Business model reinvention: XaaS (Anything-as-a-Service)

Know the triggers, find the value

What are the triggers for a XaaS transition?

Your customers are seeking flexibility, desire agile solutions, the ability to engage through their preferred channels, purchase where it's convenient for them, and pay in ways that suit their needs. Moreover, customers now prioritize buying outcomes rather than products, seeking a customer journey that supports their success and continuous value from your offerings.  

At PwC, we can assist you in navigating this transition by providing strategic guidance, helping you develop and implement an Anything as-a-Service model, and leveraging our expertise in customer experience to ensure your customers' needs are met throughout their journey.

What will I need to change in my business to enable XaaS?

To enable XaaS, you will need to reassess how you create value for your customers. This involves examining three key areas of your business: the structure and pricing model of your offerings, the go-to-market (GTM) model for selling, and the quote-to-cash (Q2C) operating model for delivery. By reevaluating and adapting these aspects, you can successfully transition to an XaaS business model.

PwC can provide guidance and expertise in transforming these core areas of your business, ensuring a smooth and effective transition to XaaS. Our accelerators will help you make decisions within these three core areas to enable you to quickly get to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for your XaaS offering that can then be scaled.

How can I quickly get tangible results undergoing a XaaS transformation?

We offer a number of solutions and technology accelerators to help you quickly get tangible results. For example, our Model Systems have a large part of what you’d need to enable XaaS pre-configured and can get you a proof-of-concept transaction readiness as quickly as within 90 days. Our key principle is design by exception and focus on the adoption, that minimizes needed changes and accelerates time to benefits.

We have alliances with the major XaaS tech players in place to help define the right technology solution to fit your needs and accelerate implementation timeline. Our asset-based solutions and focus on starting small, moving quick and scaling up allow us to solve business challenges quickly and at scale – expediting decision-making and accelerating XaaS transition.

How do I need to change my operating model to deliver these new products / services?

To successfully deliver new XaaS products/services, it's crucial to design and implement new capabilities aligned with best practices. In your Go-to-Market model (how you sell), key capabilities include digital demand generation, self-service platforms, omnichannel channel expansion, and collaborative channel partnerships to drive interest, provide personalized experiences, engage customers, tap into new audiences, extend market presence, and increase customer value. In your Quote-to-Cash operating model (how you deliver), essential capabilities include an intelligent Lead-to-Cash (L2C) system enabled by AI/ML to support guided selling and renewals, an end-to-end (E2E) business architecture with fully integrated L2C systems, a customer-centric E2E journey focused on customer success, and a foundational data model for XaaS.

 At PwC, we can assist you in transforming your operating model to deliver these new products/services. Our expertise lies in helping you develop and implement the necessary capabilities, leveraging our key tech alliances to streamline access to vendor tools and intellectual capital, reducing sales cycle time, and increasing client confidence through Alliance endorsements. With our guidance, you can optimize your operating model for efficient and effective delivery of XaaS offerings.

How can I maximize my customer lifetime value (CLV) and profitability from XaaS product / service offerings? 

To maximize your CLV and profitability from XaaS product/service offerings, it's important to keep an eye on key metrics like annual/monthly recurring revenue, average revenue per user, total contract value/annual contract value, and churn rate.

At PwC, we provide our clients with the tools and insights they need to efficiently track these metrics and make strategic decisions through our XaaS Revenue Dashboard. Additionally, our intelligent Lead-to-Cash tool supports guided selling, renewals, churn reduction, and cross-sell/upsell efforts to help you maximize your CLV. We also offer assistance in refining pricing and packaging models, implementing intelligent pricing and contracting mechanisms, developing customer success programs, and optimizing lead-to-cash processes for sustainable growth and success in your XaaS journey.