If you’re already thinking about Device as a Service (DaaS) as a way to simplify the ownership and management of employee devices, considering using an MSP is a smart option.
Mature IT organizations realize the need to see the management of employee devices as a lifecycle and are already looking into Device as a Service. The devices – typically desktop or laptop computers, but can delve into mobile devices as well – are obtained and put under management for a set period of time and then are refreshed to provide the organization with new replacement devices.
Some organizations choose to see DaaS as just a leasing option to ease the burden on the organization’s budget. But if you’re already thinking DaaS is a good fit for your organization, it may be valuable to continue down that road just a bit more and consider using a Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) to own the process and offering for you.
There are three key reasons why your DaaS implementation may be better off using an MSP to manage it:
1. You Don’t Have the Time
The work of designing, configuring, deploying, managing, supporting, retiring, and refreshing employee devices is certainly important to the organization. To properly address the needs of the organization’s devices, their management needs to be thought of as a lifecycle; something to be addressed continuously on a daily basis – not a one-of task to be handled whenever a new service desk ticket comes in. But the reality is internal IT teams simply don’t have enough free cycles outside of critical projects and initiatives to properly devote time to continually change focus and address device management.
An MSP providing DaaS can offload the work of managing devices – from cradle to grave – ensuring the security, availability, and performance of employee devices, elevating the productivity of your organization’s users.
2. You Don’t Have the Money
Business-class new devices that provide the performance needed to make employees productive aren’t cheap. And the head of Finance already doesn’t like when IT comes knocking on the door for an additional capital expense to purchase hardware of any kind. The challenge for Finance is that IT’s device spend is a bit unpredictable; today it’s probably closer to something akin to “when a computer finally dies, we replace it.” On top of that, hiring headcount to work pretty much full time on managing devices isn’t always an option, as headcounts come with benefits, hiring costs, additional office space, etc. What Finance needs is a far more cost-effective and predictable model of spend to manage devices – one that satisfies both the capital expense and headcount delimas.
Taking advantage of a DaaS offering through an MSP effectively meets both Finance’s and IT’s needs. Using a single monthly payment model that includes any hardware, software, and device management services needed, the MSP helps Finance change a costly capex hardware purchase to an inexpensive monthly operating expense. And because the DaaS offering includes the IT services of deployment, management, updating, supporting, and retiring devices, there’s no need for additional internal IT headcount to address devices.
3. Your Problem is More than just the Device
If the last reason resonated with you – particularly the part about offloading headcount to address the “less than critical” aspect of devices, you might want to consider outsourcing other parts of your IT management to an MSP. MSPs bring with them more experience and expertise than may currently exists in-house. Whether strategy, execution, or both in other IT areas such as cybersecurity, disaster recovery, vulnerability management, or something else, the very same MSP you’d be hiring to manage your devices could be helping you also manage other parts of the environment.
Let the MSP Deliver DaaS
It’s one of those situations where everyone wins. IT is happy because they’ve offloaded the responsibility of device management to an organization that has expert staff tasked with doing nothing but focusing on your devices. Users are happy because they’ll get better, faster service on an always up-to-date device that performs well and is secure. And Finance is happy because all this is simplified down to a predictable monthly cost.
So, as you plan out your DaaS strategy, consider utilizing an MSP to manage the entirety of the device lifecycle for you as part of a DaaS offering. If you’re interested in learning more about how DaaS can benefit your organization, contact us today. We are here to help.
