Many IT companies are offering their customers WiFi as a Service, also known as Managed WiFi. But what is it and what are the benefits of outsourcing your wireless network to an IT provider? In this post we explain all!
WiFi as a Service subscription service
Instead of having an onsite IT department designing, deploying and managing your WiFi network, WiFi as a Service outsources it to a team of WiFi experts.
Managed WiFi, wireless as a service or WaaS – whatever you want to call it – is a SaaS subscription-based service. In the past, designing, procuring, and installing a WiFi network was a CapEx investment, with maintenance, monitoring and upgrades falling to your IT team.
WiFi as a Service turns this investment into an operational expenditure, with monthly billing covering everything from RF surveys, network design, procurement and installation, to ongoing maintenance, network monitoring, upgrades and technology refresh*.
Benefits of WiFi as a Service
Budgeting is a key benefit of a Managed WiFi service. The desire to move away from CapEx investments to OpEx is a common reason for purchasing this service. However, there are other benefits including:
- Provides on-demand upgradability
- Enables limitless scalability
- Facilitates predictable payment schedules
- Aligns costs with consumption, increases capital efficiency
- Eliminates business risk
- Increases network security
- Freedom from depreciation cycles and term commitments
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Enterprise financial ratio stability
- Superior 24/7/365 support
Perhaps the greatest advantage is that it puts the responsibility for performance, maintenance, and risk management into the hands of highly experienced experts. Freeing up your IT team to focus on other priorities.
Security and WiFi as a Service
WiFi network security is a critical concern for all organisations. This involves implementing appropriate security controls, authenticating and tracking users and monitoring the network for potential breaches.
As with any other security service or solution, it’s only as good as the people who deploy and manage it. If you don’t have the skills or sufficient resource internally, a Managed WiFi services gives you access to a team of experts to protect your WiFi networks and defend against threats.
Next generation technology
If you need to make changes to your WiFi network, WaaS makes it easy. For example, adding new access points to expand the area covered by your network is straightforward and the cost reflected in your monthly billing.
Upgrading your wireless tech is also easy. Depending on your contract, your IT provider will manage the installation of new technology, replacing legacy, every 3 – 5 years.
Is Managed WiFi a good fit for your organisation?
Any organisation that requires a high-performance WiFi network can get value from this service. However, it’s particularly beneficial for those organisations where a fast and reliable WiFi network is required across a large square footage.
Retail outlets and shopping centres, commercial buildings and coworking spaces, healthcare settings, university and schools, leisure and hospitality sites, and manufacturing premises and warehouses, are good examples of where WiFi as a Service delivers significant value.
If your organisation needs to provide wireless connectivity across a large site, with multiple users (employees, visitors, customers, contractors etc.), and if the impact of downtime, poor performance and WiFi dead spots affects the bottom-line, outsourcing may be your best option.
To find out more about WiFi as a Service or to speak to our team about whether it’s a good fit for you, click here >
*depending on the IT provider and what their WiFi as a Service scope
