Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) is an emerging cloud solution that can help set your MSP services apart from competitors. The MSP field has become crowded in many markets, so it’s important to select your channel marketing partners carefully. Offering services such as DaaS that empower small businesses can be a strong niche for building long-term relationships.
How DaaS Helps Small Businesses
Essentially, DaaS is a virtual desktop that you access in the cloud. It allows you to perform the same tasks you can do on a local desktop. The program runs on a virtual machine at the cloud provider’s data center. The cloud provider is responsible for maintaining and upgrading the software and hardware, as well as providing data storage, backup and security.
Small businesses are gravitating toward DaaS because there are no upfront costs and they merely need to pay on a monthly basis as needed. DaaS is also an affordable solution for designing a backup and disaster recovery plan. You won’t have to waste space, since virtual machines allow you to stack several operating systems on one physical server. This scenario also lets you test software without disrupting your business.
One of the major selling points for DaaS is that is can dramatically cut hardware costs and operating expenses. It will also mean consuming less energy. The more a firm migrates to the cloud, the less they will have to worry about hardware failures or replacing hardware.
Finding Channel Partners
Offering a variety of cloud-based MSP services does not mean you have to develop every software application on your own. You can partner with existing cloud providers and resell their services. Some of the major players in cloud services such as DaaS are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and VMWare Horizon Air.
The most important factor for an MSP in choosing a channel partner is that it’s a win-win-win situation that benefits your firm, your clients and the provider. The service needs to be reliable and you need to establish a familiar relationship with the provider, who can share marketing tools and insights, based on their experience with DaaS. Since virtual desktops will be an extension of your services, you will need to make sure the provider has a good reputation and wants to innovate to keep making the service better.
A similar solution to DaaS is Workplace-as-a-Serivce (WPaaS), which is cloud-based but doesn’t necessarily include an entire desktop. Vertiscale is a provider of this service for small to medium-sized healthcare organizations. It’s a turnkey solution that includes telecom, allowing employees to access their work from any device. According to Sprint, which offers the service, WPaaS is ideal for companies that employ 20 to 200 people. Sprint’s package includes multiple features including audio and video conferencing.
The Future of DaaS
Even though technology is unpredictable, it’s clear that DaaS is an emerging cloud service that gives businesses user-friendly and affordable options. It’s an excellent choice for scalability to help businesses either expand or contract, depending on the workforce size and the number of desktops needed to add or subtract.
One of the reasons why DaaS appears to have a bright future is that the mobile revolution has compelled many businesses to switch to cloud models. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model is another way to cut hardware costs while embracing the cloud. DaaS, like WPaaS or many other cloud services, allows individuals to access their data from any location on any device at any time, creating a more flexible work environment. Since businesses are already moving toward the cloud and mobile devices, DaaS fits in nicely with this puzzle.
Conclusion
Your MSP services can attract small and large business clients by offering cloud service niches like DaaS. The main benefit is that it will save your clients time and money as well as provide reliable backup resources.
