Johannesburg, 05 Oct 2018
Computers, printers and other devices are expensive purchases for businesses, especially if you're just starting out, need to upgrade systems or completely replace technologies throughout your organisation, yet lack the resource capacity or capital to do so.
At Altron Bytes MS, we make it our business to find ways to provide technology and services as tailored solutions that help our customers meet their objectives. We also make it our business to monitor trends, and the market is currently predicting that by 2020, more than 20% of all end-user computing devices in the corporate environment will be part of a 'device as a service' solution, simply because businesses no longer want to spend vast amounts on implementing systems that are rendered obsolete within a few years or less and then need to be replaced.
Enter DaaS, which has been launched by Altron Bytes MS as part of its Simplis.IT (pronounced sim-plis-i-tee) suite of services, focused on the end-user computing environment across all industries, for businesses both big and small.
Essentially, what DaaS does is combine hardware, software, life cycle management and financing into an all-in-one solution that provides businesses with a predictable monthly spend, per device, per month, for a fixed period of three or five years, thus steering customers from a capex to an opex-based model.
The 'device as a service' idea is certainly not a new one, but where other offerings fall short: for instance, there's no maintenance capability or managed service offering; there's no software included; a very limited choice of hardware; and inflexible SLAs, our DaaS solution is a very flexible, all-inclusive offering that encompasses multiple vendors with tiered offerings that can be customised to an organisation's needs.
Another key differentiator with our DaaS is an optional automated healing service, where we will sit with a customer to determine what their common computing problems are. We then compile scripts to solve those identified problems. Monitor sets are created to monitor the environment for symptoms of the problem, enabling the script to kick in and automatically solve or repair them.
As part of the full service offering, DaaS customers are given the choice of a selection of devices and accessories from the major OEMs, Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Xerox, from entry-level right through to high-end models. The devices also come standard with an operating system, complete with licensing, all done upfront.
The implementation process is seamless too. Whether it be a laptop, PC, printer, POS device, etc, we will deliver and install the device on-site and ensure any necessary data is transferred from the customer's old device to the new. We'll also configure the device and keep track of it during its life cycle, regardless of its movements within the organisation, all while adhering to an agreed SLA should it require updates, maintenance or repairs, in which case all a customer would need to do is log a call with our 24/7 service desk and we will dispatch one of our 500-plus technicians, operating out of 110 locations across the country.
How will this change the role of the IT department, you may be thinking. Well, the intention with DaaS is to provide customers with a flexible model. So, we can either just supply the device with the operating system and track the device, leaving the in-house IT teams to do everything else, or we can release the IT managers from more mundane tasks to focus on the core business, with the knowledge and peace of mind that they're not working with outdated devices and software programs. DaaS makes even more sense for organisations that don't have internal IT departments. It is certainly not there to replace anyone, but rather to help 'evolve' IT's role within a business.
With DaaS, at the end of the fixed-term contract, customers will either be given the option to purchase the devices at a pre-determined price or we will recover the devices after first removing all the data and other info from them. The buy-back option will depend on whether the customer has signed a three- or five-year contract. Should the customer want to re-enter into a new agreement, we will bring in brand new devices with the same set-up scenario and simply start over.
What keeps Altron Bytes MS at the forefront of delivering innovation that matters is our ability to continually offer solutions tailored to how a customer's business wants and needs to work, such as taking DaaS (device as a service) one step further by introducing NaaS (or network as a service solution), which provides the support needed to build the foundation for rapidly growing networks to adopt the latest technology seamlessly.
Also part of our Simplis.IT suite of services, NaaS is a relatively new cloud-based model and the latest evolution in outsourced IT infrastructure, which affords companies greater flexibility and even performance gains in their network infrastructure, all wrapped by our professional managed services model.
Please click here to watch our video.
For more information about DaaS: https://altronbytesms.co.za/products/DaaS/
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