The as-a-service model has been booming in the last decade, first and foremost because of the value it offers in taking away the burden of management. In the past, organisations may have felt unable to invest in new technology simply because they didn’t have the resource or knowledge in-house to manage it.
Shifting the responsibility of operation back to the supplier, suited everybody: it increases the likelihood of investment, supporting higher growth prospects for suppliers, but it also gives customers access to the innovative capabilities they want, without the hassle of day-to-day management.
Yet as the pandemic hit, Deloitte, along with other commentators, predicted that as-a-service would increasingly be appreciated for its other core trait: “as key to companies staying resilient and nimble in these uncertain times.” In fact, by Q2 2020 at the height of the pandemic, many tech companies were driving higher revenues through as-a-service than they were through traditional product sales. By Q4 of 2020, new research showed that 75% of businesses ran more than half of their enterprise technology investments through as-a-service agreements.