EaaS or Everything as a Service offers complete solution ownership for a single fee.
SaaS or Software as a Service has been around pretty much since the beginning of cloud computing. A few ITSM and other technology vendors are taking this a step further and are looking at developing EaaS, or Everything as a Service.
The additional complexity and financial burden of implementation and maintenance of service products is not always taken into account in the headline figure for SaaS. With most SaaS solutions, there is a big difference between setup and ongoing services and how you procure them. These services are also usually purchased in blocks, where you are constrained by time and resource availability. This is inefficient, expensive and a burden for the customer.
Vendors and partners looking to offer true EaaS need to ensure that everything really is included. Setup, configuration and implementation, the user credit or license, support and ongoing upgrades should all be covered by a single monthly fee. Anything less, or anything that needs additional expense at a later date, is not true EaaS but rather SaaS with add-ons. Customers are increasingly wise to this, and will not thank the vendor when the headline price turns out to be the tip of the iceberg.
ITSM and Enterprise Service Management (ESM) were traditionally too complex to deliver the services that went along with them, in particular professional and support services. But this technology has improved to the point that it is now easier than ever to deploy and integrate solutions within an organisation. This means that vendors’ margins have been increasing, but it does not necessarily mean that the reduction in cost is passed on to the business consumer.
EaaS enables vendors and partners to reduce costs for their customers while also building a long-term revenue stream that keeps professional services engaged and on side. Most importantly, EaaS gives financial certainty to business users while enabling them to unlock the full potential of their chosen product and vendor/partner relationship.
