DaaS — Device as a Service

Device as a Service (DaaS) is an emerging trend that is rapidly growing and gaining new followers. In 2015 no PC manufacturers offered DaaS as a viable service option to the customers. Now, over 65% of manufacturers offer this option. This means that in 5 years both demand and offer grew. Which means that we now have to pay even more attention to this type of service and that we are not going to see customers lose interest in it any time soon. 

But, what is DaaS? What kind of service do companies offer if they work in the Device as a Service industry and what are the peculiarities of support for it? We are going to find the answers very soon! 

What Is DaaS — Device as a Service?

Companies that operate within the Device as a Service industry deal with offering hardware devices as a paid service. It allows different businesses and different customers to ease their IT needs by outsourcing their hard- and software as well as their management and customer service support to third party vendors, which can substantially cut the expenses for any business.

In short, customers get the possibility to get hardware they need with the installed and maintained software they need without putting any additional financial strain on themselves. DaaS is much more efficient than leasing the devices themselves only, as it allies for more flexibility and scalability at any given moment. 

DaaS businesses usually deal with:

• Laptops;
• Desktop PCs;
• Mobile Device as a Service;
• Tablets;
• 2-in-1 devices.

This means that they can cover a lot of customers’ needs when it comes to devices and satisfy whatever requirements their customers might possess. But that is not all. There are many more advantages to DaaS. 

Device as a Service — Advantages of the Industry

DaaS might be quite young, but with its fast development the benefits of Device as a Service industry become quite clear. 

• 💸 Cash flow management

DaaS is especially efficient when it comes to small businesses and startups. Not all of them can afford good and up-to-date devices. As a result, they might fail to provide excellent service and can go out of business fairly quickly. But, implementing a Device as a Service solution into a business structure for sure is going to be a game changer. 

DaaS allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage by providing them with hardware devices with all the needed software as well as the opportunity to scale fast without additional expenses that businesses too often cannot afford. As a result, those implementing Device as a Service solutions are going to see a better cash flow and great possibilities for scaling.

Device as a Service model allows companies to shift the budget that would usually be directed at purchasing and maintaining all the devices they need to set up inner processes or expanding their team. 

In other words, DaaS lets them improve their overall performance without the need to focus on devices themselves.

• 💻 Various IT benefits

IT maintenance and IT support demand a lot of attention and quite some budgeting, with up to 5% of the entire business budget being dedicated to IT. This, of course, includes purchasing, setting up, maintaining and supporting the entire ‘fleet’ of devices that you need for a smooth run of your operation. No matter how you look at it: configuring, setting up, deploying and maintaining the needed devices is very time and effort consuming, as we have already established. 

And we haven’t even touched upon the topic of all the software that a business needs! Imagine the resources! 

Additionally, DaaS vendors are going to provide those in need with different reports and metrics in order for the users to be sure that Device as a Service solution is just what they need. 

• 📔 Automatic management

The need to update, apply patches and follow up on various improvements for all the devices requires a whole lot of management. Of course, by opting for DaaS solution, any business rids itself from the need to follow up on all of that as updates are automatic and usually are tracked by a DaaS vendor, which means that the only thing a customer is responsible for is renewing their subscription — the rest will be taken care of by a vendor. 

• 😃 Enhanced customer experience

DaaS is all about customer experience and customer centricity. After all, this entire branch was thought up just to make acquisition and maintenance of the devices easier. Plus, Device as a Service vendors will always make sure that they can scale fast, update to the latest versions of the software and that they have the ability to support both hard- and software. 

Customer experience at its best! 

As we can see, using a Device as a Service solution in one business model has a lot of advantages with the primary one being saved resources. The possibility to get the devices they need with all the software already installed as well as the entire scope of DaaS services — now that is the real perk.

Challenges of Device as a Service

Just like any other industry, DaaS has its own challenges and complications. The most interesting one is that not everyone knows about the Device as a Service industry as still, quite often businesses prefer to buy or rent the devices without knowing that there is an opportunity to get everything they need in one package. 

🤔 But what are the other challenges of operating in the Device as a Service industry?

1. Complicated supply chain

To make DaaS systems work, vendors must set up a perfect supply chain that will run without any extra maintenance and attention. Vendors need to collect, refurbish, maintain and distribute all the devices. They also need to be prepared for the fact that their customers might want to scale at any moment, so they always must have the resources to do that.

It might be especially tricky for businesses with a very large customer base and thousands of hardware devices and software pieces. Surely, businesses that already have everything set up are the winners of the industry and will drive more and more customers to themselves. 

Setting up a working and efficient supply chain is not an easy or a fast process. It is going to take time and resources. It is worth noting though, that the DaaS industry is expected to grow by almost 54% in the next 3 years which is going to bring more than $66 million more revenue to the Device as a Service market. So, there is plenty of room for development.

2. Huge inflow of customer tickets

Operating in the Device as a Service industry might prove challenging for those who are still to set up the support team for their customer to contact. After all, those working with DaaS have to deal not only with hardware but also with software as well as the need to maintain, update and fix both of them. As a result, the fact that customers might experience issues with them is only going to double the amount of work for the support team. 

Surely, this is going to make the inflow of customer tickets very complicated and messy. DaaS vendors not only will have to find the support team to handle the tickets, but also the system to sort through them.

We at SupportYourApp know all about the needs of the Device as a Service industry. That is why we are prepared to scale and teach any DaaS support team fast and in accordance with the demands of our clients. We know how important it is for them to be able to do that, and we satisfy their every need. 

3. Difficulties in looking for DaaS support provider

As long as we are talking about customer requests, Device as a Service industry is in desperate need of professional support teams. Teams that will be able to withstand a huge flow of customer requests and provide quality customer support to those who need it. For DaaS vendors it might be hard to find a support provider who is going to qualify and know how to support both — soft- and all the hardware installed. 

As you can imagine, providing support for a Device as a Service vendor is not an easy task. It requires real professionalism and passion as well as tech savviness and a willingness to always learn and develop. 

In other words, DaaS requires a perfect support team. And we at SupportYourApp are ready to provide it to the vendors in the industry. 

Support for DaaS — Device as a Service Demands

Just like e-commerce and SaaS, DaaS has its very own needs and peculiarities when it comes to customer support. It means that the support team must comply with all the requirements and follow the performance of the Device as a Service industry precisely. 

What do support vendors need to do to ensure they provide the best customer support?

• 2-in-1: soft- and hardware

As was already mentioned, support for DaaS means support for both hard- and software. This means that support consultants must take their time studying and dedicating their attention to researching both of them. This takes effort, time and a certain level of preliminary knowledge that can serve as a foundation and make the process of learning easier.

Knowing how to support both soft- and hardware helps a support provider gain a competitive edge and demand in the modern market.  

• Flexibility of the solution

Flexible solutions are swiftly and rightfully becoming ‘a must’ in the DaaS market. With users having the possibility to personalize everything, it is no wonder that this option has found its way into from mobile apps into services. 80% of customers say that they are more likely to deal with businesses that offer customizable and flexible solutions. 30% of marketers are saying that personalization and flexibility are going to be defining trends for the nearest future, which means those provisioning customer support for Device as a Service vendors will have to get on this train too. 

The size of the team, hours of operation, languages, omnichannel support — all of it needs to be covered and fully flexible, especially for an industry as demanding as DaaS. Without an offer like that the support vendors will simply not be able to provide the best services.

• The ability to develop and adapt to future demands

Being flexible now is not enough. Support vendors will also have to be fully adaptable for the future changes in the Device as a Service industry? What changes we at SupportYourApp predict for DaaS future? 

• The growth of users’ number;
• More complicated requests;
• More rapid growth;
• Bigger flow of customer tickets;
• More chats and emails inquiries;
• Emerging of even more specific customers’ needs;
• The need for more flexibility and adaptability from DaaS vendors. 

What does this mean for us as a support vendor? That we have to be more prepared and get a jump start to be prepared for all the incoming changes. And we at SupportYourApp can’t wait for the changes to come — they are pushing us forward and making us even better. As for the Device as a Service industry — change is always welcome. It indicates that the industry is not dying out, but going forward, further developing the business and the tech world. 

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