Harnessing XaaS to reduce costs, risks and complexity

To drive fast-paced innovation, enterprises are demanding models that focus on business outcomes, as opposed to only measuring IT results. At the same time, these enterprises are under increasing pressure to redesign their IT estates in order to lower cost and risk and reduce complexity.

To meet these challenges, Everything as a Service (XaaS) is emerging as the solution that can help address these challenges by simplifying operations, reducing risk and accelerating digital transformation. According to an IDC white paper sponsored by IBM®, by 2028, 80% of IT buyers will prioritize XaaS consumption for key workloads that require flexibility to help optimize IT spending, augment IT Ops skills and attain key sustainability metrics.¹

Moving forward, we see three pivotal insights that will continue to shape the future direction of businesses in the coming years.

Simplify IT to accelerate business outcomes and focus on ROI

The need to overhaul legacy IT infrastructures is a significant pressure point for enterprises. The applications that we are writing today will be the applications that we need to modernize tomorrow.

With XaaS offerings, enterprises are able to integrate business-critical applications into a modernized hybrid environment, particularly in AI applications and workloads.

CrushBank, for example, worked with IBM to transform its IT support, streamlining help desk operations and arming staff with improved information. This created a 45% reduction in resolution time and notably enhanced customer experiences. CrushBank has reported that with the power of watsonx™ on IBM Cloud®, customers have shared feedback of higher satisfaction and efficiency allowing the organization to spend time with the people that matter the most: their clients.

Reimagine business models to foster rapid innovation

AI is fundamentally altering how business is done. Traditional business models, often constrained by their complexity and cost-intensive nature, are proving inadequate for the agility required in an AI-driven marketplace. According to recent IDC research, sponsored by IBM, 78% of IT organizations view XaaS as a critical component of their future strategies.

To meet this demand for rapid innovation and address the accompanying risks and costs, businesses see the benefits of turning to XaaS. Rather than merely providing tools, this model focuses on delivering outcomes for greater operational efficiency and effectiveness. The model allows XaaS vendors to focus on secure, resilient and scalable services, enabling IT organizations to invest their precious resources in their client requirements.

Anticipate for tomorrow by preparing for today

The shift toward an XaaS model is not just about optimizing IT spending; it is also about augmenting IT operations skills and achieving business goals faster and in a more agile manner.

At Think, CrushBank's CTO David Tan highlighted how they enabled clients to innovate and effectively leverage data seamlessly where it resides, allowing them to craft a holistic strategy to meet the unique business needs for each of their customers. Enabling a simpler, faster and more economical path to leverage AI, while also reducing the risk and burden of managing complex IT architectures, remains paramount for companies operating in today's data-driven environment.

The momentum toward XaaS stands out as a strategic solution that offers a multitude of benefits. From helping to reduce operational risks and costs to enabling rapid adoption of emerging technologies like AI, XaaS should be the cornerstone of every IT strategy.

IBM's current as-a-service initiative can help enterprises achieve those benefits today. The combined capabilities across IBM software and infrastructure help clients drive outcomes, while helping to ensure that mission-critical workloads stay secured and compliant.

For example, IBM Power Virtual Server is designed to assist leading enterprises across the globe to successfully expand their on-premises servers to hybrid cloud infrastructures, granting leaders more insight into their businesses. Also, the IBM team is working collaboratively with our customers to modernize with AI, with offerings like watsonx Code Assistant™ for Java code or enterprise applications.

Enterprises are under increasing pressure to redesign their legacy IT estates-to lower cost and risk and reduce complexity. XaaS is emerging as the solution that can address these challenges head on by simplifying operations, enhancing resilience and accelerating digital transformation. IBM aims to meet our clients where they are on their transformation journey.

¹IDC White Paper, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2024 Predictions, December 2023
²IDC White Paper, sponsored by IBM, Digital Transformation in the Era of AI Drives Interest in XaaS, #US51430123, December 2023