What is Hardware as a Service (HaaS)
A small business can easily spend thousands of dollars (or more realistically, tens of thousands!) purchasing their computers and related hardware. This seemingly necessary expense is just the cost of doing business, right?
While this might have been the only way to get the tools you needed in the past, Hardware as a Service (HaaS) offers an alternative which is quite appealing to many. Today we are going to look at the HaaS business model and examine how it might help your business achieve greater profits and growth.
The Basics of HaaS
While hardware as a service isn’t necessarily new, it has become popular in recent years. At its core, this service model is similar to Software as a Service (SaaS) and offers many of the same benefits over purchasing or leasing.
The HaaS model is fairly straightforward: instead of purchasing computers, laptops, servers, routers, hardware firewalls, and all of the necessary peripheral hardware, a small or medium-sized business can instead get all of this equipment from an IT service provider for a monthly fee. As businesses grow or technology changes, the managed service provider (MSP) simply adds or swaps out your components.
The Benefits of Hardware as a Service
Cost Efficiency
One of the biggest benefits of HaaS is its capacity to transform large capital expenditures into manageable operational expenses. With HaaS, a small business can access the latest hardware without the associated upfront costs, easing cash flow and budgeting.
This can be of particular benefit to startups which may not have the resources necessary for a major upfront capital expense. Instead of attempting to make due with budget-level hardware, HaaS provides cost-effective access to the equipment your business needs.
Scalability
A perennially intractable challenge which businesses used to face is how to manage their IT infrastructure during periods of growth. Business owners had to decide whether to purchase new equipment which was overpowered for their current needs or equipment which would become inadequate in a short amount of time.
HaaS eliminates the need to purchase new hardware and gives growing businesses the flexibility to meet their growing demands.
Up-to-Date Technology
Another benefit of HaaS is that small businesses can get access to the latest technology without the need for continual investments in new hardware. The HaaS provider ensures that the hardware is up-to-date, offering businesses a technological edge.
This really pays dividends when it comes to productivity as your team will have access to fast, reliable, and intuitive technology instead of dealing with older, slower tools.
Maintenance and Support
One important feature of hardware as a service is that the service typically includes maintenance, support, and upgrades. This offloads the IT burden from your small business, allowing you to focus on your core operations while minimizing downtime.
It’s important to consider the included maintenance when evaluating pricing as this often offsets a portion of your business’s existing IT support costs.
Predictable Budgeting
Since HaaS is offered for a monthly fee that includes service and maintenance, businesses can budget more predictably without worrying about unexpected costs related to hardware failures or replacements.
Improved Cybersecurity
With HaaS your business will always have access to modern computer hardware which includes enhanced security features. Additionally, your service provider will ensure that the equipment is kept updated and any hardware with known vulnerabilities will be replaced.
This helps small businesses protect their data more effectively than if they had to manage their security in-house.
Alternatives to Hardware as a Service
As with most things in life, there are multiple ways for a business to meet their IT needs and business owners should consider their options before deciding on a particular IT solution.
Capital Expenditure
The old-school approach is to simply purchase all of the equipment your business needs as it needs it. If your business isn’t growing and has very predictable technological needs, then this may prove to be a cost-effective approach.
However, the CAPEX business model has some significant downsides which need to be considered. While your business owns the hardware, this means that it also is responsible for the risks associated with hardware failure. In the event that a piece of equipment goes down, a business will need sufficient cash reserves to quickly replace it or risk expensive downtime.
Additionally, it is important to remember that technology depreciates rapidly and it is unlikely that a business will be able to recoup any meaningful amount of the cost of their hardware if they scale up and want to sell the old equipment.
Cloud Computing
While not a one-for-one alternative to HaaS, cloud computing is another option to consider when evaluating your business’s needs. With cloud services a business pays a monthly fee for access to remote servers which handle the bulk of their computing. Your business will still need hardware to access these cloud resources, but as the processing happens off-site, your local equipment doesn’t need to be upgraded to gain access to more powerful tools.
For many businesses it may make sense to use cloud services alongside HaaS solutions, taking advantage of the strengths of each. Learn more about cloud computing by checking out our article which explores the subject in greater detail.
Is HaaS Right for Your Digital Transformation?
The benefits of hardware as a service are hard to overstate. Instead of sizable capital expenditures, HaaS instead is a predictable operational expense which allows for rapid growth and flexibility. Additionally, by always having modern technology, you will enable your business to take advantage of better tools and improved cybersecurity.
Are you ready to switch to HaaS? At Bristeeri Technology we offer a wide variety of managed IT services which help you stay focused on running your business instead of troubleshooting your technology!
