INDUSTRY VIEW
AI AND OUTCOME SERVICES ACCELERATING FLEX PRICING STRUCTURES
TOP: MUSTAPHA HLIL, CHANNEL DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA, F5 BOTTOM: MUKESH KUMAR, REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST ALLIANCE AND CHANNELS, SALESFORCE
An important driver for flexible consumption is the rise of Artificial Intelligence, which has led to growing demand for AI farms used for data ingestion and machine learning. Because these services are new, organisations want to test the water, without the risk of long-term investments says Mustapha Hlil at F5. While AI adoption is moving at an unprecedented pace, many CIOs are concerned about maintaining cost controls amid the pressure to innovate, says Mukesh Kumar at Salesforce.
Flexible licensing and on-demand consumption is part of a growing trend and gives organisations a strong degree of flexibility enabling them to scale as required. This is particularly important for early and mid-stage companies, and for organisations entering new markets where it is difficult to forecast demand and growth.
“ Flexible consumption also opens significant opportunities for channel partners, who can embark on a long-term partnership with their customers. This is a relationship that goes far beyond the old value-added reseller model and enables channel partners and their customers to grow and develop together,” says Mustapha Hlil, Channel Director Middle East, Turkey and Africa, F5.
One of the key drivers of demand for flexible consumption is the rise of Artificial Intelligence, which has led to growing demand for AI farms used for data ingestion and machine learning.
However, organisations involved in this sector are not always able to accurately predict how much capacity they need, which makes flexible consumption a valuable option. This is a trend that looks set to continue and it will make flexible consumption models more important than ever.
Above and beyond flexibility, on-demand consumption gives end users a way of mixing and matching solutions. This enables them to be more creative and explore new opportunities without the risk of buying infrastructure or making long-term software or capacity commitments.
This type of flexibility is also important in numerous scenarios, such as when a company stages an acquisition, or is acquired by another company, potentially disrupting demand projections and overall software and security posture.
In other cases, a company may win a large order from a single customer, creating a sudden need for certain types of IT solution. In this case, it is likely that the company would be reluctant to invest in new infrastructure or in-houses resources, due to uncertainty about how long the new business order might last. Flexible consumption is vital in such scenarios.
“ From an end-user’ s perspective, flexible licensing and ondemand consumption works best when it is well-integrated into an organisation’ s broader plan. From the vendor and partner’ s point of view, it is a consumption engine where the partner sells service level agreements rather than products,” says F5’ s Hlil.
The customer, meanwhile, benefits by moving from a Capex to an Opex model, which usually improves their bottom line while enhancing flexibility.
“ In the interest of serving the customer better, the vendor and the partner do undergo some risk to offer flexible consumption models
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