CIO OPINION
# 1 Saving capital and innovating smarter
Since the beginning of the pandemic , companies have had to reshape budgets quickly and drastically , with many having to reduce overall spend . When a company can consume IT on an as-needed basis via an As-a- Service model , it ’ s easier to track which projects are or aren ’ t working according to plan . In turn , this helps companies know where and where not to commit additional funds .
For example , a technology company investing in AI will experience major benefits . With many projects in the pipeline , funding is a challenge without visibility into which initiatives are performing successfully . If the CAPEX for the projects wasn ’ t approved during the annual budget planning timeframe , they must go through an approval process with the CFO . This process is often slow and painful with uncertain results . With an As-a-Service model , the company can more easily approve spending for successful projects without making a case for a large capital expenditure .
# 2 Gaining more data access on the Edge
From digital healthcare in hospitals to smart manufacturing , edge deployments are incredibly diverse and increasingly common . Gartner predicts that by 2025 , 75 % of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed at the Edge – outside of a traditional , centralised data centre or cloud .
An As-a-Service approach helps remove limitations from edge deployments . Companies finding value in the data they access outside their data centres are also trying to figure out how to make the most use of it . With As-a-Service , companies can put their infrastructure where they get the most value from it and use only the resources they need .
For railroad companies , maintenance is critical to keep trains running . If one train is delayed for repairs , it likely must wait for other trains to finish using the tracks before it can continue on its journey , with a cascading effect on profitability . Maintenance has a significant impact on delivery times , customer satisfaction and costs .
Moving to an As-a-Service model , a railroad company was able to build trackside edge locations that visually inspect train cars in real time as they pass by monitoring stations along the tracks . As a result , they reduced 16 hours of inspection time to eight minutes without the train needing to stop .
The benefits of an As-a-Service model are clear : increased IT team agility , simplified Digital Transformation and decreased low-value IT work .
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