COMMENT
Material Handling Industry sees rise in ‘aaS’ providers
F
rom EaaS to PaaS, SaaS and XaaS, a flux of “as a service” providers have rapidly entered the supply chain that even the most knowledgeable of industry insiders are
confused by the consonants and vowels preceding “aaS”, reports MHI (the US Material Handling, Logistics and Supply Chain Association). “These acronyms have all crept up, even in the last
year or two, so I think we are all in the dark on some of these,” said Gabe Grifoni, CEO/co-founder of MHI member Rufus Labs, a MHI 2022 Innovation Award finalist in Best Innovation of an Existing Product. Rufus Labs provides PaaS (Platform as a Service)
through its WorkHero wearable technology platform. “These terms have been invented by whoever is selling the service for the most part,” Grifoni said, but multiple brands of “aaS” have evolved with much success in recent years. In a survey by Statista, market & consumer data,
74% of respondents claim one reason for pursuing “aaS” is the business requires more flexibility while still maintaining optimal IT operations. Other reasons include the shift from CapEx to OpEx or a lack of expertise to manage themselves. “The main part of ‘as a Service’ is that you no longer
have to own certain things,” Grifoni explains. “You have everything lumped into one, and that hopefully gives you whatever that ‘as a Service’ is so you don’t have to think about what other tools are needed to make an offering complete. If it is ‘as a Service,’ it is always going to keep you up-to-date.”
While the popularity of “aaS” has skyrocketed of
late, it wasn’t always so readily embraced. When Rufus WorkHero debuted as an all-in-one monthly subscription and service platform in 2019, Grifoni recalled pushback from an industry set in its ways. Companies were accustomed to the traditional business model of buying a $4,000 piece of equipment for every worker - that would inevitably need to be replaced. Grifoni says customers were accustomed to a routine
of cyclically financing such capital expenditures and then depreciating the assets every five to seven years. “It was really hard to get people to buy into a platform
until the world changed in 2020 with Covid. Logistics got even busier over the last few years, and it has been a very quick acceleration to customer adoption.” SaaS is also trending as seen by Blue Yonder’s year-
over-year SaaS-specific revenue growth of 44% in 2021. In total, the company topped $1.1bn in annual revenue as ongoing supply chain challenges have driven demand for smart supply chain solutions. “In 1997, imagine having Microsoft Office version
1997 installed on your computer, and then in 2001- 2002, you’re still using the 1997 version because your company hasn’t upgraded to the 2001 version,” said Chirag Modi, VP, industry strategy, Blue Yonder. “What this SaaS model does is make it version-less. Every single month, new updates are coming up. The upgrade process is seamless.”
Jennifer Eagle, editor follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn @Hoist_Magazine
Hoist magazine
‘It was really hard to get people to buy into a platform
until the world changed in 2020 with Covid. Logistics got even busier over the last few years and it has been a very quick acceleration to customer adoption’
Overhead Crane Material Handling Industry Supplement | October 2022 | 5
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