This just in, “Everything-as-a-Service”
Originally published on spiresearch.com/spiglass by: R. David Hofferberth, PE
Organizations in every market must focus on operating at peak levels of efficiency, while providing high-quality products and services their customers demand. Most companies have moved different aspects of their business to the cloud, as it offers greater collaboration, visibility and efficiency, along with lower operational costs.
The cloud was just the beginning
One of the major benefits of cloud-based computing is that everything has become a service. There is software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and others. The fact is, everything has become a service, and organizations have been able to take advantage of this new operational paradigm, not only to save money, but also to drive greater efficiency and better to collaborate around the world. Independent software vendors (ISVs) can develop and run one version of their solution where every organization has the latest version and can access it from anywhere, anytime.
Everything-as-a-Service (EaaS) enables people and devices to better communicate and therefore keep better informed in terms of changes and challenges in the market. The Internet of things (IoT) is for real. The goal is to provide greater visibility and flexibility, as well as communicating situational change in real-time, so that prescriptive action can be taken. This paradigm shift impacts everything, from a refrigerator that communicates to the service provider that there are problems with the condenser, to a professional services executive who finds out one of their major projects is about to go over-budget.
Companies in every market look to consolidate their application infrastructure
Years ago most companies built large, costly information technology departments. It was really their only choice in order to leverage information for competitive advantage. Over the past decade many of these organizations have worked to consolidate the number of applications they use, preferring to run their operations on a single platform. Obviously, choices dwindle as organizations work on “one throat to choke”, meaning the SaaS provider manages the complete customer experience, from deployment through implementation, support and any potential upgrades. And the benefits are obvious – single platform solutions offer greater integration, which ultimately lowers cost, improves visibility across the organization, and makes employees more productive. Having all of this run in the cloud further lowers cost and provides a safer, more secure infrastructure for an increasingly remote workforce. Utilizing a “one-stop-service” provider also includes customer support (self-serve and assisted), field service (break-fix with proactive IoT), Project service (for multi-day engagements) and other services, which further reduce time, cost and hassle to the organization.
Let your solution provider partner take care of your technical issues
The movement to a more Everything-as-a-Service economy will enable companies to better focus on the products and services they work to develop, deliver and support. The technology infrastructure, and the partner providing it, are critical in any company’s efforts to improve their competitive position. The need to increase efficiency as well as innovation, communication and collaboration will only succeed through the introduction of information technology, focused on the services sector.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation is an end-to-end solution for project-based businesses developed on an everything-as-a-service delivery framework. This framework enables organizations to leverage resources and skillsets across multiple modes of service including self-service, assisted service, field service and project service automation, and provides the ability to manage the customer service delivery model through unified contracts and centralized customer engagement.
Profit from your projects
R. David Hofferberth, PE, is the founder and principal analyst of Service Performance Insight (SPI Research). In 1999 he introduced to the market the solution area now known as Professional Services Automation (PSA), when he published the seminal report: Professional Services Automation: Increasing Efficiencies and Profitability in Professional Services Organizations.
His firm advises professional services firms and solution providers on trends and challenges facing the professional services market, and how technology adoption can accelerate performance and profit.
