Why state and local governments should consider anything-as-a-service (XaaS)

For municipal IT leaders, balancing the need to modernize legacy systems against the responsibility of managing financial constraints is never-ending. With the rate of technological advancement accelerating, innovative leaders are outsourcing their infrastructure, opting for managed services that provide their organization with added support and offer access to the latest network equipment, services and software that ensures up-to-date security.

According to Gartner, “The anything-as-a-service (XaaS) model is the preferred approach for many government organizations tackling legacy infrastructure modernization and service innovation. Government CIOs must adjust their IT governance, procurement practices, and talent strategies to optimize adoption.”

In some cases, managed services allow IT organizations to modernize their infrastructure instantly, rather than incrementally. This enables them to keep pace with the speed of technological disruption and deliver the quality and type of services that an increasingly digitized citizenry demands. By adopting the XaaS model, municipalities can address the twin challenges of aging infrastructure and staff shortages and enjoy the benefits derived from advanced networking capabilities.

The use of managed services is becoming more commonplace every day. The Managed Services Global Market Report shows that managed services spending will grow 46% by 2027. Outsourcing IT infrastructure and its management alleviates costs for municipal CIOs and provides them access to human and technology resources that may not exist within their government organizations. 

According to the American non-profit trade association CompTIA, the majority of municipal CIOs are using or considering using managed services to extend capabilities and contain costs. The association further reports that 85% of local government CIOs expect their IT budgets to increase. Cybersecurity ranked as the top IT priority (97%) and CIOs pointed to modernizing outdated IT systems (61%) and innovation (61%) as the other leading priorities. CIOs are also prioritizing the human side of IT;  specifically, retaining current staff and finding new employees to maintain IT operations.

CapEX vs. Opex considerations

An XaaS model shifts capital expenditure (CapEX) to a pay-as-you-go operating expenditure (Opex) model, allowing governments to pay only for what they need when they need it. Government CIOs are increasingly acting as brokers of IT services, shifting their business models away from agency-owned and operated resources. According to Gartner, “This normalizes IT spending over time, making budgeting for IT more predictable while avoiding the accrual of technical debt.”

As many government organizations look for new ways to harness emerging technologies to drive value for their constituents, managed services are one way to redirect financial and human assets from operations to innovation. When a municipality acquires technology with CapEx funds, there’s a possibility of underestimating future network capacity and security needs.  Scaling upwards in response to changing conditions can be prohibitively expensive when the only option is to rip and replace. OpEX spending on managed services removes the large initial IT investment while keeping pace with changing networking requirements and emerging security risks, all for one monthly fee.

Answering the challenge of unprecedented network demands

Digital transformation across all industries has dramatically expanded how quickly data can be gathered and disseminated to better serve customers and drive cost efficiencies. Similar efforts are being undertaken in governments of all sizes, as citizens expect to do more from their mobile devices and after regular work hours.

For many state and local governments, the challenge isn’t doing what needs to be done but, rather, doing it all at once with overburdened departments that are short on both resources and time. Managed services offer IT leaders a frictionless path to rapidly expand the capabilities of their teams. Provided that government IT leaders choose the correct managed services partner, they should enjoy the benefits of a reliable and secure network infrastructure, with 24/7/365 U.S.-based support and monitoring — and the technology foundation to support next-generation services.

According to FEDSCOOP, managed services such as network-as-a-service offer municipalities, agencies and governments the opportunity to “unlock the full potential of modern IT and establish a more resilient and secure foundation for the future.”  That publication asserts, “Maintaining and upgrading network infrastructure to support today’s multi-cloud IT environments and applications has become significantly more complex.”

In some cases, managed services can even allow government IT organizations to modernize their infrastructure from end-to-end at once, as opposed to incrementally. This enables them to keep pace with the speed of technological disruption, stay abreast of technical advancements, and deliver the quality and type of services that an increasingly digitized public demands.

Spectrum Enterprise can help

Maintaining and growing state or local government network infrastructure has always been complex. For more than 20 years, we’ve worked with state and local government agencies nationwide to design, implement and manage customized technology solutions. Managed Network Edge, delivered over the Cisco Meraki platform, provides the government IT services needed, such as security, routing, WiFi, SD-WAN, remote access and more. Municipalities of all sizes can get connectivity, equipment and network management in one easy-to-use solution.

Available as a fully managed or a co-managed solution, Enterprise Network Edge gives large government agencies the ability to transition to a hybrid network architecture. Powered by Fortinet, it offers access to multiple cloud instances and advanced security with throughput speeds up to 100 Gbps, while supporting distributed workforces. This solution also supports single-site agencies or governments that require high-capacity throughput and low latency while keeping it all secure, to deliver a better digital experience for your citizens and staff.

Learn more about how Spectrum Enterprise can provide managed or co-managed solutions for state and local governments.