Everything as a Service (XaaS): Explained

When the internet has become a widely-spread network of services, it became apparent that its marketing possibilities are immeasurable. Various services started selling their own products online, as services, to online users. This principle of unlimited, versatile approach has come to be known as XaaS, or Everything as a Service.

It’s not a strategy or even an approach really. It’s simply a concept of selling and buying services/products online. It can be expressed in several principles:

Availability
Scalability
Increased effectiveness (through outsourcing)
Infinite buying opportunities.

It basically states that, in the network of internet, you can buy nearly everything, and it’s going to work out for you better than if you were to use your device without these services or buy similar stuff elsewhere.

Types of XaaS

Naturally, it’s a lot to absorb at once, considering how all-encompassing this concept seems to be. But it’s actually very specific to the internet. This concept uses a lot of advantages and benefits the Web can provide, and you likely enjoyed some of them over the course of your life many times.

So, it’s vital to understand what this concept means in practice. Even more so, considering that you can utilize it to move your business online and increase your sales there.

Although you can sell anything online, there are several major types of services that get sold here more than anything else. This includes SaaS (Software), HaaS (Hardware), DaaS (Data), and much more. It’s not just a happy coincidence that these and many more are so successful as part of the XaaS principle. They enjoy the advantages offered by it to the fullest.

Everything as a Service (XaaS): Explained

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SaaS & HaaS

Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service are two of the oldest and most popular types of XaaS services. XaaS is a marketplace for everything online, characterized by its scalability. You can basically buy something that can benefit you if you are already present on the internet and use it as effectively as possible.

HardwareFor instance, you can only have so much hardware before your business gets overburdened by servers, computers, and other machinery that is very effective but also costs a lot to maintain, demands time, and occupies space.You could buy more on the internet if you like, but the merits of the XaaS really shine when you have it wired to your online business from some other place on the planet. You basically rent it, have it work remotely, and achieve the same results, but without any of the disadvantages.The good part about it is that you can buy as many hardware components as you want (provided, of course, that you have money). That’s scalability, and that’s what’s so great about XaaS.
SoftwareSoftware as a Service utilizes another great benefit of this model, and it does it to the fullest. XaaS allows users to buy any service and enjoy it much sooner. The software itself can’t reasonably be bought offline because it takes infinitely more time, while you can just buy as many copies of any app as you want.This works with a multitude of other things, including groceries, tickets, and much more. It’s even better now that these products can be delivered to you very quickly. At the same time, services that only exist online or supplant the existing offline services with more efficiency enjoy the XaaS model very much.

Other kinds of XaaS

As evident, the XaaS can be used for anything. It’s a useful system that allows people to buy services and products without spending much time. It’s also great for outsourcing, and it can be traced in one of the other kinds of XaaS models, including the SecaaS (Security) and DaaS (‘Desktop’).

SecuritySecurity is likely one of the most popular smaller services. What people usually mean by it are various services that safeguard your business, system, or device. That includes antivirus software, VPN services, and other useful solutions that mostly protect information.You can technically protect your own information by being exceptionally careful, but buying security solutions allows you to focus on other things other than making sure your information is safe and sound. These enhancing and scaling capabilities are what makes this servicing model so beneficial to businesses.
DesktopDesktop as a Service is a perfect example of outsourcing. It’s not a way of renting desktops. It allows people to outsource data storage and processing to other devices. Cloud solutions are amongst the most influential services of this kind. You basically do all of your typical work, but don’t clog your own hardware with the huge amount of data.That’s one of the best examples of outsourcing within XaaS.

Advantages of XaaS

Now that we have a lot of examples of XaaS in practice, let’s condense all of that into a list of benefits. These mostly apply to businesses because it’s a business model. However, some are also applicable to individuals.

ScalabilityAllowing some of your processes to be outsourced to other services actually allows you to grow your business much easier than if you’d use non-XaaS alternatives. For instance, renting a server for your online business rather than buying one enables you to put the server to use much sooner, which in turn means faster growth of your business.
Higher qualityDoing something yourself doesn’t guarantee high quality of end results. However, if you were to outsource a process to other services, you could first pick the exact party who will be responsible for it (providing you a great measure of quality control) and be certain of the end quality because you’ll likely pick a professional service.
More time for other responsibilitiesSigning up for services instead of worrying about all of your responsibilities means more time and resources for the actually vital tasks. It’s just common sense, for instance, to order food delivery instead of going for groceries yourself. It opens up more time for work and other tasks. It’s the same with businesses.
No maintenance costsIt’s particularly relevant for the HaaS model because it enables business owners to connect their websites to a server that doesn’t have to be brought over, installed, maintained, and repaired. Certainly, maintenance costs are part of the fee you pay for these services, but with the former approach, you also pay with time, which is valuable.

Disadvantages of XaaS

Any business consists of multiple aspects and processes that need taking care of. It doesn’t just include hardware and software (if you’re going for an online presence, which is commendable), but also transportation, communications, and more. Some of these can’t be installed on your own, so you’ll have to have someone do it for you.

Nonetheless, in many cases, you can carry the burden yourself, and it’s particularly relevant for the small businesses that don’t actually have as many problems. At this stage, transportation, for instance, can be taken care of without delegating it to someone on the internet.

Although this model can provide you any service or product without having to spend much time looking for it, it’s not always wise. It still costs money, and often you’ll find that doing the same thing on your own or buying it outside of XaaS is cheaper and simpler.

In general, the downsides of XaaS are that they don’t provide as much scalability if there isn’t a lot to scale in the first place. Moreover, all the advantages mentioned above fade if the business simply doesn’t have enough responsibilities to justify the acquisition of various services.

In the end, the greatest disadvantage of Everything as a Service is that many of these services are costly compared to typical services or even not using anything at all.

Conclusion

For the bigger businesses, XaaS is absolutely critical. There are only a few companies that don’t delegate a portion of their responsibilities, tasks, or issues to services simply because it’s easier, less time-consuming, or more effective this way.

It’s also very helpful to individual users, especially considering that much of what you can buy online makes a person’s everyday routine much easier. Businesses don’t benefit much from food deliveries, taxi services.-, or other small services. They are of no use if you want to maximize your selling capabilities as much as possible.

It’s not really a competition, and also not a question of using or ignoring XaaS. You will use some services that are part of this larger model in one way or another to the benefit of your business.