“This is complete lifecycle management,” he says. Vendors provision devices, manage setup, and deploy software. DaaS may also include cybersecurity protection and technical support depending on the contract.
The main advantage of DaaS for state and local governments is that it is cost-effective. Pricing is simple and predictable.
“Spending forecasting is important, especially in organizations with fixed budgets,” says Rose.
DaaS provides telemetry and predictive analytics for government agencies
State and local governments can use the telemetry capabilities of DaaS programs to determine which devices their employees need based on usage profiles. These include information about processors, memory, and battery life, said Todd Gustafson, who is president of the HP Federation.
“Those assets can be redeployed into the workforce through maintenance, making them look like new,” Gustafsson says. “It works and it works efficiently.”
In addition to telemetry, DaaS programs can incorporate dashboards with predictive analytics to determine how many assets a state or local government owns, which assets are at risk, and which assets need updating. It helps determine the number of assets, Gustafson says.
“This gives you a very integrated way to manage your budget process and see what your risk profile is,” he says.
HP's DaaS program, called Managed Device Services, focuses on a streamlined user experience in addition to device management.
“This is a big change from a few years ago, when the industry was really leaning into DaaS financing and break-fixing,” said Rebecca Campbell, HP's vice president of channel management solutions. “Everything is now being done to define, assess, deploy and even proactively execute security services and then manage assets throughout their lifecycle.”
learn more: Empower remote workers with modern workspace management.
How does DaaS benefit state governments?
Louisiana's Office of Technology Services (OTS) uses DaaS plans for end-user desktop hardware, said Louisiana CTO Jeremy Diehl.
“This is a shift away from the traditional PC purchasing, deployment and support model that organizations have used for a long time,” Deal says. “In a DaaS model, an organization pays for a service that includes his PC hardware, but also includes all the ongoing management and support that comes with these hardware components.”
DaaS also includes order processing, machine distribution, configuration, inventory management, decommissioning, and asset recovery, Deal said.
Louisiana's OTS is a managed service provider, acting as an “auxiliary agency” to the state executive branch, Deal said. While in other states he uses third-party vendors to provide IT services, in Louisiana he handles such services internally through his OTS. This also includes DaaS, Deal said.
“We manage all end-user phones, computers, and peripherals, as well as all other network backend infrastructure, security, and application development,” Diehl says.
Louisiana OTS runs DaaS services like order catalogs, where state employees use a portal to select laptops, desktops, monitors, and docking stations for their departments. OTS will then fulfill your order.
“These things are always in stock,” he says. “We already know what devices are on our standard list, so we can take them off the shelf and meet those requirements faster.”
States maintain standard configurations and agencies customize configurations based on their needs.
