Flexible consumption services for storage and compute power seem to be mainstream today, with customers taking "as a Service" approaches more often than not - and it's easy to see why. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations were pushed to address fluctuating markets and economic uncertainty.

CAPEX planning has long been known to leave organisations with long product lifecycles and an inability to pivot quickly, locking businesses into costly spending patterns and damaging their capacity to meet today's shifting business dynamics. Enter OPEX, the subscription approach that brings flexibility and fluidity to operating expenses and on-demand payments, underscoring business agility.

While flexible financing is one of the core reasons for the uptake in as-a-service models, there are a number of other factors deemed as, if not more, important than cost alone. We now see that NaaS is gaining traction, with the latest IDC 'IT Procurement Trends and Consumption Models' Survey, reporting that flexible consumption models for enterprise networking software and hardware continue to gain favour in the market.

LEVERAGING IT STAFF TO SPEND MORE TIME ON WHAT MATTERS
Within IDC's report, the desire to reduce IT staff workloads came out as one of the top factors driving as-a-service deployments - this is particularly relevant for networks. More frequently than not, IT teams find their days filled with requests to address network problems. Resources, time and expenses are focused on troubleshooting, finding the root cause, and remediating the latest network event or breach, leaving IT teams unable to focus on more critical and strategic tasks.

The rollout of subscription offerings across key departments, including deployment and decommissioning, means that IT staff can spend more time on complex, value-adding tasks for the business. This means truly optimising staff with the right tools to improve business and drive new outcomes.

Network-as-a-Service includes data analytics, expanded telemetry, artificial intelligence and automation, which come together to deliver critical efficiency gains in network operations. With network management increasingly complex in the new age of remote working, replacing manual interventions with advanced automation and analytics also provides increased visibility from a security perspective from usage through to bandwidth.

HAVING AN EXTRA PAIR OF EYES ON SECURITY ISSUES
As the pandemic has pushed networks to support remote workforces over the past year, increased security remains a top priority for businesses. With NaaS, most providers can rely on the security of the entire voice and data network so that all transactions, applications, and data are kept safe and secure. The number of IoT devices in particular are growing at an exponential rate, especially during this new working paradigm. Control and visibility issues are heightening risks and leaving networks more vulnerable than ever to potential breaches. But if IT staff are spending their time troubleshooting, they won't be able to protect their network properly and detect threats in real-time.

NaaS deployment can provide an extra pair of hands for IT staff by running the most up-to-date versions of security software and ensuring that hotfixes are installed as soon as they become available. For small businesses in particular, the ability to scale up and down as needed, depending on networking capacity, has been helpful as business needs have changed.

MEETING EXPECTATIONS AT THE EDGE
As organisations increase their reliance on cloud services, they have also needed their networks to extend beyond the perimeter of the office walls. Networks must now embrace the Edge - the place where data is created, captured, stored, and processed.

Businesses that are able to connect to the Edge efficiently and securely, and leverage the data they collect, will be well positioned for the future. Research even shows that 72% of global IT leaders are actively using Edge technologies to deliver new outcomes. Those with more mature Edge deployments are even increasing their business value from that data. Coupled with the expansion of the enterprise network that accompanies Edge activity, strain legacy network operations and management, NaaS presents an opportunity for businesses to outsource the day-to-day management of the network and gain access to the most advanced hardware and software technology.

We can expect NaaS to be a critical enabling platform for extending enterprise networks to the Edge in the coming months and years. This business model is increasingly being championed for its flexible approach and the subscription service is becoming highly recognised for a wealth of reasons.

Organisations are waking up to the impact that NaaS deployment can have on IT staff workloads, its ability to stabilise security concerns, and unlock the true potential of Edge technologies - now and in the future. NC