Aruba publishes a survey on companies’ views of Network-as-a-Service. The results show that the term is discussed often enough in the workplace, although a deeper understanding of the content of the concept is still lacking.
The pandemic pulled companies into a new world in one rut. Offices were closed, while in employees’ homes, the puzzle on the dinner table had to give way to the work laptop. Companies had to quickly adapt to this new reality. According to Markus Maryl, Portfolio Marketing Manager EMEA at Aruba, that created new challenges: “Companies found out that the organization was only as flexible as the network infrastructure.”
A new survey by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, shows how businesses in the EMEA region view Network-as-a-Service (NaaS). The survey involved 5,400 IT executives from the EMEA region. They were all familiar with the term NaaS, which Aruba defines as “an arrangement in which a company contractually outsources more than half of deployed network, operations and lifecycle management to an external vendor.
Viability in question
The survey also shows that despite NaaS being a major topic of conversation, only two in five respondents fully understand the concept. This leads to false perceptions about NaaS, according to Aruba, as a whopping 49 percent of Belgian technology leaders see NaaS as a concept that has yet to find a market.
Asked about the stumbling blocks in implementing NaaS, about half of Belgian companies ran into three of the same stumbling blocks, according to the survey. Exactly half struggled with budget requirements and investment cycles. 52 percent found it difficult to raise the necessary budget, while 47 percent identified compliance with internal procurement policies as a stumbling block.
Long-term vision
Although Belgian companies question the viability of NaaS, more than three-quarters of those surveyed believe NaaS helps reduce operational costs. In Belgium, that percentage even rose to 80 percent. According to Jerry Garcia, Country Manager for Belgium and Luxembourg at Aruba, NaaS can offer even more in the long run: “For example, IT teams will be able to engage more often in strategic support and innovation if they don’t have to watch over the network to keep the business running.”
Currently, therefore, it is especially important for IT leaders to become more knowledgeable about NaaS. That concludes Morten Illum, Vice President for EMEA at Aruba, because only in this way can companies harness the potential of NaaS.
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