The History of the IT Department - And Why NaaS is Today's Answer

NaaS is the new buzzword being marketed all over these days. It sounds like just another acronym for the tech people to speak in code, but this one really is for everyone. So what is it?

NaaS stands for network as a service. It’s a total solution delivered to your company. If we take a step back and look at how IT has been done for decades, we can see why a service solution is a better answer for today’s IT environment.

In decades past, businesses hired a couple nerdy, NASA-engineer-type guys to handle fixing computers. These people were in charge of installing Windows 95 from 5.25-in. black square floppy disks on everyone’s computer and making sure the printer that never worked occasionally worked. Then these engineers were tasked with making sure multiple computers could “talk” to each other over the internet. They had to set up user accounts and passwords for computers and assign each employee an email address. There were some basic Norton Antivirus security requirements, but most of us still used our pet’s name as our password and we kept any other difficult password on a Post-it note attached to our monitor. The heyday of IT networking came in the early 2000s when wireless networking, laptops and cell phones took over. This was an exciting time when problems had solutions. It seems like everyone was jumping in to be “an IT guy.”

Then the 2010s decade hit, and the complicated requirements of IT really hit the fan. Suddenly everyone had a smartphone and personal laptop they wanted on the network. It became a requirement for computers to be up and running 24/7 or else productivity came to a halt. In a race to become flashier and faster, equipment became more advanced and more difficult to install. Adding new bells and whistles to a room full of old gear running a company inevitably took down the network.

The worst part was the rise of ransomware and viruses. Innocuous-looking emails offering free donuts tricked employees to click on links and open virtual doors to hackers across the world. Technology became unbelievably convoluted. Those engineer types who led the technology department in the 90s left the battlefield to enjoy golfing and retirement. Anyone who attended a weekend networking class achieved a “computer tech” designation — the same as the person with decades of experience

Then the 2020s arrived, Covid-19 hit and chaos ensued. We know too well how this flipped our lives upside down — staffing shortages, supply chain issues, work-from-home challenges and everchanging technological demands. The original promises of technology improving our lives and improving productivity at the office have fallen to pieces. Now, business IT can be a money pit of failure. We keep adding complexity, hoping something will work, but nothing ever quite works the way it was promised.

Business owners and CIOs are exasperated.

It’s time to rethink the way we do IT. Network as a service is the future. Whether a business chooses to replace its whole information technology department, or simply select WiFi, SD-LAN, SD-WAN or cybersecurity services, NaaS is customized to a business’s unique needs. There are no large capital expenditures. NaaS includes all required networking hardware and software so there’s no worry about procurement cycles and budget headaches. Using proven, AI-powered technology, IT is always up. In choosing the right NaaS provider, companies can work with expert engineers, who will take care of managing and maintaining all infrastructure so business leaders can focus on running and growing their business. Handing off IT needs to a NaaS provider with decades of experience will give businesses the power of a Fortune 500 IT department. It’s time to replace the poorly functioning, decades-old IT model with outcome-based solutions.