagging the arrival of the SaaS (Software as a service) model. The bug caught on, and nearly everything conceivable - products, tools, technology etc. started getting deployed on the cloud, giving rise to many “aaS” solutions.

The XaaS model

XaaS is a moniker for “Everything as a Service” or “Anything as a Service” and refers to a delivery model that uses a cloud platform rather than a physical format which aims to simplify deployments and enable quick access to services.

There are many examples of XaaS. Here are a few of them:

Strengths of XaaS

Easy on pockets – With

XaaS, businesses can subscribe for what they want, when they want and for the period they want, rather than buy a licence with advance payment. Therefore, what was once an expensive capital expense is now a much more reasonable operational cost.

Scalable, agile, and flexible -

Companies usingXaaS can easily scale-up/scale-down their infrastructure, gain access to new technologies and services as needs arise. Its multi-tenancy and resource pooling architecture improves accessibility and flexibility. It also improves agility and hyper-productivity.*

Better security controls -

XaaS offers better cybersecurity at affordable prices, which is especially suitable for small businesses. (Apparently, 28 per cent of small businesses were cybersecurity victims in 2019.)

Faster implementation and modification -

Implementing anything delivered by a cloud platform is quicker; besides, the automatic updates feature makes available the latest features and bug-fixes instantly.

Better resource-allocation -

As operations get streamlined, resources get freed-up to concentrate on innovation.

Backup and recovery -

Systems and data are of utmost value in the digital world. Their loss spells disaster for a company. With XaaS, systems and data are protected in one’s own private cloud account from which recovery can happen by a simple process in case of any untoward incident(s).

Shortcomings of XaaS

Unpredictable internet downtime - 

Since everything is on the ‘cloud’, when the internet breaks down, which is not an unimaginable thing, it impacts businesses as well as end-users.

Compromised performance -

As popularity increases, it stresses the bandwidth, latency and data storage capacity. Also, too many users accessing the same resources at the same time can slow the system down.

Troubleshooting complexity -

Since multiple services, technologies and tools are included with XaaS, if any problem arises, it becomes hard to troubleshoot.

Conclusion

XaaS is the new paradigm for digital transformation and its future looks promising, with the availability of high bandwidth internet globally and cloud computing platforms. Research by Persistence projects its growth from USD 5 billion in 2020 to a whopping USD 97 billion in 2031 at an expected CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 12.5%. XaaS is driving today’s digital transformation and is wooing customers who are reaping its benefits. Are you ready to hop on the bandwagon?

*For organizations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed on organizational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like a living organism, will be imperative for business excellence going forward. A comprehensive, yet modular suite of services is doing exactly that. Equipping organizations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organizations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.