News Feature | October 9, 2015

Research: As-A-Service Critical To Organizations, But For Most, Years Away

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

As-A-Service is crucial, but years away for many businesses

New research from Accenture and HfS Research has found that while 53 of executives view the as-a-Service business model as “critical” for their organizations, 68 percent report they won’t be delivering processes as-a-Service for five years or more.

The report Beware of the Smoke, Your Platform is Burning was based on a survey of 716 enterprise service provider executives, advisors, and service buyers. It found 3 percent of enterprises have adopted the business model. Of those not yet there, 29 percent anticipate they will deliver as-a-Service within two years, 44 percent within five years, 15 percent within 10 years, and 9 percent, never.

An important finding from the research is that analytics and automation are key to the business model. Of those surveyed 51 percent believe they provide “massive impact.” Another notable finding is that cloud is integral to delivering value as-a-Service — in fact 44 percent of senior executives would trade legacy IT for cloud if they could find the right solution.

The study also found challenges in the transition to the model. Senior leaders at organizations surveyed recognize the importance of the model, but just 29 percent of middle managers and staff align with this view.

The report concludes, “Strong leadership will be required to make the as-a-Service future a reality. Buyer executives need to see and understand the vision of as-a-Service and demand change, both internally and with their service partners. For their part, service providers must be willing to undergo a transformation that may at times be painful …. [but] with the right technology partners and platforms, a cloud infrastructure with strong security, end-to-end capabilities for business processes, and the ability to bring ongoing insights into particular business functions, buyers and service providers will help usher in the revolutionary capabilities of as-a-Service.”

For more information on transitioning to the as-a-Service business model, visit BSM’s Channel Transitions solution center.