What Is Device as a Service (DaaS)?
Device as a Service (DaaS) is a subscription-based service that provides businesses with a full slate of end user devices and managed IT support bundled in the same package. In a DaaS deployment, the solution provider is responsible for distributing, provisioning, and managing devices for workers in the office, at home, or in the field. Intel vPro® is built for what IT needs. And Intel® Evo™ laptops deliver what mobile users want. Together, they create a new class of stylish, thin-and-light laptops that combines key features for IT—multilayer security and complete manageability—with a premium user experience that includes remarkable responsiveness, instant wake, intelligent collaboration, and longer real-world battery life. Intel vPro®, An Evo design based devices are the best choice for DaaS, enabling businesses and workers to maximize their agility and productivity with the latest technology on the latest platforms.
The Rising Trend of DaaS
According to a recent IDC study,3 DaaS is gaining traction in the market as businesses are benefitting from cost savings and IT workload reduction. Key highlights include:
- DaaS is helping companies reduce their PC costs by up to 17 percent, with small businesses experiencing a greater impact.
- DaaS helps reduce IT workloads by up to 16 percent, with small businesses again showing the highest reductions.
- By 2025, DaaS will account for more than one in three commercial desktops and nearly one in five laptops shipped to end users.
- Ninety-five percent of adopters are satisfied with their current DaaS enrollment.
Benefits of Device as a Service (DaaS)
As part of a larger digital transformation strategy, DaaS is a flexible option that enhances business agility and helps free up resources between enterprise IT departments, end user workforces, and decision-makers. Businesses of any size can reap across-the-board benefits related to device life-cycle management, PC configurations tuned to specific employee needs, and fast asset recovery that helps minimize downtime.
Employee Experience
DaaS solution providers can offer a broad spectrum of end user PCs, including Intel vPro® devices and even computers that feature both platforms in one premium package. With Intel vPro®, businesses can equip their engineers and specialists with powerful workstations that deliver ultimate performance combined with modern manageability tools that help minimize downtime. Intel® Evo™ designs offer an ideal balance of performance, graphics, and mobility, suited for today’s ultramobile workers. These devices deliver over nine hours of battery life while powering full HD displays4 and 41 percent faster office productivity during a videoconference.5 Users also benefit from Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, the most advanced standard for business PCs today.
Multilayer Security
Users can work with confidence knowing that their DaaS-provided enabled security capabilities built for the business class. These advanced security features offer a comprehensive range of application and data protections, advanced threat detections, and the industry’s first silicon-enabled AI threat detection to help stop ransomware and cryptomining attacks.6
Enabling the Remote Workforce
Remote workforces and the ability for some employees to work from home are helping businesses adapt to global disruptions. As part of a DaaS deployment, solution providers offer full technical support for end users with the ability to remotely remediate PC problems and get employees back to work fast. These remote management tools are a critical ingredient of Intel vPro® Enterprise for Windows, which enables DaaS providers to monitor, update, repair, restore, and help protect PCs both inside and outside the corporate firewall.
Device Life-Cycle Management
DaaS providers are responsible for provisioning or imaging, distributing devices directly to employees, remotely updating all devices to the latest versions of firmware and software, and refreshing the PC fleet to the newest devices. Intel vPro® Enterprise for Windows also helps enable DaaS providers to verify that new PCs have not been tampered with since leaving the manufacturing environment, before corporate security software is installed, and even when shipped directly to employees working from home.
Optimize Total Cost of Ownership
PC fleet management for enterprise IT incurs numerous costs, including a large up-front capital investment in the devices themselves. With DaaS, device procurement and device management are optimized into a single operating expenditure. A service subscription model allows businesses to manage their IT investments with agility to meet changing demands. DaaS also frees up valuable time for IT departments to focus on larger initiatives within the organization, such as digital transformation or cloud migration projects.
Choosing the Best Platform for Your Business
Intel vPro® is built for what IT needs. Intel® Evo™ is designed for what users want. Combining these two platforms creates a class of laptops that provide business-class performance and comprehensive security in a sleek design with features to delight any mobile professional.
DaaS Case Studies
By having a specialist take on most, if not all, of the managed IT services related to their PC fleet, businesses stand to gain tremendous value and time saved. In these examples, remote device management enabled a service provider to free up resources for clients to stay productive and innovative in their industry.
- Datto is a technology provider that supports DaaS solutions specialists with their remote monitoring and management (RMM) suite, powered by the Intel vPro® platform. With RMM, DaaS providers can support more endpoints per deployment.
- The system integrator RedNet used the Intel vPro® platform to roll out new PCs to 170 schools for the city of Frankfurt, Germany. Overall, RedNet onboarded 7,500 devices with the added benefit of centralized IT support and management.
- The Indiana Office of Technology, a state-level agency, turned to the DaaS model to successfully provision 18,000 systems with Intel® Active Management Technology in just one month. As a result, the agency was able to provide IT support to other public institutions across the state.
DaaS Partner Solutions Enabled by Intel
Enterprise IT decision-makers and businesses interested in DaaS can talk to their technology providers or search for DaaS offerings on the Intel® Solutions Marketplace to get started.