Economic uncertainty has significant implications for IT investments, according to the recent Beltug B2B Market Study 2023. Among large organizations, 34% expect delays in IT projects due to inflation, and for nearly half, labor market tightness is leading to project postponement. Organizations want to adapt quickly to these challenging times, and let IT as a Service provide a solution. So it’s no surprise to see the evolution toward OpEx services continue. The Canalys research firm provides a concise motivation for switching out the existing, rigid CapEx model for a new, more flexible OpEx model when IT comes to investments in IT.
A survey of ICT partners in EMEA in 2023 shows that 53% see a marked increase in demand for technology procurement models based on the idea of IT as a Service compared to 2022 (see the figure).
Only 11% of partners say customers are unlikely to move to OpEx procurement, up from 20% in 2022. At the same time, the percentage of partners who see strong adoption of IT as a Service is rising (from 18% to 26%).
When IT comes to IT investments, Alastair Edwards, chief analyst at Canalys, sees three good reasons to switch the existing, rigid capex model for a new, more flexible opex model, i.e., IT as a Service.
A first reason is the better customer experience you get when you are guided and supported through the lifecycle of your IT assets by a vendor who helps you actually get value out of them, in terms of increased staff productivity and improved employee user experience. However, it can also translate into real cost savings in financial terms. For example, if you have the use of your IT devices monitored and managed under an IT as a Service agreement, you can reduce your own internal IT workforce or use it for more productive tasks within your organization. You also ensure that you only access - and pay for - the IT resources you need, eliminating the risks of overstocking and underutilizing that often come with buying IT equipment up front. Such a management contract can also mean that your IT-as-a-Service provider takes on more responsibility for managing your security needs, which might otherwise require internal investments from you as a customer.
A second reason to choose IT-as-a-Service is sustainability. By only paying and using the resources you need as part of IT as a Service, you are able to reduce your energy consumption, resulting in lower financial costs as well as an ecological benefit. Just think about the end-of-life cycle of your IT products. A partner like Inetum not only ensures that your old devices are timely replaced with new, more energy-efficient devices, but also guarantees that the old devices are recycled responsibly. Thus, an investment in IT as a Service also becomes an investment in sustainability, also relieving you, the customer, of the responsibility of making all that effort yourself and helping you to report on your sustainability investments to your internal (staff, board) and external stakeholders, as they will increasingly expect you to do. Moreover, such sustainability reporting will soon become a legal requirement for more and more companies.
All the good reasons come in threes, and our third reason for choosing IT as a Service clearly sets our sights on the future. As an IT as a Service user, you get access to the latest product updates and upgrades, rather than trying to extend the life of products you acquired as part of a CapEx purchase. This puts you in an ideal position to benefit from new product developments, giving you a technological edge. Examples of this would be the introduction of new, AI-compatible PCs in the coming years or the new Windows 11. Canalys expects that by 2027 no fewer than 60% of all PCs will be AI-compatible or contain AI features. Instead of having to buy those expensive new devices yourself again, you pay for using them within a service model, spreading the costs over time and making spending much more manageable. Finally, the “as-a-Service” model also provides more confidence in the early adoption of new, innovative technology.
What makes the As a Service model particularly attractive is that almost all decision-makers within an organization benefit from adopting it, from CIO and CHRO, to CFO, COO and CEO. Read our white paper to see what it can do for you and how we at Inetum-Realdolmen are specifically meeting the growing as-a-service needs of our customers.
At Inetum-Realdolmen, we now offer mature as-a-service solutions for the workplace, the data center, the network and its complete security. That way we help you to make real progress in building your digital future while staying one step ahead of the competition. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@inetum-realdolmen.world or ask your usual contact person.
Let us know how we can help. We’ll happily take your ICT concerns off your hands and work together with you on your organisation’s future.
