Everything… as a Service
Whether you are an individual with a wildly outlandish idea or a corporate who always has resources, outsourcing business is a heavenly savior. Originating from the software as a service concept in the 2010s, now the template has expanded to numerous offerings as XaaS. XaaS stands for everything / anything as a service. This mentality is great fit for modular structures, agile systems, micro-coding- even IKEA furniture… It fits with the mindset that works as a chain of blocks.
The Convenience of As-A-Service: A Simple Math Problem
The appeal of this solution from a business standpoint really boils down to simple math. There is no debate about it. Let’s go over with a simple example.When you buy a car; you’re bound to make the regular visits to car service. If you lease the car, the responsibility is much less. You can’t keep the car permit after a lease, but when dealing with a SaaS company for your new app, it’s better to ask for the source code upfront.
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What I would like to discuss here is the popular mentality. If you visit any business fair, you ‘ll likely come across numerous companies offering “infrastructure”. Countless number of companies promise to meet your technical requirements. They can build the entire app, jump in to fix that one annoying issue, or add a little extra magic to your business — like AI-powered instant translation for customer support!
The Rise of Plug-and-Play Business Platforms
One of the new trends, and I actually really like the idea first, is that merging platforms. Once you engage with the platform, you will meet all sorts of suppliers you will need to perform your business. There is a bank to open an account, acquirers, processors, KYC providers, digital marketing agencies, and so on. These platforms decrease your integration cost considerably with this one plug to all model, and definitely saves ture version of a custom-free trade chamber. One day, maybe those chambers will merge into larger ones. But you’ll still need to make deals with potential partners yourself. So, there are still bunch of approvals and agreements to be done waiting for you.
With the increasing popularity of software; the number of contract manufacturers has increased significantly. There is a major shift towards this field, especially by the people at the beginning of their career, rather than working 9–5 for another 40 years. I don’t want to be sounded against the structure. Mine are warnings in the genre of motherly love to protect against harsh realities; Something like “be careful, the market has reached its replicate business potential to a point and you could seriously lose some good money.”
The Hidden Risk: Losing Depth
Today’s technology supports continuous market growth, but that doesn’t mean there is no saturation point. The dystopian future I see is a giant as-a-service bouquet. The enticing scent, in this case the idea, is incubations center, startup competitions, dragon shows… Very feasible,but would it still have a soul?
It cannot be labeled as wrong but it feels wrong. Having worked for over 10 years, I became fixated on the idea that in order to be successful, you need to understand every step of your business. We need to know what we are doing, yes of course, but we also need to know what our company is doing, what is the business model, which set of actions pay for the operation. Leveraging external expertise is smart. Using modular solutions to scale quickly is smart. But becoming completely dependent on external services? That’s a risk. When every aspect of a business is outsourced, how much do we really understand about what we’re building? If we don’t take the time to grasp the bigger picture, we risk becoming just another cog in the machine.
Beyond the Hype
Every summer we are introduced to perfect hits with a three-month shelf life, but Für Elise has been on the shelf for 215 years. Short term profit maximization shines at first but sustainable success is the headliner. Outsourcing has always been a tool in business. Now we have upscaled options in every aspect as an essential part. To benefit from this variety, we have to understand our needs first and select the right provider matches with our long term goals. The worst move is to treat these as-a-service providers as AI-assistance tools and expect them to think and understand what we want on our behalf. A fast launch may grab attention, but only a well-built product brings lasting success.
