Microsoft announces 'Surface as a Service' for enterprises

Microsoft has announced a new initiative- “Surface as a Service” which will let businesses to lease Surface devices, alongside subscriptions to Office 365 and Windows 10. The company says that the latest move aimed at expanding Surface’s footprint in the enterprise will allow customers to benefit from access to the latest hardware as well as faster device refresh cycles.

According to Microsoft, Surface has grown really big in the last 12 months- from generating $1 billion in revenue per year to $1 billion per quarter. In the recent months, however, the company has been making serious efforts to expand Surface beyond the consumer market. Last fall, for example, it partnered with Dell and HP to sell the Surface hardware through its commercial sales organization. Yesterday, it announced two more partnerships with IBM and Booz Allen Hamilton, who will now become Surface solution integrators.

Elaborating on their new partnerships, Microsoft said that while IBM will deliver industry-specific solutions for the financial services and consumer packaged goods sectors that take advantage of Surface’s unique hardware capabilities, Booz Allen Hamilton will focus on solutions for government, the public sector, and healthcare.

Not much was stated about the workings of the subscription service but it was said that the new program that will be initially launched with ALSO, a Cloud Solution Provider in Europe would be made available to Cloud Solution Providers who are also Surface Authorized Distributors.

The benefit of Surface’s subscription for the organization would be that, their devices will always get updated with the latest releases of Windows 10 and Office 365. Adding to this, Microsoft is also supplementing CDW, SHI, Insight, and Zones to its Surface Multi-National Purchasing Program. That makes it easier for businesses to put Surface devices and accessories on their company-wide purchasing lists with the resellers.