HP Innovation Journal Special Edition: Retail Transformation | Page 26

DAAS: THE NEW WAY TO
BUY POS
A Q&A with HP’s Jonathan Nikols and Lorri Jefferson
WHY IS DAAS A GREAT FIT FOR POS?
JONATHAN NIKOLS : Retail is changing rapidly, with new omnichannel solu-
tions to create a differentiated buying experience. HP DaaS (Device-as-a-Service)
addresses several pain points: the ability to manage multi-OS and multi-vendor
devices, keep them secure, and focus IT resources on the overall business versus
maintaining a fleet of devices.
Another real advantage is predictability of costs. Instead of large capital outlays,
you can budget against growth. POS fleets are not static; retailers are always
opening and closing stores. DaaS enables the flexibility to take devices out of
active use until they are needed.
WHAT MAKES HP DAAS DIFFERENT?
LORRI JEFFERSON: In retail, hardware quality is very important because it is
JONATHAN NIKOLS
VP and Global Head of DaaS, HP
how you process transactions and make money. We have some unique IP around
analytics and proactive management, available as a platform. We can give retail-
ers insights they do not have today, to drive better choices about how to keep
these critical devices up and running. For example, we can tell if your hard drives
are going to fail, and if the batteries in an mPOS will no longer provide an all-day
charge. That prevents downtime, which can be disastrous for retailers.
HOW DOES DAAS ENSURE POS IS ALWAYS UP TO DATE?
LORRI: With DaaS, some companies, especially franchisors, build automatic
hardware refreshes into their contracts. This ensures they can offer the latest
innovations, because their hardware is current across all units.
LORRI JEFFERSON
VP and Head of Software and
Services Product Management, HP
In addition, under the more advanced DaaS plans we are responsible for keeping
the system up to date, such as with apps and patches, so it is ready for new capa-
bilities. We also monitor software status using analytics; if something exceeds a
threshold, we investigate. Preventing an unhealthy and unsafe operating environ-
ment is important. If you do not keep up, malware can enter the system.
WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO APPROACH BUYING VS. DAAS?
JONATHAN: Our ROI and TCO tool has been validated by industry analyst
data. This helps retailers walk through the costs of acquisition, management and
maintenance, change management and loaded overhead costs, as well as things
like the impact of productivity enhancements, security avoidance costs, analytics
and proactive management. Those are combined into a singular business output
to see the real impact of the DaaS model. This is a new way to acquire POS, but
as-a-service will continue to grow. This is absolutely the way the industry is going.
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HP Innovation Journal: Retail Transformation