It's easy for DaaS subscription costs to spiral out of control unless IT takes the following five steps, including understanding how they will put the cloud-based desktops to use.
When IT professionals look to take their desktops to the cloud with desktop as a service they should focus on keeping costs reasonable and consistent.
Pricing is certainly not the fun part of DaaS; the technology is. But understanding costs is just as important as the technical details.
A big reason DaaS pricing is so critical is that IT pros must show business decision-makers the numbers to prove the profitability of the technology. Moving desktops to the cloud is not always less expensive than some of the alternatives, but it can deliver huge gains in the long run because IT no longer has to use time and resources to manage system updates or huge upgrades.
Regardless of how IT pros handle their budgets, they will quickly learn that DaaS pricing matters and that it varies from vendor to vendor. So, for the DaaS journey -- which can take several years -- it is important to keep pricing stable and consistent for long-term profitability reporting.
How to maintain consistent DaaS pricing
Know use cases for DaaS desktops. IT pros could theoretically start a conversation with a DaaS provider about costs and licensing before they know their virtual desktop use cases, but the conversation will not get very far. There are many considerations to go through first, including how many desktops IT must deliver and how many virtual desktop templates IT must support. Sorting out these details first will help the DaaS provider come up with an accurate pricing projection.
Questions to answer when you are considering desktop as a service
IT professionals that are on top of their game know all the options for desktop virtualization. Master enterprise DaaS and learn how to transition an organization to the cloud with this quiz.
Plan for growth. A DaaS provider should not expect IT pros to pay in advance for more than what they need. Even so, they must still project out their internal budget to account for any growth in the coming years. This includes forecasting years into the future. IT pros should expect to be involved in this research.
Know what's included in the licensing. Every DaaS provider has different licensing models and tiers for IT pros to consider. License models for DaaS are often per user. Digging deeper, those per user licenses may have tiers that determine which features each user gets.
As IT pros evaluate their options, they should keep a list of questions to ensure that they ask the same questions to all the vendors.
Another common model is based on storage usage, where IT pays for what it uses. IT pros should know what the provider's licensing model includes to ensure that they only purchase the features they really need so they don't overspend.
Lock in DaaS pricing for new users and annual renewals. IT pros should understand any discounts their DaaS provider offers that align with their number of users or storage consumption. This will help IT ensure that it receives the best pricing available for their needs. Knowing what pricing will be now and in the future can ensure that costs remain stable and consistent.
Ask a lot of questions when comparing DaaS vendors. Administrators should always ask a lot of questions as they relate to the deployments they support and how that correlates to the licensing and pricing a DaaS provider offers. In fact, as IT pros evaluate their options, they should keep a list of questions to ensure that they ask the same questions to all the vendors they consider from both a technical and pricing perspective. This will not only help them make an apples-to-apples comparison between vendors, it will also help them ensure that their long-term strategy supports team goals that will keep DaaS pricing secure and stable.
