Daisy Group managing director David McGinn predicts the rise of Device as a Service and notes the importance of new regulations coming in May this year
The big kicker for next year I think will be Device as a Service (DaaS).
It’s where the market is going in terms of how end-users want to consume things nowadays – as a service. It offers a way for customers to take advantage of natural device evolution and enjoy the flexibility of a managed service while not needing the IT support in-house. To take advantage, partners and resellers need to understand how they are able to commercialise that offering. They need to consider the financing options they can engage with and leverage to ultimately support the end customer and deliver a greater device experience.
Another important development for next year, which isn’t technological at its heart, is
GDPR which comes into effect in May. And while it isn’t necessarily a tech product issue,we have a part to play in being able to support our partners and the end-users – enabling them with the right tools to ensure their compliance. If played correctly, we have an opportunity to take a lot of pain away from customers.
Quickly touching on devices, 2017 saw iPhone being bolder than ever with their new devices with price points that were more than we would have predicted. What will be interesting to see in the coming year is whether the business market will continue to accept these rising prices for the latest models, or will they opt for more reasonably-priced handsets from more niche manufacturers? Newer disruptive manufacturers and re-entrants have an opportunity to steal share, although the consumer-driven pull of the major brands will be hard to break, especially within the smaller customers.
